Baccalieuie Louie and a Killer Sushi Roll

Good morning and a happy Saturday to you all! Once again I am starting my day working in the office. Only been here 20 min so far so there are no big shakes. Of course, other than the washing machine, which was repaired and then crapped out again. Don't know when a repairman will finally get here so there will be another trip to the laundromat today. Fortunately it will be one of the other helpers who will go but it is still a pain because we have beds that need to be turned over and we don't have the sheets to do so as of yet. I will miss a lot of things about this place but laundry is one thing that I will be glad to be done with. Of course, the washer at the Skerwink hostel is still busted, from what I hear, so I guess we will have to contend with it once we are there but it's a much less hectic place so it won't be nearly the inconvenience that it is here.

 So, even though it's only been a few days since my last post, we have done quite a bit. We were off on Thursday and the weather was glorious so we hit the road, taking in the Baccalieu Trail, which is the larger of two northern peninsulas on the big Avalon Peninsula. It was a perfect day for a drive even though we did get to a late start and did not get on the road until noon or so. Took the TCH over and started the drive on the far side. This took us through many cool and quaint little fishing villages on the east side of Trinity Bay, including the unfortunate-but-hilariously-named Dildo. Legend has it that it was named by Captain James Cook because it looked particularly phallic. Then again, that can be said about any of the thousand or so peninsulas that jut out from this island. It was a nice little picturesque harbor. We popped into the museum and had a look around. Krissy says it wasn't worth it and she might be right but it's always nice to see the stories and artifacts from these little coastal communities. Of course, much of those stories read the same way - fish, fish, fish, shipwreck, fish, fish, fish, and they all end with the 1992 cod moratorium and the destruction of the fishing industry and the hard times that follow. This, of course, is not to trivialize it; it's a sad, unfortunate fate. And it is something that we have seen, time and time again, in all the various communities we have visited. After a while, I will admit, it becomes so expected that perhaps the museum visit isn't altogether necessary. But still rewarding, I suppose.

A small dock in Dildo.

This man is Captain Dildo and this is his squid.  You can't make this stuff up.

The town of Dildo.

See?  I told you I wasn't making this up.

A couple of lobster pots on the shores of Whiteway.

A piece of the harbour at Whiteway with Shag Rock in the background.

From there, you find a string of communities, all in a row - Heart's Desire, Heart's Delight, and Heart's Content. I am not making this up. They are all typical Newfoundland villages and I am sure each one has a museum and a story to tell but we did not stop in the villages. We did stop at a particularly lush field, somewhere between two of the Heart's, where we frolicked around and scrambled on rocks and took in the coast. While sitting in the field I realized that we were surrounded by wild strawberries. You see, in the Summertime, berries grow in the wild all over Newfoundland but this was our first time seeing them up close and personal. So we sat for a while and ate strawberries and even though they were tiny (often not much bigger than a blueberry) they were the best strawberries I ever had in my life. So incredibly sweet. I want to drive around with a bucket. Even though it would take forever to fill the bucket the resulting strawberry shortcake would be the greatest in the known world.

So many wildflowers here.  And hidden within this beautiful mess....wild berries.

Lush grass, blue water, clearing skies....perfect.

Hans, chuckin' stones.

Yet another piece of the amazing coastal scenery in Heart's Desire.

Wild strawberries.  Tiny but the most delicious things in the world.

They make me very, very happy.

 From there we visited a lighthouse, in Heart's Content. In stark contrast to the lighthouse we visited in the last blog post, this was the most adorable little barber-pole/candy-cane of a lighthouse. It sits high on a rock but it is easy to climb down the cliff, at least part of it, for some amazing vistas. There was a lush patch of long, soft, wavy grass and I laid down there for a while and just enjoyed the fresh smell and the sound of the sea. If we had more time, I could have stayed there all day. But we needed to move along since it was already late in the afternoon.

Heart's Content Lighthouse, against a beautiful blue sky.

If you look closely you will see me down there, lounging in the grass.  I got a few little spiders on me but it was worth it, to kick back in the most comfortable spot ever.

Sometimes the flowers grow in fields.  Sometimes a rogue sprouts right up from the cracks in the rock.

Krissy is happy to be in such a beautiful spot.

We wound further up the coast through various villages including Old Perlican, which is home to Kent, our buddy from the Skerwink hostel. We made it to the top of the peninsula in a place called Grates Cove which is yet another old fishing community that sits proudly in its little harbor. Krissy went exploring with her camera to find breathtaking sceney as well as a reconstructed fishing stage, which provides even further understanding of how life was way back when. While she was doing that I sat up at the top of the cove and enjoyed the silence. While such a silence could eventually drive someone mad I quite enjoyed it. I mean, I do enjoy the sounds of the city, of cars and people, the chatter of passers-by and seagulls alike. There is something soothing about that, at least way deep down. But the quiet?  Brilliant.

Grate's Cove

The remnants of the old stone walls in Grate's Cove.

This pile of old rusty anchors pretty much says it all.

The coast of Grate's Cove, with their tiny little lighthouse on the tip.

A detail of some of the buildings in Grate's Cove.  This is very typical of a Newfoundland coastal village.

The NL flag flies proudly (albeit backwards) in Grate's Cove.

The outside of one of the old fishing stages.

The restored interior of said fishing stage.

The window to the world.

Good old jagged coastline.

 From there we made our way down the other side of the peninsula. A little quicker than before since it was already after 5:00 and we had a long ways to go. Stopped in Carbonear, which is the closest thing to a "big town" on the peninsula and popped into a mall and I finally found a new pair of shoes which is far more exciting than it sounds. While we were driving out there was a carnival running so we stopped and walked around. Being a small town this was clearly the most exciting thing going on so pretty much the entire town was there. We decided to skip the lines and the pricey tickets and we headed out, making this the second time we visited a carnival on this trip without actually participating. Which is fine. It's the same carnie company that tours back home so it's nothing we haven't seen before or won't see again. That was pretty much our last stop of the day.

High-tailed it back to St. John's and crashed out pretty hard. It was well-earned after driving about 200 miles or so. It was a good day. Woke up yesterday and had work to do. Krissy opened up the office and I dealt with the cleaning. It rained all morning which was a bit of a bummer but it cooled this place off so that was nice. Being that we only have a week left in St. John's, and there is so much that we still need to do, we compiled a list the other day. So the afternoon/evening was spent checking various things off that list.

Our first stop was the Anglican Cathedral Of St. John the Baptist. Every afternoon they serve high tea in the crypt. It was pretty cool. Being that it is a crypt, I was kind of hoping for a creepier setting but instead it was bright and painted, with tables and doilies and all that other stuff that goes with high tea. The tea itself was excellent and they brought us a few plates of scones, breads, pastries, tarts, etc. Many of the things they brought were delicious. Some of them were weird. Our only problem was that, unlike some other high teas that we have been to, this one did not offer little sandwiches, or anything savory. It was all sweet. Which means that, by the end of it all, we both felt kinda gross.

Hans gets all proper-like in the crypt.

Krissy loves her tea.

From there we visited the Newman Wine Vaults. Once upon a time, wine - port, in particular - was a big export from this area and there were many vaults and cellars built around the city to house it all. The Newman family was the big name and they occupied this particular vault until booze came under stricter government control and it was all moved to a more modern facility. There wasn't much to the vaults but I still enjoyed being in there and I thought about how cool it would be to set up and play inside one of those places. The acoustics would be fantastic. We got to sample some of the port which was awesome. I am not a wine drinker but I appreciate port wines. It's like boozy liquid candy. And it was even better for being free.

The cavernous Newman Wine Vault.

No, those barrels don't still have wine in them.

After that we headed over to Quidi Vidi, to visit the brewery but they were about to close up so we just drove past and made a note to try again today, or sometime before we leave. Our next stop, after popping by the hostel to change and grab some things, was to Signal Hill, to see a performance of "All's Well That Ends Well". You may remember me mentioning about a local Shakespeare festval that is running all summer. We had previously seen "Taming Of The Shrew" in the park a few weeks ago and picked up tickets for the "All's Well" while we were there. Given that it was a paid performance, it was much much better than the performance we saw before. It was performed outside and they made great use of the natural scenery. While few of the actors were particularly "Shakespearean" some of them were quite good, especially the guy who played Parolles. That dude was a trip and I would love to see him in something else someday. It was a bit windy and chilly up on the hill and the crowd was quite thin but it was a great time. It threatened rain while we were there but we didn't get much more than a little moisture in the air.

We were a bit starved after that so we went to Sun Sushi for dinner. Now, I don't know if it is because we have been in Newfoundland for so long that we've forgotten what good sushi tastes like but that place was spectacular. I got a teriyaki chicken roll and Krissy got a spicy mushroom roll and then we split something called the Newfoundland roll which had all kinds of stuff going on. Very delicious, and excellent spring rolls too. The place is not cheap but it's worth it. We will definitely be going there again. Possibly even today.

On the way to the car, I popped back in to Fred's and picked up both of Sherman Downie's CDs. After my rant the other night about how awesome he is and how much you guys need to check him out I figured I probably should own some of his music, rather than getting it all on YouTube. I'm looking very forward to listening to those many, many times. When we were driving the Baccalieu Loop the other day we listened to all of the CDs I bought at Fred's on Wednesday. They were all very, very good. The big winner for me was the album by Rogues. It's that perfect blend of Celtic and not-Celtic and is very upbeat with great songwriting. Again, if you haven't checked them out yet, you should. They are actually playing tonight at the Levee but it won't be until very very late and I doubt that I will have it in me to go but we'll see.  Stay tuned to the next blog for the answer to that.  We also picked up a cheapo live Leonard Cohen album because we really need to know that man's music more. A national treasure in all parts of Canada, we definitely feel like we are missing something by only knowing him for his biggest hits. That is an issue that shall soon be remedied.

Came back to the hostel and spent the evening in the parlour playing Apples to Apples with Felix, Martin, and Stefan. Had a couple of beers and shot the bull and it was a good time. The one downside (and it's not really a bummer) to having our own room is that it is too easy to sink into our sanctuary which leaves us far less sociable than when we were at Skerwink. While it is nice to have that, and I would not trade it for anything, we also always have a great time when we do hang out. Hopefully we will do more of that over the next week or so.

And that pretty much brings us up to date. I'm halfway through my office shift and it is another rainy day in St. John's. Our plans today are mostly contingent on how long the rain lasts but I imagine that the day will end up taking us to the Quidi Vidi brewery, the Johnson Geo Centre, and maybe dinner at Yellowbelly and some music perhaps. If it dries out perhaps we will go to Pippy Park and see the botanical gardens and Fluvarium. Those are all on the list. We will get to them at some point in the next week. Stay tuned to the next blog for further tales.

Lastly, before I go, I want to pay tribute to my old friend Maureen Wolf, who passed away yesterday after a long and difficult battle with cancer. I worked with Maureen at Baskin-Robbins for many years, all throughout high-school and part of college and she was always great fun. During that time I was very close to her family and she was always like an awesome cousin to me, or something. She was ten years older than us and she made us feel grown up while we made her feel young...we just met in the middle and had us a time, all the time. My heart goes out to every member of her family and I will surely miss her a great deal. But she is at peace now and is no longer suffering, and that is comforting for all involved. RIP Mo.

Laundromats And Birds Birds Birds!

Ahoy!

This blog entry is being written in the office of the hostel on a rare cloudy (and perhaps even wet) morning in St. John's.  Coffee is in hand and Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" is filling my personal airspace, just like in the good old days.  Screeching seagulls only add to the ambiance.

The last entry found us on the cusp of a very busy weekend.  Martin and Felix took a well-deserved sojurn to the Skerwink Hostel, for a few days of hiking and relaxation.  Which meant that Krissy and I were on our own to run this place and, a few minor setbacks aside, all went well, though we were right tuckered out by the end of it.

Thursday was the day of the big office move and that went pretty smoothly, especially since we really didn't have to do much aside from watch the movers bring in stuff and then organize it to our liking.  The office now doubles as a common room and while we were worried that it would be chaos it has actually turned out quite okay.  It's much easier to get to know the guests when there is some sort of common area to hang out in and, since we are already here if we are working, we are less inclined to bugger off.  Because, well, we are working and are kind of tied to our desk.

We did have a crazy start on Thursday.  We started off the day by getting both the washer and the dryer replaced.  The dryer ran two loads and then died.  Being a busy hostel, there is always a ton of laundry to do, so I bagged up what I could and high-tailed it to the laundromat while Krissy held down the fort.  We made it an early evening.  After that day it was necessary.  Woke up at 4am to the sounds of two of our guests gettin' busy in the alley, right outside my window.  In my camp chairs, no less.  It was just wrong.  Even worse, I came out in the morning to find one of the chairs broken.  It was really annoying but I found it to be more funny than anything.

Friday we got up early and Krissy opened the office and I started in on the cleaning.  We tagged each other in and out so that neither of us had to do it all (it's an easy job but it gets so hot in here, especially on the top floors, that it can still take a bit out of ya).  Mostly spent the day hanging out in the office/common room - which I have dubbed "The Parlour", a name that is beginning to stick - and chatting with guests.  The dryer got repaired so there was a whole day of washing to do and that kept us busy.  Spent a good amount of time maintaining my alertness with coffee which was a must because we were to have a late night.

After we closed up the office at 9pm we got ourselves cleaned up and headed down to the Ship Pub to see three bands.  Along with Krissy and myself were Regine (Genie, Gini, etc) and another guest, Alison.  The point of going was to see Green And Gold which is a fantastic local band.  You may remember me mentioning a show I went to last week at the Rose & Thistle.  Two of the guys who played in two of the bands that night (Steve and Len) have another band, actually their main band, and they were booked to play the Ship.  They weren't scheduled to go on stage til 1am (and it wound up being closer to 2 when they actually took the stage) but there were two other bands on before.  I can't remember the name of the first act, which was an acoustic duo that may have been called Rake & Rube, or something like that.  They were pretty good but I couldn't hear them all that well.  The performer in me could totally sympathize with them, having to play in such a loud, chattery place.  The second act, The Mayhemingways, is a duo from Ontario who happen to be on tour right now.  The main guy sings and plays guitar, banjo, and accordion (though never at the same time, but he does play bass with footpedals) and there is a drummer as well.  They were fantastic, kind of an alt.country sort of thing and the singer, at least at times, reminded me a lot of Jay Farrar.  Krissy bought their CD which was a wise move.  Unfortunately her unwise move found her outside when the band closed their set with perhaps the greatest cover of Springsteen's "Atlantic City" I have ever heard, played on accordion no less.  I wish I had video of that.  Most excellent. Then it was time for Green And Gold and they really did a great job.  They played most of their album as well as some new songs.  Looking forward to hearing those tunes again some day.  It was nice to see Steve and Len again though it was very crowded and oh so loud in there so we did not get to chat much.  Despite having to get up early on Saturday to work it was totally worth it.

Got back to the hostel and found that someone had stolen our camp chairs from the alley.  I mean, one of the chairs was broken and they only cost eleven bucks anyway but that was still annoying.  I liked those chairs.  Buncha savages in this town.

Oh yeah, you may remember me talking about the cat, Jarjar, who hangs around the hostel and sleeps in our room sometimes.  Well, Jarjar has a twin.  And, I mean, an identical twin.  So who really knows which cat is here when.  Except that one day last week, the twin made an appearance when Jarjar was here.  Our minds were thoroughly blown.

Seeing double?

But we know which is the real Jarjar.

Saturday we got up and co-ran the hostel for the day.  Unfortunately we woke up to find that now the washing machine had crapped out.  I don't know where the owner of the hostel got these machines but he definitely got hosed.  Couldn't get a repair guy for a couple of days so there was another trip to the laundromat in store.  This time Krissy went while I held down the fort.  The Parlour strted to come into its own on Saturday.  One of the guests, Kelby, hung out here pretty much all day and he gave me a hand with some things as well so that was cool.  Others would pop in and out throughout the day and it was fun to hear about their adventures.

That is one thing I really like about working in these hostels.  I love hearing about people's adventures and seeing that excited look in their faces as they tell their stories and listen to mine.  There is such a different attitude and mentality among travelers - everyone is not only nice but also just totally psyched to be doing what they are doing.  As friendly as I was with customers at the bank, and as cordial as I may have been with them, those interactions come nowhere close to the kinds I have in this environment.  It almost makes me want to run a hostel of my own.

Also while Krissy was out she got a new tattoo.  It was part one of a two-part design so there will be no photos until the thing is finished.  I will just say that it is pretty cool and she is a bit of a badass for getting it.

Saturday night saw the parlour in full swing.  Since it is in the office it's technically supposed to be locked up at 9pm, when we close up shop, but if at least one of us is in there then we can keep it going as long as we like.  I think we wrapped it up around 1:30 or so and had a good time shooting the bull and drinking beers.  Kelby and I took a walk down to Smoke's and got some poutine (I went for the double pork...mmm) and had a good old time.  Having a room like this makes this hostel a lot warmer and it is much easier to get to know the guests, which is one of my favorite parts of this whole experience.

Sunday we got up and it was more of the same - flopping in the office and hanging out with guests.  Martin and Felix returned from Skerwink and Martin dealt with the inevitable laundromat trip and we held down the office for the day.  Really not that much else to report for the day.  After we closed up the office we hung out for a while.  Felix was jamming on my travel guitar and I was playing my mandolin and we had a right nice little jam.  It was the first time I'd played anything in weeks and the only time so far that I have played with someone else so that was nice.

Since we'd been holding down the fort for so long we had the next two days off and had plans to take a road trip.  However, we didn't wake up on Monday til about noon....oh it was so nice to sleep in.  So we basically wrote the day off as a lazy one.  Hung around the hostel for a bit and then went out and did laundry for ourselves as well as the hostel (turns out the washer repair dude came while we were out....at least now all is well).  That is pretty much it for the day.  Made dinner and had an early night because we had plans in store for the next day.

Woke up early on Tuesday and hit the road, headed for Cape St. Mary's, which is in the southwest corner of the Avalon Peninsula, about two hours away.  The weather down there is usually hit or miss, and is often more miss (mostly due to fog) but it turned out to be quite a nice day.  Cape St. Mary's is an ecological reserve and is home to over 50,000 birds.  Most of those birds take up residence on the sides of the cliffs as well as the entirety of a moderate-sized sea stack, no more than ten metres from the coast.  Gannets are the most prevalent species there but there are also thousands of Murre, Kittiwake, Guillemot, and Razorbill, among others.  It was fantastic to watch their little societies in action, and watching them swirl around and dive and it was so, so, so loud.  Krissy took about a thousand awesome photos and I shot some video that only scratches the surface of what we witnessed.

Reader beware - I am going to make up for lack of other photos by posting a BUNCH from the birds, right here:

See how that rock is colored white?  That is all gannets.  Thousands of them.

More white cliffs of gannets.

More of Cape St. Mary's rugged coast

And even more of it.

Below every blur is a diving bird.

Gannets!

Gannets, close up.

This murre is especially murry.

So many birds.

Mama and a baby gannet.

This gannet rules the roost.

Seriously.  It is this absurd.

This choir of gannets sings for their supper.

And this one stands in judgement of them all.

There is also a lighthouse there and we went down to that.  It was totally utilitarian and nothing special except there were like three dozen sheep there, just free-ranging it.  Every time I got close to them they would scatter which was a bummer but they were still cool to watch.

Probably the ugliest lighthouse in all of Newfoundland.

Sheep.

One of them sheep's got my number.

The fence goes to the end of the world.

Hit the road after that and started making our way back up the coast. We stopped at a pebble beach somewhere along the way (honestly, i have no idea where it was) and had a nice picnic lunch and then spent a good while playing the "rock" game, chucking rocks from the beach, aiming for the boulders in the water.  We didn't keep score but we very much enjoyed watching the rocks bounce around, like on a crazy wide range roulette wheel, before settling on their final resting spot.  Sometimes the rocks would shatter and I'll admit that I kinda felt like a jerk when that would happen even though it was kinda cool to watch.

Rocks, as far as you can see.  I tried to dig a hole by removing stones but it just kept going.

Many of these rocks were tossed into the sea.  Sometimes we'd hit the boulder and they'd come bouncing back.  One particularly large one broke and a piece shot back and hit Krissy in the leg.   We've collected stones from all over this place, for a future rock garden, but that little piece is goin' in the scrapbook.

A wave crashes on one of many boulders we were aiming for.

Our next stop was a spot called Castle Hill which was an old fort from the time of the French.  There wasn't too much there aside from the ruins of the fort and a museum but it was still cool to see.  There is a nice view of the town of Placentia from the top of the hill and there was a bit of decent hiking there.  Krissy stayed below and read under a tree while I explored up top.

Hans invades and conquers the Fort Louis.

Some of the remains of Fort Louis.

The view of Placentia from Fort Louis

Made it back to the hostel and we were pretty tired so it was another early evening for us.  I woke up this morning and opened the office and even though I've had time to write this blog during my time today it's actually been quite busy.  Krissy just returned from her appointment with the tattoo guy and she won't be getting it finished until next Tuesday so there will be a further report and photos to follow then.

Krissy will be taking over in the office this afternoon and I will find some way to kill time today.  For the first time since we have been in St. John's it actually rained today.  It's been threatening rain just about every day but then we'd just end up with hot muggy days so it was nice that it cooled off but not so nice because the ground is now wet so walking around parks and such isn't really all that feasible.  But I may pay a visit to Fred's Records and will probably kick it around here.  While it is nice to be in a city that has so much to do it's also nice to have the option to just chill out.

UPDATE:  I did both, chilling out at the hostel for a while and then made my way down to Fred's.  You've heard me rant and rave about this store so I won't go into too much detail but I did pick up four CDs by local artists:

London Above: Creatures
Baytown: Island
Rogues: Edge Of The World
The Connexions: Connect Four

Of these bands, only Rogues has any real traces of traditional Newfoundland music, but it's really amped up, almost punk style.  London Above is really solid indie rock and they just have an EP; I think one of the dudes in the band works at the store.  Baytown reminds me of Agents Of Good Roots a bit, but with less hoarse vocals and maybe more of a diverse vibe.  And, lastly, the Connexions is one of the bands I saw a couple weeks ago at the Rose & Thistle.  Good, solid garage rock.  You guys should check some of this stuff out.  There is still so much music from here that I need to get hip on.  There will be at least one more trip to Fred's before I leave St. John's.

I don't have any of their CDs yet but a few other Newfoundland artists that you guys should Google or YouTube are:

Great Big Sea - by far the most successful Newfoundland band, these guys have toured the world and even broken it in the States.  They mix traditional Newfoundland music with modern rock and have some great songs.  Their version of "The Night Paddy Murphy Died" is by far the best anyone's done and their song, "Consequence Free", is an anthem of sorts for me.

Hey Rosetta - truly exquisite indie rock.  Their popularity is a close second to Great Big Sea, and they've played Bonnaroo and other jam-band festivals.  There is no trace of traditional music in their sound but it is epic nontheless.  The song, "Another Pilot", from the Plan Your Escape album is one of my favorite songs in the world.  The rest of the album is pretty awesome as well.

Shanneyganock - good traditional Newfoundland music with some modern rock touches, like a more downhome version of Great Big Sea.

Sherman Downie & The Ambiguous Case - Sherman mixes rock, folk, bluegrass, and country with a traditional Newfoundland vibe.  He's from Corner Brook, over on the west coast, near Gros Morne, and it shows up in his sound.  This guy is phenomenal.  And so is his band.  I could dedicate an entire blog entry to his music, and I probably will sometime.

Ron Hynes - he is Newfoundland's answer to Dylan.  A folksinger who has lived a hard life and has lived to tell about it.  There is an award-winning documentary called The Man Of A Thousand Songs, which I really want to see.

Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellers - hands down the best band name ever, and one that so perfectly captures the spirit of Newfoundland.  They sing traditional songs and perform skits and are funny as hell.  They've been around forever and will probably be around forever as well.

And, of course, Green And Gold.



Anyway....so on the way back I picked up dinner from this Middle Eastern place called Mohamed Ali.  We've been lacking a bit in finding great ethnic food here but this place wins.  Very tasty indeed.,

Oh yeah, we have another volunteer here now.  Stefan, who is from Germany, is another fellow traveler who has been all over and he will be helping here for at least a month or so.  Very cool dude.  Welcome Stefan!

The last bit of news I have is that it is official - we will be returning to the Skerwink Hostel after we leave here, which will be on the 1st of August.  We will be there until about the 14th or so and we are very much looking forward to seeing everyone and being back in that environment for a little while longer.  It won't be the same without Dave there and we will miss the hell out of that dude but Kent will still be there, at least for the first week or so, and all the other usuals will surely be around, like Justin, Mel, and Melanie.  Michael Jordan is supposed to be in Mexico by then (or by now actually) but we'll soon see if that really happened.  And we are looking forward to meeting Martha, who is running the place now and is of the family who owns the hostel.  Apparently the little house next door that we were working on is now finished, or at least close to it, and the staff is living in there now.  That will be a nice change but hopefully it won't end up building a wall between us and the guests because we love interacting with the guests....at the same time, it will be nice to have a place to go when we are not in the mood or if the guests we have are particularly annoying.  We are also looking forward to doing the Skerwink trail a few more times and heading up to Elliston to see how the puffins are doing and of course dining at the Bonavista Social Club and just decompressing from the city before heading back towards uncharted territory.

From there we will be in Terra Nova, back in the tent, and then probably heading back up to Twillingate, Change Island, and Fogo Island.  Hopefully the weather there will be better than the last time we were there.  But that is getting a ways ahead of ourselves.  We still have over a week in St. John's and we intend to make the most of it.

As always, we miss you guys and wish you were here.