Our Summer Vacation

Here's a link to the rest of our pictures from vacation!

Our Summer Vacation

Western Newfoundland - Part 4

We moved our campsite from trout river to berry hill after hiking Green Gardens. The campsite we were assigned basically had no spot for a tent that was flat and the floor was gravel... so Tim went to see if we could get another one. He did and we moved over there. It was a bit bigger and flatter but still gravel. Oh well. We set up our tent, made some supper and relaxed the rest of the evening. It was even dry enough for a campfire! We stayed up late chatting around the fire and it was wonderful. We planned on hiking Gros Morne mountain the next morning but when we woke up we just weren't feeling it. We wanted to take it easy and go to the beach (even though it wasn't that warm) so we did! We took our time and drove north stopping at some sites along the way.

Some rocks Tim wanted to see...they are special! You can ask him about them...
We saw some fish drying in the sun.
We stopped to check out a ship wreck.
We made it to the beach!
We saw a mermaid....
And a moose!
We ate out and went to the Gros Morne theater festival both of which were really good! We headed back to our campsite, had a fire and went to bed. The next morning we had to get up early because we went on the highly recommended bout tour of Western Brook Pond to see a fjord up close and personal. This was quite expensive but absolutely beautiful and I would recommend you take it in as well.
We also saw some bake apples (the first time I saw them growing in the wild) they weren't ripe sadly.
And some laurel, I had to take a picture because it's pretty just like my mommy!
Next post: L'anse aux meadows and icebergs!

Western Newfoundland - Part 1

We left Moncton early and headed for Cape Breton. We stopped in Port Hawkesbury and visited with my cousins for a bit, playing a great game of clue and then continued on our way to catch the ferry in North Sydney. We almost weren't allowed on because we were a bit late sue to a ridicules amount of construction along the way. But we made it and were on our way to NL.
We left Port aux Basques right away and headed north. We were planning on go right to Cornerbrook but we got too tired, and it was late at night, and there's always the risk of wandering moose on the road at night so we found a little provincial park campground and got a site for the night. We set up our tent by the car headlights (it was around 11 pm I believe) and then settled in for the night. It was a nice little campsite but the ground was gravel, which wasn't that comfortable for sleeping. I guess you're expected to have a thick air mattress or something. The next morning Tim was freaking out because he THOUGHT it was 10 am and he wanted to get going. He was practically taking the tent down while I was still sleeping in it. We took the tent down, went to the bathroom to brush our teeth and stuff and then went to pay for the night. When he started up the car I looked at the time and it was 7:30am...7:30.... I guess I should have bought him a digital watch. I wasn't impressed at all because I didn't sleep well and then he woke me up freaking out. We couldn't even pay because the office wasn't open until 8. If you know me then you know how I value sleep. Anyway we waited until 8 and then hit the road. I slept until Cornerbrook and we went to Tim Hortons for breakfast. We then got some groceries and some other things, like flashlights (a silly thing to forget when you're going camping for a week) and then headed up to Gros Morne.

We got our first campsite in Trout River, definitely a great campground. The sites were grassy, private and spacious. We set up our tent and got everything ready. We checked out the discovery centre to see what scheduled events were happening that week. It was rainy so we didn't really do much other than that.

The next morning we went to a guided tour at the Table lands (also known as a geologists playground). I'm not going to explain what makes them special on here but basically there are one of only a few places like this in the world and geologists say it's the earth's mantle hardened on the surface. Really neat place especially if you want to see some pitcher plants and I would recommend the guided tour because it was entertaining and interesting and we were of course able to do some exploring afterwards on our own.
It was a bit chilly...We were going to hike to the top of the mountain but since we couldn't see the top we thought it probably wasn't wise. So we decided to go back to the discovery centre and have some lunch and then figure out our afternoon from there.

We decided to do the Look Off trail that leaves from the parking lot of the discovery centre. It was uphill the whole way but definitely worth it. I highly recommend it because the view at the top is magnificent.
We didn't see a moose at the top (a couple who were descending while we were ascending told us they saw one at the top) but we saw a rock ptarmigan!
By the time we got off the trail it was raining and cold so we decided to treat ourselves to eating out rather then trying to make some food back at the campsite while getting soaked. We went to a delicious restaurant in Woody Point, I think it was called the Lighthouse restaurant, and had a delicious meal of seafood chowder, fish and chips and caesar salad (we were hungry) and then returned to our campsite to shower and sleep.

Home and Feeling Great!

I am HOME! In Kentville, NS and it's wonderful. It's warm, it was 25 degrees when I arrived yesterday, and it's GREEN. All you see is green everywhere and I love it. I will take some photos soon but first I have to put up some of our trip down.  My good friend from university, Jenny, was the first of our friends to venture to Labrador and it was so wonderful to have someone come to us! She came up to see a bit of where we're living and then to take the road trip with me to our friend Amanda's wedding in Sackville, NB. The following will show some highlights of our trip!

Tim took us on a tour of the mine!

We even got to see a blast!

We then hit the road after some complications and ate some delicious egg sandwiches and saw lots of porcupines! I think they just came out of hibernation.  We took the ferry from Baie Comeau to Matane. It was a bit cold and windy but it was nice to not be driving.

We stayed at a beautiful hotel/motel in Matane for the night. It was right on the beach and we took a really long walk once we got there! We stayed in the motel part and it was quite cheap and beautiful! I would definitely stay there again.

Jenny and I on the balcony of our room.

We had a picnic in Bathurst on a church lawn.

Then we finally made it to Sackville! It was wonderful to be back in the university town where we all met and had some great years together.

Here are some photos from the waterfowl park which was a must visit while we were there. Other places included Bridge Street Cafe, campus and the new student centre, the vogue theater, the farmers market, and just walking through town.

 Of course there was the wedding!

The bed and breakfast that we stayed at didn't have a hair dryer so we had to use the fan that was there. It was slow but somewhat worked. We had lots of time though so it didn't matter. Amanda and Nick couldn't stop smiling the whole day. It was a beautiful wedding and a beautiful day!

They took their photos in the waterfowl park so we got to visit it again!

Jenny, Lindsay and I:

We caught the bride just before she was about to leave for a photo shoot!

It was a wonderful trip home!