All Things Vonderful And Goot

Happy Monday folks!  That is exactly how this blog began, some two days ago.  We have been so busy here that there has been no time to really sit down and give this blog all I like to give it.  So I'd write a bit here, a bit there.  But we had work to do in the morning, day trips in the afternoon and evening, and a house full of people all night.  Which are all wonderful distractions.  But it has also been too long since the last update and we've had so many adventures that need to be recounted that this one, I shall warn you in advance, is going to be somewhat of an epic.  Grab a beer, pop some corn, we're going to be here for a while.

Anyway, when last we left off it was a rainy Thursday afternoon and we did not have much to do so we just relaxed.  We had quite a few guests that night and everyone was quite cool.  We spent the evening drinking beers and playing "Would You Rather" with Michael Jordan, one of our favorite local residents.  It was good times all around.  Especially so, playing with MJ as he seemed to have one of his trademark stories to accompany each and every card he pulled.

Friday we got up a bit late (as we tend to do here) and got our work done and made our way back to Elliston to get another glimpse of the puffins and, being a clearer day with hardly any wind, it was far more enjoyable.  More crowded, but that comes with the times, as it is.  The puffins were just as adorable the second time around, if not more so.  The island was full of them, just coast-to-coast puffins.  There is another island, a little further out, that is also covered in puffins, for those with binoculars, effective zoom lenses, or superhuman vision.  Oh, and watching puffins fly is one of the true highlights of this voyage.  They work so hard but they get it done.

In the foreground, the main bird island.  The island in the background, if you look closely, is also covered in puffins.

Noble puffin, standing guard.  Or just chillin'.

I find puffin culture fascinating.  I love to just sit there and watch them interact.  They all seem to simultaneously have something to do and nothing at all to do.  Not a bad life.

Three Cool Puffins

Once we got out of the puffin park area we wandered around a bit nearby (though all within a 50 meter radius) and saw various examples of geological beauty and other sorts of business.  Elliston is a cute little town and we need to stop going there at 5pm, when everything is closed.  Fortunately beautiful rocks never close.

This is a tiny little arm that would be amazing to hang out in if the water weren't so cold.  In the background you can see both of the puffin-covered islands.

If you look closely you can see that this island is separated by a small natural archway.  I would love to kayak through that.  Add a nice little iceberg to the mix and you have it made.

A closer look at that iceberg.  They never get old.

Root cellar, double-decker double-wide.

An old, slightly dilapidated fishing hut in Elliston.  These things are everywhere and any photo of this place that might include one of these is visual gold.

Our next stop was at Lockston Path Provincial Park where we did a short hike near the lake.  There is a longer hike which we will do one of these days but the short one was all we had in us.  The park is not too far from where the hostel is but you have to drive about 5km down a gravel road to get there which is always fun.  Attila really appreciates these gravel roads.  Yeah.

The shimmering lake at Lockston Path.  There is a swimming area that Krissy is dying to check out.  

A messy mass of moss and ferns.

From there we made our way back to the house and cooked dinner and stayed up very late with Brook and Jake, guests and new friends, as well as another one-nighter guest, Maria.  We told stories of travel and life and whatnot and it was a great time.  Again, this is one of my favorite aspects of this trip.  I love meeting and talking with new people.  In an environment like this, you get a chance to hear all sorts of tales, refine your own stories, and make new friends from all over the map.

Saturday we woke up extremely late and did our work....for those of you who may wonder what our work comprises of, there is always stuff like sweeping, mopping, making beds, doing dishes, cleaning the kitchen, etc.  That does not take long and there are sometimes four of us working on it so that is rarely more than twenty minutes.  Then we have projects we are working on.  Krissy's big undertaking is to cut out all the sod in the front yard for a garden that they are planning on building here.  I think I mentioned before how I was working with her on the first day and then busted up my hand.  So I spent my week peeling wallpaper from a small house next door (which will eventually be used to house staff) until I finished on Saturday.  We only do this for three hours a day, mind you.  Not too shabby.  Today I started in on helping Krissy in the garden again.  She is digging the sod and I am flipping it.  Tough work but it feels good.

So anyway, we did that and got cleaned up but we didn't wind up going anywhere.  The weather wasn't too bad but it wasn't too nice either and we were feeling a bit lazy and ragged out from the prior few days.  So we hung out at the hostel all day and Krissy baked like a hundred snickerdoodles and we played a crazy awesome game with Dave and Kent called Dutch Blitz ("it's vonderful goot fun", the box proudly states).  We played for several hours and I am the runaway champion with 340 points.  Very fun.  Later on, Brook and Jake returned from their day of fun and we had a barbecue.  We made burgers and sausages and roasted potatoes and veggies and lots of beer.  It was wise.  As the evening progressed the crowd grew.  Mel, Melanie, and Melanie's sister Alicia came by and of course Dave and Kent, and Michael Jordan was here too.  We had a nice little rager way into the evening.  Among the night's festivites were me getting my Dutch Blitz pride kicked back down to earth by proving myself to be the world's worst foosball player but it's cool, you don't have to win em all.  We all got a bit busted up that night but it was a lot of fun.  As is pretty much every night.  

Woke up Sunday late - but still before most of the people in the house - and got some work done.  There was cleaning to do after the busy weekend as well as a bit out in the garden.  We knocked off and had lunch and went down to Justin's to help him put together a table.  Trinity East to the core, Justin was raised here and eventually bought a piece of land and built his own house, more or less by himself.  There was a lot of care in making the house not only fit in with the community aesthetic but also be a highlight.  And it sure is.  He just moved in a few weeks ago and there is still a great deal of little stuff to deal with, like trims and furnishings and such, but that house is a true work of art, inside and out.  I don't have a photo of it but perhaps one will come soon.  

After we got ourselves cleaned up we went for a drive to a place called Keels, home of the Devil's Footprints, which are these odd, somewhat hoof-shaped indentations in the rock.  It wasn't all that I was expecting it to be, and it is not all that clearly marked either, but Keels is a pretty little town and it was fun to climb on the top of those rocks and take in the view.

A little bit of bergy business, on the way to Keels.

See that hoof-shaped indentation in the rock? There are quite a few of these mysterious blemishes around here and these are known as the devil's footprints.  Because why not?

Hans on the rock with Keels in the background.

 After visiting Keels we went further on down the road to take short drives through towns such as King's Cove, Open Hall, and Tickle Cove.  Not much to do down there except admire the small quaint communities that dot the coastline.  There is something intensely romantic and awe-inspiring about these sorts of places.  They may be connected to the rest of civilization by roads (which is not the case in several communities in the south) but there is very little that is within reasonable reach.  Obviously it cannot be easy to live in places like that, especially in the Winter, and these are the sorts of places where the population is diminishing, as there is little work to be had.  But spirits remain high, as is the Newfoundland way.  It's good to make the best of what you've got.

We saw this little guy on the side of the road as we were heading down towards Open Hall.  

I love how this looks like two bergs connected by an isthmus.  Of course, that is only the tip of the iceberg.  Literally.

Another example of Outport Newfoundland resilience.  This house is built right into the rock and there is no road that leads to it.  And it is probably the best spot around.

There are a lot of dilapidated houses around, especially along the coast where the salt and the wind and the spray ages houses very quickly.  I have no idea how old these structures are but I guarantee that they are not nearly as old as they look.

A wee fixer-upper.

Water, mountains, pier, boats, lobster pot....the checklist is complete.

Once done with that end of the peninsula we made our way back and had dinner, once again, at the Bonavista Social Club.  And, once again, it was fantastic.  Krissy got pasta with asparagus, bacon, and roasted parsnip and I got the moose burger.  As far as bang-for-buck goes, the pizzas are where it's at, and that is what we will get next time we are there, but what we got was delicious.  It was good to see Hubert and Valerie, who work there and volunteer at the Bonavista hostel.  Like many of the folks we've come across on our travels, they are very sweet people. 

We made it back to the hostel around 7 or so and it was relatively quiet.  Krissy popped out for a quick walk and got a few great photos of the harbor at sunset.  After she came back we played this fun little tile game called Quirkle for several hours and hung out with Kayla and Mike, who were our only guests that night.  Sometimes I really enjoy the wild crowded nights but sometimes the quiet nights are more enjoyable.  We still managed to get a little busted up, because we might as well.  It's all part of the fun.

Sometimes the colors get wickedly vibrant at sunset in Trinity East.
This would make for a fantastic postcard.

The sky gets so dramatic up here. 

This place is known locally as "Asscrack Rock".  I'm sure you can see why.

Monday we woke up and cleaned up a bit.  I started this very blog entry but did not get as far as planned.  Obviously, since it is two days later and I am still writing it.  I helped Krissy out in the garden patch for a couple of hours, turning sod.  It was pretty intense work.  Sod is very heavy.   But it made me feel tough so it's all good.  Afterwards we got all cleaned up and went on a hike with Dave, Kent, and Justin.  We did one of those park-one-car-at-one-end-and-start-at-the-other hikes on a trail that goes between Catalina and Melrose.  Part of the trail links up with part of the Murphy's Cove trail, which we had done a few days prior.  It was a glorious day to be on a hike.  Temps in the 70s, barely a cloud in the sky.  We came across this spot that Kent rightly declared as "the greatest spot in the history of everything".  It is a section of rock that is right on the water, just these massive banks of very old sedimentary rock and, through tectonics, it had all been broken up and pushed up to about a 30 degree angle.  This one particular rock we hung around was as smooth as smooth could be and you could totally lay back and relax, with the sun and sky overhead and the sound of subtle waves crashing, lulling us into a most relaxed state.  Next to the mound on the Skerwink trail, this might be my favorite spot I've been to.  Of course, up here, listing favorite spots is like trying to list favorite Beatles songs.  There are too many worthy contenders for the top slots and it often ends up being a too-many-way tie.  

Days like these make all the cold rainy days worthwhile.

Rock, rock, rock.

That water is so clear and so blue.  And so cold.

Krissy's on edge.

Andersons on the greatest rock of all time.

The Skirwinkle All-Stars (l-r: Dave, Hans, Justin, Kent)

Water on the rocks.

Hans gets a bit red and a bit cheesy in the greatest spot in the history of everything.

Krissy pauses, mid-frolic.  

From there we headed back to the hostel and chilled out for a bit.  We had many guests booked for the evening so all hell was about to break loose so we took advantage of the quiet moments and hung out with Justin.  Played a few rounds of Quirkle and Krissy headed out to do the Skerwink trail before the sun set.  I stayed back with Justin and he played me a few traditional Newfoundland songs on the accordion and then we went on a walk to try and see some whales.  We walked to the bluff near Asscrack Rock and saw some whales spraying but none were breaching.  We then came across these three frat-type dudes who were staying at the hostel and Justin led us down to Sam White's Cove, which is this little section that, on the other side, links up to the Skerwink trail.  Still just saw sprays but at least we now know that the whales are here.  It is just going to get busier and busier, especially once the caplin start rolling in.  I did not get any photos of my adventure but Krissy got some of hers and, my, did she see some business.

Skerwink vista, soon before sunset.

The Fort Point Lighthouse in the background, soon before sunset on the Skerwink Trail.

Another little fox cub, hangin' out and hamming it up.

Awesome.  Just.

Farm Pond, at the end of the Skerwink trail, on the edge of a beautiful night.  Those clouds you see would be totally gone by the time it got totally dark.

Oh yeah.  And Krissy even saw a moose on this trip.  Although I had a good time on my own I still kinda feel like the Blitz.

We came back to the hostel and it was quite crowded.  We had several guests that evening.  Some of them were cool and some of them were about as annoying as possible.  Michael Jordan was holding court and the guests were quite enjoying his stories, because they are hilarious and he is a trip.  But the chaos was a bit much for us and it wasn't all that long before all four of us escaped the crowd and went up the hill in back of the hostel and gazed at the stars.  Dave was taking some amazing photos and giving Krissy pointers on how to manually take photos in really dark places.  Unfortunately her camera is not fancy enough to be able to take those kinds of photos but she took a few on Dave's camera.  

The Milky Way rises right out of Trinity East.

This may have to be the back cover of the next FDM release.

 We were out there for a couple hours at least and the party inside raged on and on.  Quiet hours technically begin at 11pm but I went to bed after 3am and this place was still bangin'.  You guys have been hearing me say how much I dig the guests and the experiences we have with them, and I do quite enjoy them.  But, like most things, it is something best appreciated in moderation.  I kind of hit my wall that night and just did not want to be in the middle of a big party.  On one hand, it's fun to be part of the regular crew at the hostel because every night is a new experience and we get to hang out and party with all sorts of different people, on a rotating basis.  To the guests, this place is a fun distraction from the rest of their travels (because there is no place around that is quite like this) and they can throw down hard for a night or two and then move on.  But when you are here, in the thick of it, the every night thing can get a bit tiring.  Part of this is why it has been five days since I've updated the blog.  From what we've been told, but the time August rolls around, every bed in this place will be booked and every room will be wall to wall people.  That would be a bit much for me.  Apparently that is what the St. John's hostel is going to be like but we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

Now, don't get me wrong - I am not complaining.  I never in a million years would complain about this.  Debauchery and new friendships and the occasional need for escape....that all trumps working at a bank in Virginia.  I would be a fool to think otherwise.  Even thinking about thinking about it is a bit too much.  I'm just saying that sometimes a quiet night (or, at least, a night with few guests) is pretty awesome now and again.  

Anyway, yesterday we woke up, not as late as we could have but still quite late.  We had a fun job in store for us - we got to dig a trench.  I spoke before of the little house next door.  Well, it needs plumbing and so the water will be run from the main hostel house so we had to dig a trench that was about 12" x 12" x 30 feet or so.  There was four of us working on it and then Mel came and helped us and we got it mostly done so decided to break for the day, eat some lunch, and hang out.  We were all a bit torn up so there was no big day hike to be done or anything.  But we wanted to get out and see a few small things so we hopped in the car and drove down 239 until we got to the site of the Random Passage film, which is a resettled community that was rebuilt for a movie set and left as is.  It supposedly is a faithful recreation of an old outport community in Newfoundland.  We got there kind of late so we did not actually pay admission and go in.  We will do that sometime before we leave and report more on it later.

On the way back up the road we stopped into New Bonaventure which is the village where The Grand Seduction was filmed.  Having just seen it, it was cool to recognize all the houses and various landmarks.  Then we popped into Old Bonaventure and snapped some photos but did not stay long.  We also were aiming for the Fort Point Lighthouse but had a hard time getting there because the road signs here are not always the most helpful so we went down a few different roads that just ended up leading us through some little hidden communities.  We eventually made it to the lighthouse and it was cool to be at this spot after having seen the lighthouse, and photographed it, from just about every different angle.  Now we got to stand there and point out all the spots we had been.  You can get a nice panorama of Trinity, Trinity East, and part of the Skerwink Trail, as well as Asscrack Rock, Blackberry Point, and Sam White's Cove, as well as other little spots that have become familiar to us.  Krissy was not feeling so hot, unfortunately, so we did not stay there long and got very few photos.  We shall return and it shall be easier now that we know how to get there (it involves about 4km of narrow gravel road, because that's the way it is).

The coast over near the Random Passage site.  We saw many whales off the coast here.

This area is full of quaint old clapboard Anglican churches.  Again, I am not a church guy but I just love a place like this.

Hey look - the flowers have bloomed!

Another awesome spot, near the Random Passage site.

New Bonaventure.  Those of you who were wise enough to see the Grand Seduction will recognize a lot of this.  This is also the same town where the Shipping News was filmed.

Old Bonaventure.  Nothing was filmed here that I know of but it is still a charming little spot.

The Fort Point Lighthouse, close-up.  There will be more from this place later.

Came back to the hostel and had a great BBQ with Justin and Melanie and Mel which was very nice.  People like them, along with the natural beauty here, make me really want to just buy a house and stay.  Winter would be a bitch but good people can make even the coldest weather feel warm.  And these are some of the best.  I wish we had more time to spend with them.

So yeah, we ended up with even more guests last night than the night before and we again escaped the masses and made a bonfire in the back.  It was a perfect accent to a chilly night and a perfect refuge from the rager going on inside.  Eventually Krissy, Dave, Mel, and I took a walk into the woods, to get to the darkest area we could find.  It was a little spooky out there but not really all that scary.  They got some great photos and I just quietly took in the stars.  See, we don't get good stars at home.  The light pollution doesn't allow for much more than the big dipper and some planets and such.  Here you get to see the bits between the bits, and the bits between those as well.  Oh, and the milky way, smeared across the night sky, and shooting stars all over the place.  Such a fantastic sight.  Too bad it gets chilly at night.  Otherwise, I'd stay out there til it got light.  

The stars go wild over the pond.

Stars are inspiring.

Another album-cover-worthy shot.

That pretty much brings us up to date.  Came back to the house and slept pretty hard.  Got up and finished digging the trench outside.  We all feel accomplished.  The weather today is not spectacular.  Not too terrible, it's just a bit chiller and windier than the past couple of days and it is trying very hard to rain.  So I don't feel bad about declaring today a nothing-but-blogging day.  Krissy baked some brownies and maybe I will play some guitar a little later.  We only have one guest staying tonight so it should be a nice relaxing evening.  Tomorrow we have about seven guests staying, so the craziness shall resume then.  We will enjoy it then but first we shall enjoy this as it is now.

Oh yeah, one last thing - today marks one month that we have been in Newfoundland.  As I have said many times before, coming here was a dream long in the making.  All the time spent looking at maps and globes and reading guidebooks and tourist pamphlets and reading websites and watching tourism ads and Republic Of Doyle and listening to Great Big Sea and all that....any expectations I may have had about this place were met and exceeded and continue to do so on a daily basis.  I can only hope that these words and pictures properly convey, to all of you, the majesty of this place.  To know that I still get to be here for two more months just blows my mind.  

In about a week we will actually celebrate two months on the road.  I can't say that I find it hard to believe that it has been that long because we have done so much in that time.  We're talking years worth of adventures, decades even.  All crammed into two months, and still counting.  I never in my life thought I would be able to pull off something like this but now that I have I can't even imagine it ending.  This is just far too much fun - this is exactly what life should be about.  I would feel inclined to call myself lucky but it's not really luck that has brought us here.  We worked hard to get here and this adventure is the result of a year's planning and a year's worth of scrimping and saving, working overtime, and just working up the nerve to make such a big, life-changing decision.  I guess where luck comes in is that everything seems to be going off without a hitch.  Because this is pretty much perfect.

Anyway, that is about that and we are now up to date.  The rest of the day will likely be spent enjoying the silence.  I will try and not make it too long again without blogging but we'll have to see how everything goes.  Like the weather in Newfoundland, things at the hostel can change in the blink of an eye.  And all we need to do is roll with it, one way or another.  We hope all is well with everyone.  We miss you guys lots.  As a bonus treat, here is a video of a bunch of puffins.  Watch them fly.