St. John's, Newfoundland June 23, 2017

Today we attempted to drive down to a picturesque village called Quidi Vidi (Kiddie Viddie).  The name is of unknown origin, but has been the site of a settlement since the 1500's.  I wanted to visit the craft center and a brewery that makes beer with water from icebergs.  Water from the oldest part of icebergs is some of the purist water on earth because it is thousands of years old, before major pollution.

The "Gut", entrance to Quidi Vidi Harbor

Anyway......we tried.  We actually did drive the one-lane twisty streets, but could not find a place to park - should have just taken a taxi from the campground.  Although we did not visit the craft center, we can buy the beer anywhere in the area and I did get a few photos of the quaint harbor.

We drove around the city viewing some of the historic buildings, including Government houses and churches.

The afternoon was spent trying to find a laundromat.  Our garmin is not very familiar with Newfoundland, and sent us to two places that either never existed or moved.  We ended up returning to the campground and using their washers and dryers.

For my book group, if you liked "Mr. Splitfoot" you will also like "Leaving Time" by Jodi Picoult.

St. John's, Newfoundland June 21-22, 2017

We are spending a few days here in St. John's - one of the oldest cities in North America.  Has a wonderful natural harbor and when driving down Water Street, the huge ships are docked all along the street!

Monday, we drove through the narrow, very hilly streets of downtown.  San Franciscans would feel right at home here.  The roads are confusing because way back when wagons had to be pulled up and down these hills, they curved the roads to make it easier on the horses.

City feels much larger than the 100,000 population my AAA book says and it is spread out all over the surrounding hillsides.  Colorful homes are popular here - sort of like Charleston's Rainbow Row.

We drove southeast of the city to visit Cape Spear - the eastern-most point in North America.  I visited the original lighthouse which was replaced with a new one that is still working.  Lighthouses are now officially known as lightstations.

Original Lighthouse

New Lightstation

The flags used for signaling in the lighthouse

Remnants of WWII gun emplacements.  A Newfoundland ferry had been torpedoed by a U-Boat.

View from the lighthouse - furthest East you can go in North America

Tuesday, we drove northeast to Signal Hill, home of Cabot Tower.  This towering hill at the entrance to the St. John's narrows (entrance to the harbor) was used to signal the city when ships were approaching - both commercial and military.  The National Park Service had a nice museum explaining the military history of the area - the French invaded and burned the settlements in the 1700's multiple times.

We were treated to some highschoolers practicing for the tattoo they will present daily starting in July.  We walked around the hill that afforded fantastic views of the city.

After lunch, we toured the Johnson GEO Centre whose building is cut underground into the rocks of Signal Hill.  The museum had excellent displays about the Planet, Provincial natural history, energy exploration, and Space.  They also had a very informative display about the complicated reasons for the Titanic that sank less than 300 miles off the coast.

A wall of exposed rock in the museum

Busy day and were glad to get back to our campground in a large park right at the edge of the city.  We have full hookups and internet.

Witless Bay, Newfoundland: June 20, 2017

We took our showers, had breakfast and stopped at the water tap (did not have individual site water faucets) to fill with fresh water and unfortunately, there is a sign that says "Must boil water before drinking."  Ugh.  We are out of water and even though we do not drink RV water, we do use it to wash dishes, rinse things, etc., so I was not willing to deal with unsafe water in the tank.  We know we will have water this evening, so we will just have to wait.

Continued north along the eastern Avalon Peninsula coast to a small town called Bay Bulls, directly across from Witless Bay Island Ecological Reserve.  We will be taking the Gatherall's catamaran boat tour to visit the Puffin colonies on the cliffs at the Reserve.  We had just missed their 10:30 boat, so we did some grocery shopping, internet access at the visitor center, lunch and naps before returning to their parking lot for the 2:30 tour.  Weather is mostly sunny with an occasional dark cloud that whooshes past in the gusty winds and temps about 75.  Perfect!

The tour was incredible and we hit the jackpot -- iceberg, many whales (Minke and Humpback), puffins, Gannets, Kittiwakes, and Muerres.  Wow, what a day and will let the photos speak for themselves...

Kittiwakes

Muerres

Puffins nest in holes they dig on the hillside above the cliffs

Minke Whale

The tail of a Humpback - the following is a quick series of action photos, so scroll down for the whole story 

This is probably the last iceberg in this part of Newfoundland - expect to see more when we get northwest to Iceberg Alley

The pure white is the oldest ice - often, thousands of years old, while the turquoise is newer ice where water got into cracks and gulleys in the glacier

Watching  a "screech-in", where folks participate in a ceremony to become Newfies.  Similar to Jack getting Hydrasized in Alaska two years ago.  We will screech-in soon.

Ferryland, Colony of Avalon Newfoundland, June 20, 2017

Woke to some fog and drizzle.  Ran the furnace to warm up, had breakfast and on the road north to visit Ferryland.  This is Newfoundland's version of Jamestown - one of the first British permanent settlements called Avalon at the time.  Lord Baltimore started it, but did not like the winter weather and left to found Maryland.  The settlement lived on and became a financial success with sturdy homes with slate roofs, cobblestone streets and a fortress fence to protect it from unfriendly people and animals.

The rock wall house was the home of the Governor

Note the rocks set vertically for drainage under the floor - they think this was barn/stable

Colony of Avalon Harbor

Original Cobblestone stsreet

The archaeologists have found many artifacts and it is only 50% excavated.  The roadbed and stone walls are original, while the wood they have placed is to show where wooden floors would have been.

The colony exported fish to Europe and Avalon prospered, but the man who ran it after Lord Baltimore left was found guilty of tax evasion and was put in jail in England.  His wife continued to run the "plantation" and is considered one of Canada's first women entrepreneurs.

They even had a flush toilet - the emptied chamber pots into the rock lined pit that had an opening lower down that would allow the high tide to enter and wash away the detritus twice a day.  Ingenious!

They also had a reconstruction of a 1700's kitchen that was very informative on how to bake bread on a hearth.  Interesting laboratory where all the artifacts are catalogued, identified and assembled, when possible.

 Interesting day.  It alternated between beautiful sun and spritzing the whole time - jacket on, jacket off, sunglasses on, sunglasses off.  The guide told us they often experience three seasons over the course of a day.

This 25' deep well is original and even though below sea level, it is fresh water.

The lab where the works clean, sort and catalog artifacts

We did see the original, but this is a replica of the "Ferryland Cross."  It has never been identified and is the only one like it found in the world.

We had seen these pickup trucks picking up garbage at the end of driveways through the area - even the most rural.  We came upon this rendevous with the big garbage truck.

Drove a half hour further north to another Provincial Park - this one has a nice campground and a lake, but no phone service or internet.  The blog update will have to wait another day.