Day 88: Windsor-GrandFalls to Rocky Harbour (Gros Morne), NL
Location: Rocky Harbour (Gros Morne), NL Date: Mon, July 21st I awoke at 9 am in Windsor - Grand Falls. I ate breakfast, made some tea and hit the road headed for Gros Morne National Park to meet up with my aunt & uncle. In Deer Lake, I took a wrong turn, and just went with it. I like exploring at times. It worked out great as I chanced upon Deer Lake days, which a local told me hadn't been celebrated in nearly 10 years! It was great fun with fire trucks, moose burgers and karoake. I broke out some mean 'Busta Move'!   The most fun part was the dunk tank. I took a few tosses, but my aim is no where as good as it was back when I used to pitch!  Vernon Wells isn't known for his pitching ability, but managed to dunk the councillor!  I haven't had cell phone service since St. John's, much thanks to Rogers lack of coverage in Newfoundland. Fortunately I was still able to meet up with my Uncle Roy in Rocky Harbour, which is part of Gros Morne National Park. He'd invited me to stay a night in his trailer at Gros Morne RV Park. The park has wireless Internet, which was a great surprise!   They cooked me up a great supper that reminded me a lot of supper's growing up!  After supper we headed down to Rocky Harbour just shortly after sunset. I took lots of pictures and was captivated by the little fish jumping up out of the water. Unfortunately I couldn't capture any on my camera.         The terrain of Gros Morne reminds me a lot of the Rocky Mountains, except without all the snow. :) Afterwards we enjoyed a nice campfire then headed to bed! 
Day 87: St. John's to Grand Falls - Windsor
Location: Windsor - Grand Falls, NL Date: Sunday, July 20th Before leaving St. John's, I took another trip up to Signal Hill, where the sky was clear and the fog was a ways on out. I took more pics:   I headed west, but took a detour toward Dildo, NL.  Interestingly, Dildo resides on Broad Cove.  I learned about the founder of Dildo, Captain Dildo.  Dildo is a cute little town complete with an interpretive centre and local "Dildo Days".   There have been tons of dragonflies all over... while approaching Dildo, I managed to capture one on camera.  In Ottawa, I have a bunch of Newfie friends, so interesting Newfoundland town/village names get thrown around lots. "Come By Chance" is one of those towns, so I stopped for a picture!  I continued onward to Terra Nova National Park. I stopped at the Visitor Centre and enjoyed beautiful weather. I checked out their interpretive centre with touch water creature tank, and wandered the shoreline.    I continued driving on the highway. There wasn't much to see except lots of people fishing and a nice sunset!  I finally settled on Windsor - Grand Falls as my place to sleep. I parked my van behind the visitor centre and went to sleep.
Day 86: St. John's
Location: St. John's, NL It was a rainy day, so I spent the day catching up on Internet stuff. It's been quite a few weeks since I had a day free with Internet access for catching up. There was a small break for fish & chips and some phone calls to friends, but other than that, all business. 
Day 85: St. John's, NL
Location: St. John's, NL Date: Fri, July 18th Total kms driven: 20,560 kms Total $$ spent on gas: $3,010.55 I got 5.5 hours sleep before getting up for some sight seeing with my parents. It was quite foggy, so we decided our first stop would be the Quidi Vidi Battery Provincial Historic Site. It was constructed by the French in 1762 to overlook the entrance to the village. No fighting ever occurred there. It was reconstructed to the 1812 period.  The Battery provided a nice view of the village.  Then we checked out the Mallard Cottage and Quidi Vidi Brewery.  We returned to Signal Hill for the 2nd time that day and it was still quite foggy.   It did clear long enough to get a nice shot of Cabot Tower and George's Pond.   Then we headed to Cape Spear National Historic Site - the most easterly point in all of North America!   It was foggy & rocky, and the loud fog horn was in full effect. We heard whales off the coast, but couldn't see them through the fog.    There were tons of irises along the walking trails.  We headed back to Signal Hill National Historic Site where the fog had finally lifted.   It provided a nice view of the St. John's Harbour.  Then I headed to The Dock Pub on George St for my gig.  I was on the bill with The Idlers. They're a great jam/reggae/ska band, who'd just returned from the Reggae festival in Montreal the previous weekend.  They had some great guests join them on stage for collaborations, including Neil Conway. 
Day 84: Placentia to St. John's
Location: St. John's, Nfld Date: Thurs, July 17 After a Scallop dinner for breakfast, I explored Placentia a bit.   Then I headed to Castle Hill National Historic Site. Castle Hill features the remains of French and English fortifications from the 17th and 18th centuries. Placentia (or Plaisance as the French called it) was a key fishing village fought over by the French and British from 1662 to 1713. As was the case with most battles, the British won the battle.     I then headed to St. John's. The terrain is unlike anything I've seen, although a bit similar to the drive between Thunder Bay and Manitoba. Lots of rocks, and small lakes.  Newfoundland is also home to some great village names. For example, Foxtrap and Conception Bay.  I started my visit with a trip to Quidi Vidi. Upon arrival at the Quidi Vidi lake, I was greeted with a flock of pigeons who followed me around like minions.    Fortunately this unsuspecting girl, who was feeding ducks distracted them away from me...  I continued on to Quidi Vidi village, for a step back in time.   Then I headed to Signal Hill National Historic Site, where I stopped at the Visitor Centre and thought it would be appropriate to spend a few hours on the Internet catching up.  Signal Hill was at the forefront of modern communications. In 1901 Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless signal at Signal Hill. In 1920 Cabot Tower was the site of the earliest wireless phone calls across the Atlantic. It was a beautiful clear day and I regret not making it up to Signal Hill until 8 pm. I still had a decent view of Cabot Tower and the coast. If I'd been up there earlier, I might have seen whales.   Around 8:30 pm I arrived at my parents hotel, The Captain's Quarters, which local folks would later tell me is rumoured to be haunted.  My parents & I headed out to Ches's for some fish & chips. First timers get this fancy certificate!  After supper, I headed to CBTG's for my show that night.  Big shout outs to Neil Conway of The Discounts for hooking up a couple of shows! He opened up the night at CBTGs with a fun acoustic set!  I was the second act, and decided to take a picture of everyone with their thumbs up during the Super Dude Jorun remix!  The final act of the night was the rap-punk-metal band Local Tough. 
Day 83: Ferry to Newfoundland
Location: Newfoundland Ferry (North Sydney to Argentia) Date: Wed, July 16th I was up at 6 am getting ready to catch the Joseph and Clara Smallwood ferry to Newfoundland. Normally the ferry takes 14-15 hours, but they had to do repairs on an engine, so the trip took 18 hours.   The departure provided a decent view of North Sydney, but after that it was all fog.  I slept quite a bit, watched 'In Pursuit of Happiness', and worked on some postcards.  Finally at 2:30 am, we arrived and I headed to the Harold Hotel in Placentia: The first of 4 nights I'm spending with my parents. 
Day 82: Sydney Mines, NS
Location: Sydney Mines, NS Date: Tues, July 15th It was a beautiful day in Sydney Mines, NS. Sydney Mines is rich in coal and hospitality!  Rachelle & Levi were up early (8:30 am) cooking a huge breakfast. I got a special omellette, while they had eggs benedict.  Around noon, we were cleaned up and ready to go... but where... we decided on Indian Brook. To get there required some fancy driving by Cooper and taking the Englishtown ferry.   We stopped just after the Englishtown ferry in hopes of picking cohogs, but the tide was too high. Instead we played some improv frisbee :)  We made it to Indian Brook, at an unmarked backroad beach. I love it. It was rocky and the water was cold, but it was beautiful. Noel & mother Sonya were in the water the longest, although Levi's snorkling took a close 2nd. My favorite part was playing "hit the apple core with the rock".   After an hour, the clouds came in so we took off. After debating where to go, we decided on Cape Clear. Unfortunately we soon realized it was going to be 140 kms on a dirt road, which would put us back in Sydney Mines too late. Apparently Cape Clear overlooks the Margaree River.  So we treked back to Baddeck for a tour of its downtown.  We stopped for ice cream and fresh fudge for me. Cooper showed off his balancing while eating ice cream skills.  Then we headed to Sonya's for a refreshing dip in her pool. I was caught in the act of relaxing... something I've been practicing a bit on this trip. :)  It was the birthday of Sonya & Rachelle's Dad, and I was invited to the party. He requested Lick-a-Chick, so I fulfilled my goal of eating some. The party was fun and I met the whole Brown family!  Afterwards, Nikki had a party at her place. It included bacon-wrapped scallops, which I'd had for the first time in Alberta, made by my Newfoundland friend, Sheldon! She also had 10 pounds of Mussels, but they smelled fishy and everyone was nervous to eat 'em. I gobbled down four anyway.   I was in bed by 1 am, not looking forward to getting only 5 hours sleep before getting up to catch the ferry to Newfoundland.
Day 81: Halifax to Sydney Mines, NS
Location: Sydney Mines, NS Date: Monday, July 14th I was on the road from Halifax by 9 am. I briefly tried to find Revolution and Breakdown records stores, but without any luck. Do they still exist? The drive was slow due to construction. One stop was about 45 minutes long...  Finally I made it to the Canso Causeway, which leads onto Cape Breton Island!   I stopped in Port Hawkesbury for some Seafood Chowder and snapped this pic of the Canso Causeway from their downtown.  I stopped for a nap at the Tim Hortons in Baddeck, right near where the transmission started to fail on my 93 Ford Escort Wagon back in 2003 while on tour with J-Bru, Spesh K and The Sound & The Fury. Around 5 pm, I finally arrived in Sydney Mines. Rachelle, Levi & Nikki had a great dinner all prepared for me. Then the Cape Breton hospitality and cheer began. There's no messing around. In these parts it's half a bottle of wine per glass! :)  There were dog fights, in this case between Parker and Cooper.  There was spilled coffee, curtesy of Richard, which goes perfect with Rachelle's amazing chocolate chip cookies!  And since they heard I was a rapper, they assumed I could sing... not the case. Out came Sony Sing Star. I battled Nikki at 'Baby Got Back'... she distracted me with her "back" and I lost by a mere 10 points. We would later battle again, and I crushed her at 'Ice Ice Baby' :)  Genna Murphy, a celebrity NY blogger for the Cape Breton Post, was in the fray and destroyed everyone.  Later, 7-month old Noel awoke, wide-eyed at the sounds coming from the living room :)  And as a rule of thumb, if you pass out early at a Cape Breton party, you might end up with a soiled diaper on your head. :) 
Day 80: Halifax, NS
Location: Halifax, NS Date: Sun, July 13, 2008 I was up at noon, but napped off & on in the Old Orchard parking lot until 2:30 pm. I made my way to Halifax to Dalhousie University to appear on CKDU  I had a good chat with RS Smooth, the host of 'Smooth Grooves'.  I spent the rest of the evening updating the tour blog and around 10 pm I decided to find a place to crash. Fortunately my old high school friend, Julian, accepted me with open arms! 
Day 79: Liverpool to Wolfville
Location: Wolfville, NS Date: Sat, July 12th I was on the road by noon. A stop in the Bronx to pay proper respects to Hank Snow is always a necessity.  After driving about an hour on the scenic route to Bridgewater, I was overcome by the urge to turn off at the next beach I saw. I really lucked out, as Crescent Beach was absolutely amazing! I enjoyed two hours in the sun, picking shells, reading my book, wading in the nice ocean waves!   Hunger hit me, so I got an amazing plate of fish & chips from the Yum Yum Bus II.   The scenery was beautiful. 1000 Islands National Park has nothing on the Atlantic Ocean coastline.  I stopped in Lahave at the Fort Point historic site, and was surprised to learn that LaHave was the capital of New France from 1632 - 1636.   There were boats in Bridgewater.  I then headed straight for Kentville/Wolfville to the wedding of my good friends Erin & Jackson. I first met Erin when I performed at the university of New Brunswick during her frosh week in 2001. She dug my performance, and a friendship bloomed! We've had karoake in St. Catharines, Canada Day in Ottawa... and lots of fun times!    Jackson's grand mother gave one of the best speeches I've heard in awhile. Jackson & Erin also put together a dance montage for their first dance. By far the best first dance I've ever seen! I can't wait to see video footage! I made friends with some folks at a table. I think their names were Clint, Shelly and Fane. Later in the night, we played spin the bottle. If it pointed at you, then you shook your groove thing in the middle of the circle! It was fun...  Then the after party began... There was an abundance of booze, guitar playing, tree climbing and glasses with lights on 'em. Fun times!       While folks slept in their cozy hotel rooms, I went to sleep quite comfortably in my van!
|
