Goodbye Maine, New Hampshire & Massachusetts! Hello New York!!!

 

What did we do the last day of our trip? Drive… in traffic. Newfoundland had spoiled us with few cars on the road. That’s us in the photo - John K at the wheel & Judy’s foot on the left and .John G & my foot on the right. At that moment we were in Maine about to go over the bridge into New Hampshire.

We did stop for lunch in Haverhill across the street from one of the old brick mills. The shoe my fellow travelers are standing behind is one of several created by artists to celebrate Haverhill’s shoe history. Ten percent of the nation’s shoes were produced here, We didn’t take time to look for others but it might be fun to do at another time. And, because we didn’t dally we’re now home surrounded by our purring felines. John & Judy will return to their home in New Jersey in the morning.

The last word of the day… maw-mouth = a loud, talkative fellow. “I was fit to be tied when this maw-mouth began bragging about all the places he had been.”

I’ve prepared a little summary using the new Newfoundland words for those of you who have followed our trip to the end… 

Newfoundland - where you can bake ‘alibut in a hoven and ‘unt for moose. When we started our trip you folks might have thought we were nunny-fudgers rather than serious tourists. Judy & Patty were especially studious in gift shops to keep a sharp eye out for the odd loodle-laddle while the Johns kept a keen eye out for places to eat so we wouldn’t get gut-foundered. You’ll be happy to know nothing was asquish at any place we stayed. Things may not stay that way as the pecking rain is predicted to turn into a hurricane. No nippers bit us and our kirkhorns and wizens remained healthy. On the way home Judy & Patty turned into twacks which was a sad state of affairs. Finally arriving at home, we curwibbled from the car. Whizgigging while squatting through the door with our luggage, we were greeted by our cats who didn’t look at all sure they had actually missed us. Although we missed our fourer, Patty put on the hot ass for a nice cup of tea. Froozies or bangbellies might have been good but NY has yet to discover these treats. Meanwhile John & John contemplated a pinky but knew if they indulged they might be spending the night in puppy’s parlour. If you see any of us in the coming days, don’t let us maw-mouth about the trip.

We hope you too will someday be able to enjoy Newfoundland. We were recently told that probably the best time to visit is the last two weeks in August unless you’re going moose ‘untin’ of course.

Goodbye Canada! Hello USA!!!

With Fiona barreling towards us we made a beeline, as much as possible, across Nova Scotia, then New Brunswick and arrived tonight in Houlton, Maine. For those who are interested, Houlton has the world’s largest scale model Solar System. Pluto is in Houlton and the Sun is 40 miles away in a building at U. of Maine in Presque Isle and the other planets scattered in between. Did we see it? Not this trip. We’re sort of vacationed out.

However, Judy has remained on moose alert. She came close this morning but it turned out to just be moose horns and not 2 moose trying to illegally cross the border.

Peter recommended a couple of good places to stop for lunch but unfortunately neither were convenient on our beeline timeline. We did stop at Birkenshaw’s in Amherst, NS, which was rated by someone last year as Canada’s #1 Tea House. And, yes, they serve tea in teapots with cups and saucers and a variety of English tea & lunch specialties including Scotch eggs. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen those on a menu. We didn’t order them but I later looked up the recipe. (You can too.) The photo was taken outside. The Scotsman was carved from a tree trunk and painted. Whoever did it, did a pretty good job.

From there we drove through heavy rain most of the way to Maine. We were sooooo lucky to have been blessed by good weather for most of our trip especially in Newfoundland where we understand it can be quite rainy.

Word of the day…  pinky = a waterfront drink consisting of two parts cheap port wine and one part Screech, a rum. (Apparently Screech tastes so bad you’ll let out a screech if you swallow it, something a true Newfoundlander must do at least once. If interested, https://screechrum.com/screech-ins will tell you more. (Did we try it? You’ve got be kidding!)

There was a drunken sailor…

 

A boat/ferry never looked so good. Do you see that small white car sitting this side of a white camper in the middle of the photo? That’s not us but the black vehicle behind it is. One has to be in line 2 hours before sailing but we were there 2.5 hours early just to be on the safe side. The boat in the background is our ferry. For some reason it wasn’t sailing full today. Your super sleuth (a.k.a. person with nothing else to do) got the following info… there were 346 passengers on board/1,000 possible; 418 autos, 15 campers, 33 tractor trailers, & 24 drop trailers (those without the tractor part)/ possible is 2,840 lane meters of vehicles which can be any combo. This means the person or computer doing the booking has to be considerably more adept at math than John G. or the person with average math skills. The weight also has to be evenly distributed. And the vehicles are distributed over 6 floors. It’s a wonder they can get it loaded or unloaded in 2 hours!

As to the staff, they work 12 hour shifts for 15 days straight, never leaving the boat; then they get 2 weeks off. I asked what they would do for example this weekend when the ferries have been canceled because of Fiona. The answer was deep clean the boat. I hope they get paid well.

This was our view for most of the day except for a couple of things. The water you see is relatively calm, something that couldn’t be said for most of the trip when anyone moving around looked like a drunken sailor. At one point while we were having lunch a wave crashed over the front of the boat sending our water glasses flying and we could hear things crashing in the kitchen. Luckily there weren’t many of those waves! Back to the photo… Just above the water line is Nova Scotia and there’s also a bit of sun trying to break through in the sky above. Today was Judy’s birthday so finally making it back to the mainland was the perfect gift.

Word of the day… whizgigging = boisterous, silly laughing; whispering & giggling in such a way as to annoy, especially old people. 

Sounds like this was meant to apply to the antics of children, but we certainly felt like doing a bit of whizgigging ourselves when we safely debarked in Nova Scotia!

Time to kill…

With only a 2.5 hour drive to tonight’s lodging, the question was what to do with the extra hours. After all, even our talent for getting lost could only take up so much time. Not to worry. Interesting things began in the parking lot. First there was the workman at the hotel who wanted to know if we were going ‘untin’ (definitely proving the locals’ propensity to drop their h’s). There was also the SYSCO tractor trailer driver (yes, they even bring food to Newfoundland) who was magically able to back that big rig out between all the guest vehicles missing everyone by inches and turn it on a dime to leave. I gave him a standing ovation and a 2 thumbs up; he gave me a big smile and 2 toots of his horn. A big smile is a good start to anyone’s day.

On the road again we stopped at a grocery store to replenish the emergency supply of cookies and where I can always while away time. The picture above is of scrunchions (and you thought I was joking when I gave you that word of the day, didn’t you?) and salted pork tongue. And then there was the 10# & 20# buckets of “Pickled Pork Riblets”. A lady putting 4 buckets in her cart said she always cooked them with vegetables (her cart contained many many pounds of potatoes and rutabagas). Maybe Sarah & Kenny need to expand their meat offerings. 

We only got lost 3? 4? times but finally made it to our motel where we learned our early morning ferry tomorrow had been canceled. They’ve now booked us on the 11:45. We’re crossing our fingers we’ll at least get off before Friday. Cancellations because of Fiona are already predicted.

Word of the day… squat = to crush, bruise, squeeze or flatten.  “I squatted my finger.” “I had to squat my way into the door.” “And a newspaper…is where they cuts down trees and squats them out flat for to make paper and then prints stuff on them.”

Yesterday I mentioned the paper mill in town made newsprint. Auntie wondered if they had enough trees. The picture above is typical. There are trees, trees, and more trees and nothing else except power poles for kilometers on end everywhere we’ve been. We get excited when we see a sign and Newfoundland is sorely lacking in those which may be one reason we keep getting lost. Note to Terry - this trip would DEFINITELY NOT have been to your liking knowing how you “enjoy” long road trips. And, if you thought it was hard getting out of Pensacola, you should try Newfoundland!

Short day…

Leaving Trout River we traveled back through the Tablelands (you’ve heard of those, right?) The photo is of John in search of the perfect souvenir rock from the earth’s mantle. (So many to chose from…)

Our trip today was short, really short, only 1.5 hours to Corner Brook (the 5th largest city in Newfoundland) so lots of time for sightseeing. That’s John & me with Captain James Cook, one of the most famous of the British explorers. You could say his reputation started here in 1763-1767 when he directed a survey that charted most of western Newfoundland’s coastline and was used for the next 100 years. Because of his success there he was sent on exploratory trips to many places including Tahiti, New Zealand, and Australia and was the first man to cross both the Arctic and Antarctic Circles. In 1779 he stopped in Hawaii, got into an “altercation” with the locals and was mortally wounded. He was given a ceremonial funeral by the locals during which he may or may not have been eaten. (Perhaps he should have stayed in Newfoundland.)

After checking into the Glymill Inn built 99 years ago (which thankfully has been modernized a bit but still retains its charm) John & I went for a walk on one of the city trails of which they have lots and which seem to get a lot of use. No moose were spotted. However, earlier I was talking to a hunter who, along with his 3 buddies, had just returned from a week long hunting trip where they were dropped off by sea plane. He said it was really rough going through the woods, bogs and swamps but they managed to bag two moose. Butchering, boning and backpacking the meat to the pick up site took 3 days. They planned ahead, brought a trailer with a couple of freezers and had gotten the export papers so they could take the meat back.

After those two gruesome stories and because there’s not a whole lot more to do in Corner Brook, I’ll now give you 2 words of the day…

Fourer = a light refreshment at 4:00 with tea and biscuit (my favorite time of day)

Hot ass = a tin kettle with a large flat bottom and sides tapering to the top and used to heat water quickly on a wood stove for tea.

 PS - The pulp mill in town provides the newsprint that used by Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal and Gannet.

Back to St. Lawrence…

 

Continuing west through more peckering rain and the Tablelands we arrived for the night at Trout River with the Gulf of St. Lawrence beating the shoreline just across the street. We’ll either sleep well tonight to the sound of it… or not. 

As luck would have it, a very fine seafood restaurant is only a 3 minute walk down the town’s boardwalk. It’s amazing it’s open since the population of Trout River is 508 and is on a road that is 18 km from the nearest other small town and closed most of the time in the winter. Maybe they stay open for moose hunters. Judy doesn’t care much for seafood. Do you think they’ll have moose stroganoff? I just took the photo below so the tasty bits must still be in town.

Word of the day…bangbelly - a pudding, cake, pancake or dumpling made with flour, pork fat, molasses and soda. “In the winter the stomach was frequently filled with the bulk of pea-soup floating with fat white bang-bellies.” It seemed appropriate to choose that word today since Trout River hosts an annual Bang Belly Festival. I think we missed it this year. (And, yes, they seem to spell it all 3 ways.)

Auntie has had a question hanging out there on how locals pronounce “halibut”. I couldn’t remember exactly so today I asked at the tourism office while the guys were making a bee line for the you know what. Newfoundlanders tend to drop the letter h but add it in other places. Halibut would be pronounced something like ah-la-but and run it into the next word, thus ah-la-but-crisps. Then they like to randomly add the letter h. Oven becomes hoven. 

Did they ever return…

Today we started our return trip to the west side of Newfoundland and, once again, have stopped in Lewisporte for the night. Why, you may ask, are we stopping in someplace we’ve already stayed? The answer is simple. John G left his “Tillie II” hat at a restaurant here. We thought there was a 99% chance they would have tossed it since it is getting a bit grungy but, sure enough, they’d kept it for him. Everyone in Newfoundland is so kind! (I think another reason John G wanted to come back is because Lewisporte has the “largest marina in Atlantic Canada” and there’s always something more he wants to look at.)

Judy & I weren’t totally opposed to returning since Lewisporte was hosting the largest rural craft show in Newfoundland today in their hockey arena. Craft might be a stretch but I did find a new musical instrument for John. The photo isn’t too clear but what he’s holding is a stick with a moose head carved on  top and a dozen or so jingle bells attached below. If he starts practicing now, he’ll be ready for Christmas.

A couple of interesting things about Newfoundland… They call gas stations, gas bars. Liquor is mostly sold at gas bars. The wind blows a lot so, instead of garbage cans that can blow into the road, the garbage is put in containers like the one below. They all have that distinctive shape and are the same size but some are obviously homemade, others commercially made. As far as color, they’re stained or painted or even decorated all sorts of ways or not at all.

Word of the day… peck or pick = to precipitate in small drops or flakes; drizzle.  “When we have a heavy fog, the people don’t say it’s foggy, they will say it is pecking rain.” “It just began to come picking snow.”As for us, it was pecking during our morning drive. And we saw 3 rainbows but have yet to find that pot of gold.

Ladies day…

Breakfast (the only breakfast in town available at 8 - we’ve decided Newfoundlanders don’t eat breakfast out) was at Miffin’s Tea House served by the same waitress who yesterday served Ben Stiller. She said anytime we mention this we should add a sidebar that she didn’t recognize him and only realized she’d served him when she read that night that he was in town. Apparently Ben (I feel I can call him that because I must have sat in his chair) was looking for a site to film a movie next year so perhaps he’ll be back. Anyway this morning’s breakfast was my favorite so far. I had creamy oatmeal on blueberries with ginger-cream around it and a brûlée topping. Yum!

Then it was on to Harbor Grace which was where Amelia Earhart took off for the first solo female pilot flight across the Atlantic. While she flew a twin engine plane it was definitely NOT the one in the photo. Trivia question… What was the name of the plane she flew? (Answer at the end.)

Then it was on to Dildo (a real place). It’s sister city is Hollywood and, to mirror them, huge letters spelling Dildo can be seen high up the hill overlooking the village and harbor. Do I dare say Judy & I are smiling because we’re staying at the Little Dibble Inn?

Two words for today…. kinkhorn = windpipe or Adam’s apple; wizen = chest.  “I have a pain in my kinkhorn and it has gone to my wizen.” You’ll be happy to know, as are we, that our kinkhorns and wizens are fine.

Answer to trivia question… Little Red Bus (weird but that’s what the sign said)

Come to Came…

 

This morning we left our AirB&B named “Come from Away”, stopping first (okay technically it was second because we’re traveling with two old men) at the Gander Aviation Museum which covers everything from the airport’s development in the 1930s as a site for refueling the first planes flying between Europe and the US. It became critical during WWII as the gateway for planes built in the US and needed for the war in Europe. After the war it became an important domestic airline hub. We all know it because of the generosity of the folks in Gander taking into their homes the 7,000 passengers who became grounded here after 9/11. At that time the population of Gander was under 10,000. That’s Judy in the photo with Commander Gander. She wanted to bring him home but there just wasn’t room.

We lunched in Trinity which has been described as the “prettiest” village in Newfoundland. I wish I’d been able to get a better photo because most of the historic buildings are painted in bright colors. Eye candy!

This is the puffin viewing site in Elliston (if you have really good vision). The puffins are out on that rock island you see in the distance. There were two problems. One - John forgot and left his binoculars at the AirB&B in Bonavista called “Came from Away”. Two - the puffins have already left for their winter quarters. Seeing puffins is sort of like seeing moose. Not likely. However, we did see another part of a moose sticking out of the back of a pickup this morning and my 3 traveling companions had moose soup for supper. PS - Bonavista is where John Cabot landed in 1497 thus “discovering” Newfoundland sort of like Columbus “discovered” America. Both were trying to find Asia.

Word of the day…curwibble - unsteady or teetering motion “such as those caused by too many glasses”.

The four of us often curwibble when we get out of the car if we’ve ridden too long between stops.

Moving east…

Waving goodbye to Jeannie at her Sunrise B&B in Port aux Choix, we headed south and east toward tonight’s stop in Lewisporte. When you come to Newfoundland, staying with Jeannie is a must. She’s so very friendly and makes you feel like you’re a member of her family. She’s one of 17 children so guess it’s no surprise she has the gift of making one feel very welcome.

One of the things you’ll see driving from place to place are enormous stacks of firewood. Lots of times it’s stacked by the seashore, other times along side the road kilometers from the nearest house, and other times next to a house. When I asked I was told folks have an allotment in the forest. The trees are very tall and skinny = no splitting, because they grow so close together. They cut the wood in winter (is this what they call winter fun?) then bring the wood down and stack it by the sea or by the roads so it will dry better. This time of year they begin to move the seasoned wood to their homes. All the homes are heated with wood but most also have heat pumps. Like us, they can’t always rely on the electricity so the wood supply is still important.

A curious thing… Nova Scotia is a time zone (1 hour) before eastern. Newfoundland is 1/2 hour before that. Half an hour??? So if it’s 5:00 at our house it’s 6:30 here. (You try explaining that to John G!)

The Johns relaxing at our AirB&B this evening. Another beautiful day!

Word of the day…  gut-foundered - very hungry, famished. “You better ask for two hot turkey sandwiches if you don’t want to be gut-foundered before supper.” (We did feel a bit gut-foundered yesterday when nothing was open for lunch. Otherwise there has certainly been no opportunity to use that word!)

The Vikings were sexist!

 

We spent today in the northern most part of Newfoundland with Labrador in view across the water. It was a beautiful sunny day and one might have thought my 3 fellow travelers were bundled up because of the nippers. Luckily it was only because it was in the low 50s with the wind blowing. We stopped first at the World Heritage site where the Norsemen created a settlement a thousand years ago. Everyone thinks it was the Vikings but the Vikings were only the young Norsemen who were sailing out to do a bit of marauding. Women were not allowed. Norsemen & women only went when the intent was to settle. I had always thought they were nuts to go north to Newfoundland to settle but it turns out they were coming from a settlement in Greenland that’s north of here. 

 

The photo above was taken just down the road from the original settlement at Norstead. Here they’ve re-created a Norse port of trade complete with a few costumed interpreters and is worth a stop if you come. If you’re thinking of planning a trip in September remember the guidebooks don’t know what they’re talking about in terms of places being open. We’ve eaten at the same restaurant two nights in a row because a) there are very few places to eat up here (I guess locals don’t eat out much) and b) it’s the only place we’ve found open to eat.

We did get our first moose sighting today of a moose or at least part of one. It’s moose season here and a couple of hunters were busy butchering one down the bank by the road. However I thought you’d much prefer this photo Cookie in Washington state took at a vintage camper show. Apparently the moose on top has traveled many hundreds of miles on top of that car. Thanks Cookie (and Auntie!).

Now for the “exciting” news. Our overnight ferry to leave on the east side of Newfoundland on the 17th was canceled due to mechanical difficulties. They’ve rescheduled us on the 21st on the west side ferry, thus “giving” us a few more days in Newfoundland. You’ll probably be bored to tears hearing from us by then.  But don’t worry. I have plenty of new words to share with you.

Word of the day…   Twack - a shopper who looks over all the commodities but buys nothing. “They’re twacks - old women shoppers who can’t make up their minds.” (Most of the craft stores have been closed so Judy & I haven’t found it too difficult to avoid being called twacks.)

Dramatic!

First of all, John & Judy want to send a Happy Birthday greeting to their niece Mandy. The photo is the best we could do so far in terms of moose and bear sightings. However, I’m happy to report we did see caribou tonight on the seashore not far from our B&B. Seems they can be real beach animals.

Newfoundland is a breathtaking blend of mountains and the seashore. Every view more striking than another. Much of today we drove through Gros Morne Park which, believe it or not, is an outlying part of our own Appalachian Mountain Range. The park includes the Tablelands, a UNESCO World Heritage site where the continental drift exposed the deep ocean crust of the earth’s mantle. I gather the mantle is exposed in other places in the world but they’re all deep under the ocean and not accessible so this spot geologists love. (Please talk to a geologist if you want to know more. Although I couldn’t find it anywhere, I suspect the area is called Tablelands because they’re really big mountains that are flat as pancakes on the the top. That is NOT one in the photo. You’ll have to look it up.)

The people here are lovely. One of the guidebooks described the accent as “Irish meets Canadian while chewing a mouthful of cod”. We had halibut bites for lunch today and they way the waitress pronounced halibut was very different than the way we say it. I’m sure she thought our pronunciation was just as funny.

Word of the day… puppy’s parlour - to sleep on the floor in one’s clothes. “Having caught a severe cold by sleeping in puppy’s parlour for the last 3 nights, I determined to return home.”

 

A bumpy day at sea…

The sea calmed enough that the ferry ran today! The wind caused a 2 hour delay in loading because they had to chain down all the tractor trailers of which there were well over 100. A BIG ferry with 5 decks of cars and trucks. Took the above photo of the sign while we were waiting to board. Any idea what it’s supposed to mean?

John took the late lunch on the ferry as the perfect opportunity to chow down on Poutine (to my mind a disgusting combination of French fries, brown gravy and melted cheese curd). To his credit he couldn’t finish it all. Can’t believe the rocking boat and poutine didn’t make him seasick. But no, that man has a cast iron stomach. Even the thought of what he had to eat made me reach for Tums and saltines during the ride. But we’re finally safely in Newfoundland! By the way, the correct pronunciation is not newfundlund but newfundland. Be sure and pronounce the land part as land. I think I’ve finally got it down.

For Pat, Fai & Ed… we met a couple on board who had just sold their home near Toronto and were moving to their “new to them” house they’d bought sight unseen in Newfoundland. They close on Tuesday. Their furniture is on the way with Newfoundland movers so they felt sure it would be here the week. Sound a bit like you moving from Florida to NY to a new home you’d bought sight unseen? I trust this couple will have a more timely furniture delivery.

Word of the day… nipper - “the largest & most formidable of the mosquitoes”. A Newfoundlander we met this morning at the B&B said they’re nasty and big but are mostly around in July and August so we’re lucky. However, every Newfoundlander we’ve met has warned to be very careful driving during the day and don’t drive at night because there are so many moose.

Ferries and fairies…

We were up at 4:15 this morning, just us and a few skunks (yes, Canadian skunks smell just like ours), to make the 7:00 ferry to Nova Scotia. We arrived at the dock with only the full moon in the sky and no sign of the sun only to find the first ferry had been cancelled. The 50 year old ferry that usually makes this trip caught fire last week and is probably down and out for the count. We counted ourselves lucky. No problem getting on the 8:30 ferry. The photo is John G. on the ferry with the last of PEI we’ll see for awhile in the background.

Of course our late arrival in NS meant altering today’s plans. Instead of going to visit The Hookers in Cheticamp (boohoo!) which we planned as a side trip, we took a more direct route to tonight’s B&B. Stopped at the Glencora Distillery to listen to live Celtic music while we had lunch. Then another stop up a twisty rough one lane 3 km dirt road to Big Hill (they weren’t exaggerating!) Pottery. Aced out of a hooked rug, at least I was able to acquire a bit of pottery.

 And now we’re at our B&B in North Sydney keeping our fingers and toes crossed and hoping the fairies are on our side so our noon ferry tomorrow to Newfoundland sails. It is very, very windy at the moment so our plans may be altered once again. Stay tuned…

PS - You may be interested to know that we decided against eating dinner tonight at “Lick-a-chick” and, even Judy felt she could forgo an ice cream at “Lick-a-treat”. Watch for them. They may be in your neighborhood next!

Meanwhile the word of the day is… asquish or squish or squish-ways.  Definition = askew or out of alignment. With roses all over the wallpaper, if a picture “‘‘twas a little bit asquish, you wouldn’t know it.”

A day on an island…

 Happy Birthday Frank (John’s brother who lives in France) even though you’re probably reading this the day after your birthday! For those of you who don’t know Frank, he started the tradition of being born on a date with the same day and month number… Frank on 9/9; John on 4/4; Mary (Frank’s daughter) on 6/6.

Our day started with a trip to the very top of the island where wind generators create much of the power for the island. Years ago when John & I were here the towers looked incredibly tall. The ones in our county are just as tall so this time they seemed like no big deal. Back in the Suburban heading south (via our now usual routine of taking the wrong roads) we missed the Potato Museum. Potatoes have been grown on PEI since 1790.  Now over 88,000 acres of potatoes are grown, more than any other province. Not bad for the smallest province! The Cavendish company buys most of the potatoes from 80 PEI farms, 98% which are family run. If you visit try not to you drive by Cavendish buildings when you’re hungry. The smell of potato chips and French fries in the air will make your stomach grumble in anticipation.

On to Charlottetown. Judy had been lobbying for an ice cream sundae lunch so we headed directly to the home of Cow’s which makes the best ice cream in Canada, all from PEI dairies. We indulged with no regrets. (The photo has no relation to this at all. I took it because John & Judy’s family have always been active with their local fire department and they’re following this blog.) Then I was indulged and we visited the downtown bookstore appropriately named Bookmark so I could acquire a copy of “My PEI Cabbage Cookbook”. (I claim dibs on cabbage dishes in upcoming potluck gatherings.)

And now we’re at the PEI version of a resort complete with marina, pool, golf course etc… a BIG difference from our last trip when we were camping in Tilly the VW! (We must have gotten older.) Tomorrow we catch the 7 a.m. ferry to Nova Scotia.

Word of the day:  loodle-laddle or doodle-laddle or oodle-addle  =  “a deliberately humorous or evasive name given to an object”. (Sounds like a whatcha-ma-callit to me.)

British Monarchy

 Today’s destination was Prince Edward Island named for the father of Queen Victoria. Out of cell service range for much of the day, we suspected Queen Elizabeth’s passing when we saw the first Canadian flag flying at half-staff. She served her country well.

Back to our trip…. This morning we continued up the St. Lawrence and entered New Brunswick at the top of Maine. Rounding the top of Maine but still in Canada we continued on the TransCanada highway down the very beautiful St. John’s River Valley. Scenery abounded but not much else with many, many km between exits. The Johns, needing their periodic “p” break, took the exit for Florenceville-Bristol. The photo below shows what we happened upon. Leave it to a boy from Idaho to find this in the middle of nowhere.

And not too many km away was Hartland with the world’s longest covered bridge (about 1/4 mile). It was built in 1899-1901 by the locals who got tired of waiting for the government to build it. The government took it over a few years later and added the roof in 1922. It’s really beautiful and we went over it twice, both times intentionally surprising even ourselves.

Continuing on we opted to bypass Nackawic, home of the world’s largest ax. But we did stop to roll the car down/up Magnetic Hill which, according to the guidebook, is the third most visited natural wonder in Canada. Niagara Falls is first and the Rockies second. Anyway it is true about Magnetic Hill. It does feel, when you put the car in neutral and release the brake, that you’re rolling uphill. Almost as much fun was trying to find our way out. Don’t ask. Finally we made it back to the highway, crossed the bridge (all 9 miles of it) onto Prince Edward Island where we’ll spend 2 nights.

froozie - a variation of the frawsy which is a sweet treat. The froozie is “a gingerbread with scruncheons added to the batter”. What, you may ask, are scrunchions? They’re meat scraps. Somehow I don’t see myself seeking out a froozie. Do you?

First Moose Sighting

 Up, up, and away with an early breakfast in Utica at a downtown diner that’s been there forever (Golden’s). Everything homemade and good. Restroom only a block away and parking available free in a parking garage that was being demolished around us. A pretty exciting start!

   The Johns had chosen to take the scenic route through our beautiful Adirondacks. Quite frankly after seeing well over a million-trillion green trees, many many twists and turns, and sloooooow traffic all of us were very happy to finally reach the straight double highway leading north to Canada. In case you can’t quite make it out the first moose sighting was the weathervane on the building.

   Thanks to a welcoming border guard we were soon on our way to Montreal and points east. First transition to another country was we now have to think in terms of kilometers instead of miles. It only took us almost to Montreal to get the car so it read in km. Second transition is that all the signs are in French and even though we correctly turned on route 30, quest does not mean east. Let’s just say we added a couple of hours to today’s trip by taking a series of alternate side roads. Stopping for gas and a cup of tea, I discovered that Quebec really does have better marketing for cheese curd than NYS. I think Sarah & Kenny should start teaching their pig Ida to speak French.

The river drive we’d all envisioned along the St, Lawrence turned out instead to be more through the Kansas like flat fields of the valley intermixed with far glimpses of what must be small communities made up of a few houses and lots of big barns. It was interesting to note that none of their huge barn silos were taller than the steeples on their churches. Finally, however we arrive in Rivière du Loup at sunset. This is view from our hotel looking out over the St. Lawrence. It’s a BIG river!

And now for what you’ve all been waiting for… The exciting new Newfoundland word is a noun…

nunny-fudger - “a man who is thinking more of his dinner than of his work”

Almost ready…

We’re almost ready to leave. Judy has her photo book (Daniel O’Donnell’s “This Is My Journey”) to look at as eye candy in case the scenery gets boring. John K. is trying not to worry because there’s so much empty space in the trunk. He knows Judy & I do like to shop on occasion (and we’re hoping for many occasions). And John G., well, let’s just say he’s trying to be cool, calm and collected while inwardly chomping at the bit to get on the road. Canada, including Newfoundland, here we come! Now a word of warning to those of you reading this. You should decide now if you want to follow us our trip. Every day, in addition to various travel items, I’ll also post a Newfie word of the day. Their dictionary is over 900 pages of very little type with words only a small population living on an island with long dark winter nights could have made up. Be prepared to brace yourself!