Day 28 Aug 31 2014 Rocky Harbour NFLD (Gros Morne)

Day 28    Aug 31 2014    Rocky Harbour NFLD (Gros Morne)

We are not in a rush to get going today as it is raining fairly hard.  The forecast is for a substantial amount of rain for the rest of the day.  When we finally left the camper we went to the Bonne Bay Marine Station.  They had a touch pool that Isabel loved.  David was impressed by the fact that the people talked about the fish there as food and “not like in Toronto where the Lions eat grass”.  The second stop of the day was the Gros Morne Wildlife Museum.  The museum consists of mounts of local animals in their habitat.  The displays were very well done.  

Day 27 Aug 30 2014 Rocky Harbour NFLD (Gros Morne)

Day 27     Aug 30 2014    Rocky Harbour NFLD   (Gros Morne)

We stopped at the Arches on the way to Gros Morne so we could see the Arches at a higher tide.  I was extremely windy and the waves were impressive.  We walked into two different falls in Gros Morne.  The first was a 10 km round trip into Bakers Brook Falls.  On the way we walked past a Moose Exclusion area which is an area that was fenced off in 2009.  The area shows the difference in forest regeneration that the browsing of the moose causes.  There is a stark difference between the exclusion area and feeding area of the moose.  NFLD is supposed to have 120 000 moose and Gros Morne is supposed to have 5000 moose in the park boundary.  The second falls we walked into were the South Brook Falls.  To get a good look at the falls we had to pass the safety fencing and Evy was starting to get a little worried where I was letting her kids go.  

Day 26 Aug 29 2014 Portland Creek Pond

Day 26   Aug 29 2014    Portland Creek Pond

The temperature outside when we woke up at 8:55 AM was a balmy 7 deg c.  The electric heater was running on high all night keeping the camper at a very comfortable temperature.   Our first stop of the day was at the Dr. Grenfell Museum in St. Anthony.  He was an amazing man that brought health care and orphanages to northern NFLD in the late 1800 and early 1900.  After we went to Fishing Point Head where Evy saw a whale and we climbed the 476 stairs of the Dare Devil Trail.  Once I made it to the top and my heart slowed to a safe pace the view was amazing.   We finished the day with a 300 km drive from St. Anthony to Mountain Water Resort camp ground.

Day 25 Aug 28 2014 L’anse aux Medows NFLD

Day 25    Aug 28 2014    L’anse aux Medows  NFLD

We made it to the Norse site at L’anse aux Medows today.  I learned how the Vikings made bog iron.   The recreated Viking building was interesting and substantially warmer than I thought it would be inside.  The outside temperature was 10 deg c with quite a bit of wind. There was a very small fire going making it  quite warm inside with surprisingly little smoke.  The little village of L’anse aux Medows is very pretty but very isolated.  We forgot to store our drinking water container after lunch.  When we opened the camper to set up we encountered a broken jug and lots of wet things in the camper. 

Day 24 Aug 27 2014 Portland Creek Pond

Day 24     Aug 27 2014    Portland Creek Pond

The kids started their day by doing some homework.  The rest of the day entailed driving from the Codroy camp ground to a camp ground at Portland Creek Pond.  It was 400  km drive with some of the biggest hills we have encountered on our drive so far.  We stopped at the Arches Provincial Park just before we got to the camp site.  While looking at the rock formation I got soaked by a large wave when I was not paying attention.

Day 23 Aug 26 2014 Codroy Nfld.

Day 23             Aug 26 2014    Codroy Nfld.

We ended up staying at the Codroy camp ground a second night.  The day included a trip to the Cape Anguille light house and the Rose Blanche light house.  On the way to the Rose Blanche light house we stopped at Barachios Falls.  There were lots of blue berries at the falls so Isabel and I had a good feed.   Isabel, David and I climbed about 1/3 of the way up the falls.  The kids wanted to keep going but I figured it was getting to steep for the mountain climbing flip flops that they were wearing.  There is a fish packing plant about 5 km from the camp ground where we bought some fresh fish for lunch, it was excellent.  

Day 22 Aug 25 2014 Codroy Nfld.

Day 22             Aug 25 2014    Codroy Nfld.

We took the ferry from North Sydney NS to Channel Port Aux Basque today.  It was a nice calm ride and we saw a big pod of whales.  There were also lots of jelly fish in the water.  When we got to Nfld we drove about 30 km to the Grand Codroy Camp ground in Codroy.  It is a really nice camp ground overlooking a river.  It is also the cheapest camp ground of the trip at $30 per night taxes and firewood included.  Coincidently the free firewood also provided the first camp fire of the trip resulting in us eating a lot of smores.  We were only going to stay one night but will probably stay two.

Day 21 Aug 24 2014 North Sydney NS

Day 21             Aug 24 2014    North Sydney NS

To start the day we went to Giant MacAskill’s museum in Englishtown, it was not what I was expecting but the kids enjoyed it.  We used the inflatable boat and motor for the first time today.   We went for a ride down what I think is called Little Bras d’Or channel or river.  We put in very close to our camp ground and drove till we got to the ocean at Alders Point about 6 miles later.  We ventured into the ocean a little bit but as soon as we got out of the protection of the land the waves got pretty big.  The kids tried some fishing from the boat and David caught one but nothing worth keeping.  When we got back to the camp ground I was standing by the truck and heard someone call to a child named Vela.  I looked up and there was a friend (Jennifer McCallum) from Kincardine walking with her 2 kids.   Isabel was thrilled to have a friend to play with and we had company for supper.  It is a small world!!!!

Day 20 Aug 23 2014 North Sydney NS

Day 20   Aug 23 2014    North Sydney NS

We moved from Baddeck to North Sydney, the campground is a lot quieter and there is much more to see in the Sydney area.  Today we went to the Miners Museum in Glace Bay and had a tour of the model coal mine.   It was interesting and made me glad that I did not have to work in a coal mine.  On the way back to the camper we stopped at a restaurant beside the North Sydney ferry terminal.  The food was excellent and David had a plate of mussels and a plate of calamari for supper.

Day 19 Aug 22 2014 Baddeck NS

Day 19             Aug 22 2014    Baddeck NS

We drove from Red Point PEI to Baddeck NS with a ferry crossing from Wood Island PEI to Caribou NS.  We found a campground on the Bras D’or Lake called Adventures East Campground in Baddeck NS.  It is the noisiest campground of the trip so far. 

Day 18 Aug 21 2014 Red Point PEI

Day 18             Aug 21 2014    Red Point PEI

Today we went to Charlottetown and walked around the down town area.  At Cow’s we had the most expensive ice cream of the trip and least amount served that I have ever had.   A single consist of just one little ball of ice cream in a cone; it was however very good ice cream.  We checked out the basilica, which was a very ornate church.  There was an expo going on as well and Isabel went in the bouncy castle and the both tried out a sports simulator.

Day 17 Aug 20 2014 Red Point PEI

Day 17             Aug 20 2014    Red Point PEI

We moved to Red Point Provincial Park today, it is a beautiful camp ground right on the ocean.  Once we were set up the kids and I went for a walk on the beach while Evy prepared lunch.  After lunch we went for a ride to the East Point lighthouse and climbed up it to get a few pictures.  After dark the Kids and I went for a flash light walk on the beach and found thousands of white bugs that came out of the sand, we also found a few crabs.   David managed to get pinched multiple times by two different crabs.  On the way back to the camper we stopped and watched the stars and Isabel made sand angels on the beach.

Day 16 Aug 19 2014 New Annan PEI

Day 16             Aug 19 2014    New Annan PEI

Today we drove along the North Cape Coastal Drive of PEI.  We stopped at several beaches and provincial parks.  We found lots of crabs, shells and snails and saw some nice scenery. For lunch we had a picnic overlooking the ocean and for supper we ate overlooking the bay in  Summerside at a seafood restaurant.   David tried clams for the first time and really liked them, I thought they were gross.

Day 15 Aug 18 2014 New Annan PEI

Day 15             Aug 18 2014    New Annan PEI

Today we drove across the Confederation Bridge.  When we got to our camp ground it was raining so hard that we left the camper connected to the truck and cooked our lunch.   After a while the rain stopped long enough to set the camper up.  We went for a walk along the shore line to look for sea shells.  We got a few shells before it started raining hard.   The rest of the day was spent hanging around the camp ground.

Day 14 Aug 17 2014 Moncton NB

Day 14    Aug 17 2014    Moncton NB

This was our last day in Moncton as we are heading to the Crystal Beach campground in PEI tomorrow.  We had a very active day today as we visited the Hopewell Rocks and Cape Fury on the bay of Fundy.  We arrived just before the lowest tide and walked the beach taking lots of pictures of the rock formations.  Isabel got stuck in the mud and had to be rescued, I got a nice video of it.  We had a picnic in the parking lot of the Hopewell rock visitors center and bbq’d  some sausages.  Once lunch was done we went for a ride along the coast line to the fishing village of Alma with a stop at Cape Fury on the way.  We spent a fair bit of time playing on the rocky beach and watching the tide come in.   On the way back to Moncton we stopped to see what high tide looked like at the Hopewell rocks area.  It is definitely impressive how high the tides are in this area.

Day 13 Aug 16 2014 Moncton NB

Day 13             Aug 16 2014    Moncton NB

Today we went to the Magic Mountain water park.  It was cloudy, windy and around 22 deg c.   Evy and I only went on a few slides as it was cold.  We stayed at the water park for approximately 4 hours.  Today was our third feeding of Beaver Tails,  David and I had the standard for us and Isabel and Evy tried a new flavor.  We followed up the activities of the day with a trip to Costco.  They had down pack jackets for men so I got one, I also got a nice wind proof, water resistant jacket for the overseas trip.   When we got back to the campground there were a bunch of kids trick or treating, so we let our kids go and they came back with a big bag of candy.  Now for the highlight of the day--------------------------we did laundry!!!!

Day 12 Aug 15 2014 Moncton NB

Day 12             Aug 15 2014    Moncton NB

It was raining hard when we woke up today.  We left the trailer around 1 pm today and went to watch the tidal bore coming up the river.  We only had to wait 15 to 20 minutes before it showed up.  After viewing the tidal bore we went to a newly opened museum close to Tidal Bore Park.  The museum had a discovery center that the kids enjoyed.  The weather cleared up in the afternoon and we went to the Magnetic Hill Zoo.  

Day 11 Aug 14 2014 Moncton NB

Day 11    Aug 14 2014    Moncton NB

We woke up to rain and pulled out of Grand falls in the rain with a temp of 18 deg c.  In Heartland NB we stopped to tour the “Covered Bridge” chip factory.  The free samples were good.   Isabel bought a tube of bubble gum that is taller than she is.   Once in Moncton we went to the famous Magnetic Hill.  David and Isabel now think that the reason the car rolled up the hill is that aliens once landed there and magnetized the hill.  Next to the Magnetic Hill is the Warf Village where we had our second supper of Beaver Tails on the trip.  

Day 10 Aug 13 2014 Grand Falls New Brunswick

Day 10 Aug 13 2014    Grand Falls  New Brunswick  

We drove from Quebec City  to Grand Falls NB.  We took a drive around the town and stopped to look at the dam on the Saint John River in town.  David went zip lining across the river and I managed to get a few good pictures of him.   We had a late supper, finishing just after 9 pm.  The weather has taken a turn for the worse and it looks like it will be cool and raining the next few days.