Month: June 2012

They say, “higher than Niagara”. A great walk to start the morning. At least 500 steps to arrive at the top of the falls. And of course, they had a playground at the top that Viena and Ezra were happy to see. Viena used her hands for ear protection as we walked across the falls on a suspension bridge. Lots of water just dropping off.

The falls.

Here are the start of the steps.

The falls.

Cotton Candy.

VIENA PROUD OF HER SAND CREATION.

The rains have found us again, but that did not stop us from exploring the river saint charles. Quebec City has 35km of trial that follows the river through the city to the Saint Lawrence. For this photo, Viena was very proud of her “sand” ball formed from the sands of the Saint Charles. Now I know where Saint Charles Place in Monopoly receives the name. Our tent is soaked, and Ezra and Dwana opted to spend the night in the van – the warm dry hospitable van. The forecast is for more of the same with Friday being a big rain day. So we might leave before Friday. We found a free public swimming pool with actual diving boards. Viena jumped off a number of times. Ezra learned something today, but I cannot think what … Oh, Ezra learned how to do the fireman’s pole on the playground. He was quite excited and was able to use his new skill numerous times when I was chasing him. Driving in Quebec City has been about the same as driving in the States. Instead of a green left turning arrow they have a flashing green light to signal the right of way to turn.

Here is a shot of the waterslide.

We are living in Quebec now. The fishing is good as you can see from Ezra and Viena’s catch. We put on our wetsuits and went off some waterslides into the lake. The water was not that cold, but the day was not that warm. The people of Quebec are celebrating the National day of Quebec (like 4th of July) so many people were out at the campgrounds and beaches. Many celebrations and fireworks. I wish Dwana spoke better French. Amazing that you have an entire region of Canada where French is the primary language and most people are not fluent in English. I wish I knew more French. Ezra and Viena have been playing well with the French speaking children – kids have no fear when playtime is the case.

We are living in Quebec now. The fishing is good as you can see from Ezra and Viena’s catch. We put on our wetsuits and went off some waterslides into the lake. The water was not that cold, but the day was not that warm. The people of Quebec are celebrating the National day of Quebec (like 4th of July) so many people were out at the campgrounds and beaches. Many celebrations and fireworks. I wish Dwana spoke better French. Amazing that you have an entire region of Canada where French is the primary language and most people are not fluent in English

We stopped to let Ezra and Viena play on the lake beach before sunset. We had a pizza picnic and skipped rocks in the salt water lake. Going to try to drive while the kids are sleeping in the “homer” as Viena call our van after Dwana prepares the van for the night.

Living history they call this. We escaped from NewFoundland and are in the process of escaping from Cape Breton island. Louisburgh is the sight of an old French Fortress. Lots of green grass, lots of canons. Ezra and Viena enjoyed petting the sheep the most.

Dwana and I are celebrating are 11th Wedding anniversary aboard the Marine Atlantic Ferry Vessel VISION. When we wake up in the morning we will be back in Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland will be just a cherished memory. We have spent 10 days on this wonderful island and the weather has been good to us. We were able to visit Deer Lake, Gros Morne National Park, Twillingate, Terra Nova National Park, St Johns, La Manche, Cape Saint Mary’s, and Argentia. The terrain across the island has been vastly different, and I can’t say one side of the island was more beautiful. We spent more time on the Western side, only because the sun was shining and we were lazy to continue forward. Ezra and Viena were playing at the playground earlier today. Surprisingly, most of the campgrounds have had playgrounds for the kids to play on. The Newfoundlanders appeared happy and were very helpful when we needed assistance with anything. The island was very clean and safe and the roads were uncrowded. I guess the big season is the months of July and August, so all of the campsites we visited were not crowded at all. I would say that the highlight of our trip was visiting the bird sanctuary at Cape Saint Mary’s.

First one there is a rotten egg. Visiting the Bird factory at Cape St. Mary’s was a great way to finish our trip in NewFoundland. We could tell we were closing in on the 40,000 birds by the smell. We had to stay no the trail or risk the 200 meter drop over the edge. To visit this place – Bird Rock in the Misty Fog was very surreal – Without any other people around – nothing, but birds and two sheep. The birds were flying around like prehistoric terradactals. They would swoop right over us and then land on the rock. The rock was covered – covered with birds – gannets – a little bigger than your average seagull. On the way back we spent time looking for treasures along the treeless barren foliage.

The east coast trail goes all the way up the east coast of the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland and beyond. This is how we started the day. We ended the day listening to 40,000 birds at Cape Mary. What a great day to spend the longest day of the year. Still have not found a campsite for tonight, but we are sleeping near the ferry terminal so we do not need to drive much tomorrow. Our last night in Newfoundland.

This photo is taken at the North end of Twillinggate Island in Newfoundland. Sunrise was around 4:44AM Newfoundland time. My plan was to arrive in the middle of the night and watch the Northern Constellations, but I needed to sleep with the others. The drive to Twillinggate is called the Road to the Isles – mainly because many little islands and bays are in the landscape. We drove in during sunset and drove out during the sunrise. At the end was a light house on a big rock. Many trails were around the lighthouse,but the colds winds were blowing from the North West (Alaska) and everyone was asleep. We had just cleaned clothes the night before and I did not feel like rooting around the vehicle to find a pair of warm pants, so I just wandered around the area in shorts during the waking dawn. We had a great time in Gros Morne National Park. On the drive out fo the park yesterday we saw Minke Whales playing, visited a marine biology lab where Ezra and Viena were able to pick up crabs, and we saw a family of Black (red) foxes – a mom and 5 little babies and the mom was not shy. We found a playground in Norris Arm shortly before sunset to let Ezra and Viena play. The playground equipment as well as many of the lawn chairs in neighborhood yards are colored in Pastel Atlantica Paint – Green, Orange, Blue, Red and Violet. The mosquitoes have been ruthless and ferocious.

We are in Terra Nova National Park. Ezra says he is scratching his arm. I think he is doing a finger test on the vegetable soup. You might think that we just finished on a bike ride, which we did, but Ezra and Viena discovered that the helmets actually protect their heads from – the Dreaded BLACK FLIES. We were the only ones in the campground. They have a picnic shelter and immaculate bathrooms in the background. I am charging my portable battery from one of the outlets. We went on a bike ride down the Outpost Trail. At one point the trail has a small suspension bridge that crosses a river. We took a dip in the not so fast flowing river and Ezra and Viena enjoyed playing in the not so deep riverbed. Next, we are either going to explore the city of St. Johns or go join a First NAtion celebration in the center south of the island. We tried sleeping without the rainfly, but the rains finally found us again.

An old Mail run trail has been converted into a walking/biking path. This trail would connect the local coastal villages of Cow HEAD and Saint Pauls.

The nights have been clear, but not too cold, so we decided (with a Father’s Day Majority) that we would set up the sleeping bag without the tent and just star gaze. Only one, or two or three bugs found us.

You can see the Bull Moose in the upper left hand corner in the trees.

We spent the night in a place called Shallow Bay – known in the older days as Bell Downs Point on the Western Coast of Newfoundland. This photo is an example of what can happen after Dad has asked to many times to take just one more photo.

A Beautiful boat ride let us experience this amazing fresh water fiord.

A Beautiful boat ride let us experience this amazing fresh water fiord.

A Beautiful boat ride let us experience this amazing fresh water fiord.

A calming video to watch of the most photographed place in the park.

The small river crossing did not deter us from making the venture across to the uninhabited sandy beach island. We only had one pair of fins, so Dwana and I each wore one and started kicking across. The days are so wonderful here. We have finally found the sun and the sun finally found us. As a wirte, Viena and Ezra and in shade lockdown until the heat of the day passes. Never would have thought we would be shying away form the sun after the past two weeks. We are staying at an RV campground in Deer Lake. Not crowded and right on the sandy beach of the fresh water lake. Ezra went off in the woods to go poop and her came back with a little baby frog in his hand. Ezra wanted to know if we could eat him. Subsistence hunter at age 3. The tiny frog kept both Viena and Ezra entertained for about an hour. We also caught some little minnows from the river that brought joy to their faces. Amazing the happiness that little animals bring what small children. The stars have been wonderful to look at. Right now, clear skies to not equal burr cold nights. We are sleeping comfortably in our tent without the rainfly for star gazing for once. We did invest in a screen house which has saved us many bug bites. The screen house fits right over the picnic table. Ezra is still receiving the most bites and reacting to worst to them. His right thigh has swollen from the bites and now looks likes he could be a tour de France rider – on the right side. Ezra is doing great riding his bike. The have a small trail near the wooded lake that Ezra and Viena and I went riding down. We even found the secret path that led right to the playground in the campground. Tomorrow we leave towards Gros Morne National Park.

The small river crossing did not deter us from making the venture across to the uninhabited sandy beach island. We only had one pair of fins, so Dwana and I each wore one and started kicking across. The days are so wonderful here. We have finally found the sun and the sun finally found us. As a wirte, Viena and Ezra and in shade lockdown until the heat of the day passes. Never would have thought we would

Here is another picture of the lake. Our campsite is 100 feet for here. The lake is very sandy and shallow and without all the plants that grow in some of the other shallow lakes. In the top right corner of the photo you can see the uninhabited PezzaRello Island. On this day, a family of ducks came to visit. Ezra quickly put on his greeting mask. The ducks stayed their distance, but Viena was able to walk out 100 feet and still only be in knee deep water.

We slept well on the ferry. The ferry ride has been very smooth. Ezra and Viena are some of the only children on the ferry. Ezra needed a small parfait yogurt to calm him down near bedtime on the ferry. I thought I lost my camera, but Dwana found the small Canon Elph near my sleeping pad – drifted out of my pocket. We land in one hour.

Our First Sunny day in weeks. Break out the shorts and skirts. We drove around Cape Breton on the Cabot Trail from ING-Ga-NISH to CHETTY-CAMP. Another sunrise adventure. The waves were really crashing well on the East side. I almost stopped and threw the boogie board in for some sunrise surf, but everyone was asleep and that is precious driving time. Sunrise driving is most pleasant with the sounds of sleeping Ezra and sleeping Viena. To wake up and see a clear day outside of the tent was unbelievable. The Sun rose over the Atlantic at 5:01AM – Atlantic Time Zone. I even took the single speed bike off the bike rack and was able to bike over a few of the mountain passes while Dwana drove. The mountain was difficult with just one speed, but the car traffic was very light for a popular driving loop. I crossed over the pass for French Mountain (400 meters) and I felt like I was gearing up for the Tour de France. Exercising in constant sunshine felt amazing after so many days of drizzle, mist, fog, and rain. After finishing our laundry we are off to play at the beach at ING-Ga-Nish and then we are going to try and catch the Overnight 6 hour ferry to the ROCK – New Foundland.

I know, another beautiful sunrise! I will send more pictures of Viena and Ezra, but they have been sleeping during these times. This sunrise was amazing. We camped (slept in the van for 3 hours) at Murray Beach, Nova Scotia. Named after Murray Buttner the infamous surgeon residing in Pomfret. The plan was to drive the Confederation Bridge onto Prince Edwards Island for the sunrise. Everything went as planned and the 10 mile bridge over the water and the sunrise were worth waking up early. I mentioned to Dwana that we should just turn around and drive over the bridge, but the toll guy said it would be $44 dollars. That’s Canadian dollars and since the conversion rate is exactly one to one, you can do the math. 44 has been a re-occurring theme on this trip during my 44th orbit around the sun. We decided to drive to the other end of the Island and catch the ferry. We are waiting for the ferry now. Both Ezra and Viena have been surviving this morning on chocolate and videos. Next stop Cape Breton. Oh, we drove through Iona. Nice place!

Viena on the ferry. Reminds us all of Alaska. Cold and Windy, but not that cold and windy. Good Food.

Ezra on the ferry. He has been running around the whole ride. We had the entire upper deck to ourselves.

Well, we did both. We had a great time exploring a Sandy beach at Acadia National Park and then we skidaddled to the border to camp at Herring Cove, New Brunswick, Canada. This was taken this morning at 4:37AM. Viena and Dwana joined me in being awake for this morning. Viena and I even started a fire on the beach with some driftwood. Lots of driftwood, and lots of treasures were found by Viena and Ezra. We continued the day by having tea with Eleanor Roosevelt at her summer cottage on Campobella Island. And now we are off to Nova Scotia and Prince Edwards Island.