Gravel? Or Molasses?

Good morning kiddos!  My, did we have quite the beautiful stretch of weather the last couple of days. But, as it always seems to be in Newfoundland, nothing is ever constant and, once again, we are at the onset of a predicted few days of rain.  But that's okay.  Even a rainy day in Newfoundland is better than a sunny day in many other places.  And even though it says today that it will rain tomorrow that doesn't actually mean that it will rain for real.  Things change frequently here.  All you can do is roll with it and do your best to enjoy whatever part of the ride you're on.

When last these fingers flew here we were sitting out a rainy Monday and, to be honest, there was not much exciting goings-on to really report on in any certain amount of detail.  Our biggest adventure of the day was to drive to Catalina (which is pronounced Cat-uh-LINE-uh) to do some grocery shopping.  Made out way back to the hostel and made dinner and hung out with Dave and Kent and Justin and our guests for the evening.  We drank some beers and wine and broke out the "Would You Rather" cards and had a fun time with those, getting the other guests involved, and doing our best to argue the merits of, say, having underwear filled with gravel versus molasses (this is, three days later, still a hotly debated issue).

Tuesday we did our work in the morning and then headed up to the Port Union area to do a hike at Murphy's Cove.  This is a 7km hike that takes you through bogs and whatnot as well as some dramatic cliffside trails.  Like many of the trails up here, they are non-intrusive and are only about a foot wide, with steep sides.  I like the idea of that, to keep the landscape looking as natural as possible, but at the same time it can be difficult to navigate when the trail gets overgrown.  Often times it is easy to get confused between what might be the official trail and what might be a moose trail that leads you to, well, not where you are hoping to end up.  This trail was possibly the worst in that regard but I knew exactly where we were, geographically, so I knew that we would not get lost.  And the weather was gorgeous.  The only downside was that we did not bring water and we sure could have used some. And there were many times when we had to trudge through some soggy bogs.  But all is well.  We survived.  And it was worth it.

Still a bit of bergy business here on the peninsula but I don't imagine they will be here for long.  

Seriously, icebergs never get old.

A cool little tide pool on the Murphy's Cove trail.

There is no shortage of interesting mosses up here but these little moss-balls are some of the most interesting.

Beautiful, beautiful coast.

Green Island Lighthouse, the last manned lighthouse in Newfoundland.  And it is on a island.  Intense.

This trail is a loop but actually ends at the bottom of a road lined with houses.  While walking back to the car we struck up a conversation with an older lady who was talking an evening stroll.  Despite being around Newfoundlanders for quite some time now, and getting very used to their accent and manner of speaking, I can honestly say that I have no idea what she was going on about.  Krissy managed to hang in there a bit better but I was just lost, just nodding and laughing at the appropriate times.  But it didn't really matter because, like most everyone else here, she was warm and friendly and an absolute pleasure to talk to.  We made it back to the hostel and, like the night before, we drank beers and hung out and got the "Would You Rather" cards going again.  Got to bed way late but that is okay here.  We just keep it rollin'.

Woke up yesterday and did our work for the day and then made our way to Clarenville, which is bigger, strip-mall type of town about an hour away.  We headed in early to do some laundry, since the washer at the hostel is busted and we had two big loads to do, and then went to Don Cherry's for dinner (which I will admit was not all that great....shoulda just gone to A&W).  The main purpose for heading all the way down there was to see The Grand Seduction in the theater.  It is a fantastic movie, set in an isolated Newfoundland outport (but filmed in and around Trinity) about a town who tries to lure a doctor employing every kind of comedic manipulation you can imagine.  Charming and hilarious and it really is the Newfoundland we have come to know and love so much.  And made even more special because we saw it in a theater full of Newfoundlanders.  It is playing in the States at some of the artsier theaters, such as Shirlington and Cinema Arts in Fairfax.  I highly recommend everyone go see it.





The drive home was mildly terrifying, I have to say.  We've been warned against driving in Newfoundland at night, for all the moose around, and have heard some terrible stories to go along with those warnings.  So we were quite cautious on those long dark roads, going way under the speed limit, and both sets of our eyes looking out.  And it's a good thing because we saw three moose on our way back, one of which was crossing the road.  In the dark, even with headlights, they barely look like shadows.  You really have to pay attention to avoid hitting them.  Of course, those three moose were only the ones we actually saw.  I shudder to think of all the ones we did not see.  We have only one rule for this trip and that is to not die.  Simple enough, so long as we mind the moose.  We shall try and avoid driving at night in the future.

That's about it.  Today is a rainy day so we won't be doing much outside.  We have a work project to do this afternoon which should be interesting and tonight it seems we have a rather packed house so that should be fun as well.  Most of the guests have been really cool to hang out with.  Some of them have been older and don't really want much to do with us.  But that's how it goes.  It's the rolling nature of all the people that makes this so interesting, and the ones who are constant that make it so enjoyable.

Lastly, I want to send some long-distance love all the way down to Pooler GA to my hilarious and awesome nieces, Kaya and Kaylie, who hit the big 8 today.  Uncle Hans and Aunt Krissy love and miss you both so much and look forward to seeing you guys in September.

And, with that, I am going to make a sandwich.