AUGUST 16, 2011 – ONE MORE GAME

We had booked a second game just in case it didn’t rain & when our tee time arrived at 8:00 am it was overcast but warm & not raining. Tuesday at Terra Nova is 2 for 1 day, golf carts are $18.00. The two of us are wedged between 2 threesomes, so things are a little slow to start but pick up quite nicely. After about the first 4 holes we renamed the day – “Twofee” day. It’s turns out it’s the day all the “bys” go out to see if they can golf. No one knows how to repair ball marks & parking your cart right in front of the green seems the thing to do. The heavy mist started about the 5th hole & was on & off until
#16 when it really started to rain. We finish up in just 4 hours & head in for a big bowl of chowder & a hot shower.

The rest of the day was pretty laid back, JD with a nap while I read for a couple of hours.

The last of three dinners at the Lodge was just a good as the first. The girls already had our number, two martinis before dinner. It’s the only place we’ve ever found $5.00 Grey Goose martinis so we really enjoyed them.

AUGUST 17, 2011 – THE BEAUTIFUL BACCALIEU TRAIL

The morning didn’t start out very well. The rain came down in a torrential downpour. You couldn’t see across the bay & it didn’t look like it would ever let up. By the time we were ready to leave, the worst of it had passed & we headed down TCH #1. There was another scenic drive (The Discovery Trail) we could have taken, but we knew our time in Newfoundland was getting short so we had to choose. John had found an inn for us to stay at in Lower Island Cove so we headed for the peninsula bordered by Trinity Bay & Conception Bay. I’m not sure who named the towns in Newfoundland, but we certainly passed some good ones. Just outside “Goobies”, we stopped by the hiway & bought 2 jars of bakeapples. We then passed through “Come by Chance”, “Dildo”, “Heart’s Delight”, “Heart’s Desire” & then “Heart’s Content”. Little did we know that Heart’s Content was the location where the first transatlantic cable was brought ashore in 1865. It was a real “company” town with the telegraph operator’s first coming from England & eventually Newfoundlanders were trained as operators. It was also the first place where young women (some as young as 14) were trained to be telegraph operators & paid up to $100.00 a month. In the early 1900’s that was quite an accomplishment. The company that initially brought the cable from Ireland chose Heart’s Content because the harbor was deep enough for the ship carrying the cable to moor in. The company later merged with some American investors & became Western Union.

The sky finally starts to clear as we head up the peninsula toward Grates Cove & Bay de Verde. We finally come to an Irving Gas Station that has a snack bar so we decide it’s time for lunch (about 2:30).



We thought splitting an order of home made french fries was probably the best thing on the menu. Much to our surprise we got an order of fries you would never imagine!! I’m not sure which is worse, an order of poutine or our fries, covered with “stuffing” & smothered in gravy!!! The looks & thought of it was much worse than the actual taste – it was pretty good, not the healthiest lunch we’ve ever had though!!

The sky had almost completely cleared & the temperature had risen to +22. As we head up to the northern tip of the peninsula we can see a huge bank of clouds or at least what we thought were clouds. It was a fog bank & immediately visibility was at about 2 feet & the temperature was +12 – all in the matter of about 4 kilometers. We decided not to go to Grates Cove ( gravel road) but found an old museum in Bay de Verde overlooking the beautiful fishing harbor. Unfortunately, the rain started & the clouds rolled in so we didn’t get to see Baccalieu Island.

Down the eastern side of the peninsula toward Lower Island Cove & our resting place for the night. The Bayview Inn is tucked away off the main road & when we walk in no one is around. We finally roust Scotty, the teddy bear of a proprietor ( 6’2”, 250 lbs, Harley-Davidson tattoos). The Inn is a very large 9 bedroom home built by some Americans as a retirement house that Scotty & Ann have converted to an Inn. As luck would have it, Scotty is a retired Executive Chef & Ann is a baker. Scotty was at the University of Waterloo Culinary School for 14 years then both he & Ann went to Fort McMurray. Needless to say dinner was outstanding. Fresh pan fried cod, fresh out of the oven home made bread, & cheese cake with chocolate ganache & strawberries for desert. And we still have breakfast to deal with!!

It was wonderful to sit in the parlor & look out over the bay. The sky started to clear, but before it did, we were blessed with the most spectacular double rainbow. Unfortunately, the pot of gold was in the middle of Conception Bay so we’ll have to keep buying those Lotto tickets. Scotty’s mother joined us & what a sweetheart. Nell is 88 & had been out all day with her friend (79). Apparently she was suppose to be home at 5 o’clock for dinner, but didn’t come home until almost 8:30! Boy, did Scotty give her what for. I guess she goes off with her friend & doesn’t eat all day so they are trying to keep her on a schedule. What a hoot!! She sat & told us stories about where she grew up & told us if we ever came back to Newfoundland we could stay at her house in Buchans (“a nice wee place with 2 good bedrooms”). Buchans is in the middle of ‘no where Newfoundland’!! - one road in & the same road out. Nell also did all the “stitch’n” (embroidery) on the table cloths & pillow cases that were used at the Inn. All in all, it was a most enjoyable evening with real down home Newfoundlanders.








AUGUST 18, 2011 – OFF TO ST. JOHN’S

Bacon & eggs, home made bread toast, with home made blueberry jam & fresh potato pan fries – what more could you ask for! I was ready to stay & clean rooms!! The sky cleared over night & we headed off toward St. John’s. Ann had filled us in with a number of places to stop & thank goodness she did. Some of the places we would never have found on our own. The speed limit on hiway #70 is 50 klm/hr. I don’t think we got to 50k very often, it was mostly 30 or 40. The view across Conception Bay is absolutely awesome. We wove our way down the coastline with two particular spots in mind, Cupids & Brigus. Had Ann not told us about them, we never would have found them.

Cupids was the first English settlement in Canada, founded by John Guy in 1610. We toured the archaeological site of this first settlement, with our own personal interpretive guide. They have collected more than 145,000 artifacts from the site since it was first discovered in 1995. We have certainly had our eyes opened to the history of Newfoundland & what it meant to Canada.

Our next stop was at Brigus. There are no words to describe this little village. It is not like any where we have ever been before. The roads are very, very narrow (barely room for one car) & they weave in & around & up & down the tiny homes. At Brigus there is a tunnel that was formed in 1860 through solid rock, using only gun powder. Apparently a wealthy ship owner wanted an easy way to get his wares from the wharf to the town, so rather than taking the road he had an engineer make the tunnel. It took 4 months of drilling by hand, & using only gun powder to make the 50 foot tunnel. The town has turned into a real little tourist trap (it’s only about 1 hour from St. John’s) soup & a sandwich at the Tea Room was $13.95 & there was a couple of bus loads of tourists wandering the streets taking pictures of all the beautiful old homes & churches.

We continued on our coastal drive toward St. John’s through a number of little coves & harbors before reaching Conception Bay South & finally Mount Pearl on the outskirts of St. John’s. We ended up right in the heart of downtown St. John & pulled into a parking lot to get our bearings & find lodging for the night. This is the first place on our trip that we have had so much trouble finding a hotel room. The first call found us a room, with a king bed, in the downtown core for $289.00. The next four phone calls found no rooms at any inns, but we finally found a nice hotel about 5 klm from city centre for a reasonable price. We’ve had a nice dinner & made our list of must dos for tomorrow