Day 8 – St John’s

We shifted gear and spent a day in St John’s, Newfoundland’s capital city. We first visited Signal Hill, the place where Guglielmo Marconi first received the first transatlantic wireless signal in 1901.

Signal Hill overlooking the St John's Harbor

A view of the city with its many colors and unique architecture.

St John's Harbor

Cape Spear, the most easterly point in North America.

Cape Spear

We were thrilled to see an iceberg near the shore so we hopped into the van in hot pursuit. We ended up turning into a small cove and discovered a series of hiking trails that led to not only one but two icebergs!

The Iceberg Chasers

Day 7 – Terra Nova and Salvage

Day seven brought with it a new National Park where we would begin our hunt for icebergs.   A 400 km drive the day before had brought us here.  We awoke to a beautiful sunny day and began exploring. Our first hike, a easy 9km return on relatively flat terrain, was a good bird watching expedition but ultimately left us unsatisfied as it lacked the great vistas of the previous days. Still we did manage to see several magnificent ospreys and bald eagles. Nevertheless, we were hungry for more. Our inn keeper from the night before had said that Salvage, a picturesque fishing village east of the park, was our best bet for icebergs. 

Overlooking the town of Salvage

As often is with advice from locals, it was bang on. The village appeared largely ignored by tourists, but did have a set of trails into its surrounding hills.  On one of these trailers, we hit paydirt. Five icebergs in view! 

Iceberg!

What began for us as a short hike up to the closest look out point ended up being a three hour long hike from hill summit to hill summit, as we kept trying to get higher up and closer to the shore for a better look of the icebergs and with hope that more would be revealed. In the end, we got five icebergs in view, and a stellar vista of an archipelago of islands.

Going too far!

After all that pressing forward, we began our walk backwards and were rewarded for our push forward with a surprise siting of a moose on a hill ahead of us. What a hike!

Day 6 – Gros Morne Take 2

We began Day 6 still in Gros Morne National Park. After having been wowed by the previous day’s trails, we were resolved to do a few more before moving eastwards.

Gros Morne Lookout Point

Luckily, the weather cooperated with us until our departure. Well almost. It snowed on the last hike. Anthony was not impressed. As we left the park, it turned to rain. Oh well, better drive in it than hike in it!

Tablelands in Gros Morne

Alright! After two days in Gros Morne it was time to switch it up. Rumor had it we could see icebergs at Terra Nova National Park plus it was a good place to stay overnight before making our approach to St. John’s. We put in at a cabin there for the night, ready to begin the iceberg hunt the next day.

Day 5 – Gros Morne, Newfoundland

We arrived in Newfoundland by ferry at 6:30am.  We were a bit groggy but overall in good shape.  The terrain here is very different, in a desolate and barren sort of way.

It was still raining but as the day progressed, the rain stopped and we were getting glimpse of sunlight.

Our reaction to sunlight

We arrived at the park at around noon and quickly found lodging and started on some hiking. 5 days of continuous driving has made us very restless. The scenery along the hike was breath-taking.

Fjord at Gros Morne National Park

Mooossseee

It was very windy, we had to lean in to the wind to walk.

Catching some fresh air

The grueling trip with long hours on the road is taking a toll on us. The backseats are officially the resting areas for 2 people while the other 2 keep on trekking.

Napping in the Cabin

Satisfying Anthony

A beautiful post-supper sunset.

Very Windy Sunset

Day 4 – Halifax

It’s been a lot of driving accompanied with rain.  However, things are starting to be looking better and we have arrived in Newfoundland.  On day 4, we explored around Halifax. Met up with Aly and Kevin briefly, thanks for the muffins and being our impromptu guides!

Peggy's Cove

Halifax Citadel Guards

“Run! Get to the Ferry!” – J

“Drop me off at the first place that sells lobster and pick me up at the end of the day” – A

The Esmeralda docking at the Halifax Harbor

AJL in front of the giant sailboat

We left Halifax around 3:30 – 4:00 to get to the Newfoundland Ferry up in North Sydney. As we drove, the sun came out for the first time this trip. We were elated.

As we waited for the ferry, we explored the little town of North Sydney. At 10:30, we boarded they ferry, which we discovered was probably one of the fanciest vessels we traveled on. After a little exploration of the boat, we all found some air-seats and did our best to sleep off the six hour trip to the rock.

Day 3 – PEI

In PEI.  Looking for potatoes.  We are ahead of the tourism season so a lot of stores and motels are still closed.

“Oh, there is a lot of quaint out East” – A

Cavendish Cliffs

AJLS Power Pose!

Tron09 PEI Edition

A fox that crossed our path.

“Anne of Green Gable is freaking me out…..” – J

At 5pm we took the ferry from PEI to Nova Scotia and got into Halifax by about 8pm.

The ferry to Nova Scotia

Best way to burn up an hour

Day 2 – Charlottetown

Quebec City to Charlottetown, PEI…914km

Left Quebec City at 6:30 am

On the road again...

- John has a “paralysis dream” on the road to Fredericton: Dream Ludwik sits idly by, watching as Dream John nearly suffocates to death for not being able to command his lungs to breath.

- Rainy lunch under gazebo in a public park, downtown Fredericton. Fact: Fredericton squirrels are quite rude.

- After much grueling competition, John is crowned “Fredericton Playground Log Balancing Champion”. Ludwik 2nd. Anthony 3rd.

Semifinal 2: L vs A

The victor: Captain Morgan

- Rain continues as we drive past Moncton and into Prince Edward Island crossing the 13km long Confederation Bridge.

-After a brief exploration of the fishing town of Summerside, we feasted on seafood at Sharky’s on the warf.

Sophisticated dinner discussion regarding the trials and tribulations of beard growing

Day 1 – Quebec City

The goal is to go from Toronto to Quebec City…813km

Tentative Schedule:

7:00am -Depart Toronto

12:00pm -Arrive Laval, Quebec 550/813km

2:00pm -Depart Laval after having lunch

5:00pm -Arrive in Quebec City 813/813km

The day in pictures:

Le Chateau Frontenac

You never know who you will run into at the Chateau

Old Quebec City

More Chateau

Awesome mural depicting life in the New World

-After our walk around town we treated ourselves to a succulent meal of deer, duck and salmon; anything less would have been barbarous…

Road Trip Kickoff

Okay, Let’s kick this thing off for real this time.

We need to finalize the plan for the first 3 days so that we can get the hotel reservations and such taken care of due to the anticipated long weekend rush.  I’ll prepare a provisional route plan but I would like everyone’s input on where we should stop along the way.  Also I would like input on the drivers to see if the distances will be manageable…

more to come shortly…