Farewell Newfoundland

Hi every one, well I am back from another fantastic trip however this trip was different. This trip took me back home. For those of you who were following my blogs through out my trip, I will catch you up on my last few days home.
As I mentioned in my last blog, I arrived in St. John’s Sunday night. I stayed with an old friend who has a house in Conception Bay South (CBS) which is just minutes outside of town. Although I am not from St. John’s, it has always felt just as much like home to me as Fogo Island does. Perhaps it is because I spent so much time there as a kid or perhaps it is simply because of the friendly nature of the people there. What ever the reason, it is always great to get back there and as usual, the time just flew by too fast.
Upon awakening my first morning, I discovered it was pouring rain, no big surprise for St. John’s but a little disheartening considering I only had limited time there. I made the most of it and took that time to go to the nearby town of Goulds to visit some family friends who had been in a terrible car accident a week before. Actually they were on their way to Fogo Island when the accident occured. Although beaten and battered, they will recover. Something to be very thankful for indeed. After visiting with them for a while, I headed off to the Avalon Mall for lunch and a little shopping. I then headed off downtown for a drive. The European style streets and colorful row houses always make for pleasant surroundings and seem to scream welcome home! From downtown, I headed to one of my favorite places, Torbay. Just minutes north of St. John’s, Torbay has a population of approximatley 7,400 and clings to the cliffs overlooking the mighty Atlantic. I had spend many fantastic vacations here as a kid when my Aunt, Uncle and cousins lived there. It is a place I hold very dear and take a drive out there every time I am in St. Johns. I pulled over in a parking area with a beautiful view of the cliffs and then to my dismay, discovered I had left my camera back at the house in CBS. This is the reason I have no pics of Torbay on this trip! After discovering this, I called it a day and headed back to CBS to have dinner with the friends. After dinner, we all decided to go for a drive along the Southern Shore Route which took us through several little towns and eventually ending our drive in the town of Ferryland. Although it was getting dark by the time we arrived there, the scenery was beautiful. We parked by the ocean and walked around an archaeological did that is currently underway. We spent some time wandering around til dark and then headed back to the city and called it a night.
The next morning (tuesday) I awoke to……you guessed it……..more rain. I had lots to do that day so I just decided to make the best of it. I grabbed my rain coat and headed out. I wanted to get some good pics so I went to the local Henry’s Photoshop to get a rain guard for my camera but they were sold out……..I know eh…..who would have thought they would be sold out of rain guards in St. John’s?? I figured id just have to risk it, however by the time I made it downtown to begin my list of photo ops, the rain had stopped and the sun was coming out in full force, fantastic! I grabbed a quick lunch at a local grease pit called “Smokes Poutinerie”. Yes I said the word “poutinerie”. It literally was an artery clogging food joint that served poutine and poutine only. There were many different varieties and toppings and all of them made me feel guilty about even being in the place but I figured I was on vacation and a few food cheats wouldn’t kill me…….then again, after viewing the menu, I wasn’t sure of that fact either! Terrible on the body but man……did it ever taste good!
Once finished lunch, I discovered it had become quite nice outside. I walked up and down Water St. and then down to the harbourfront and took some pics and took in all the familiar and wonderful sites that the area offers. There, towering over the city, stood one of my favorite spots……..Signal Hill. There was no doubt that this was my next stop so off I went.
Overlooking St. John’s like a giant guardian, Signal Hill seems to protect the city from the mighty Atlantic not to mention has a very important past. Refer to link for information on Signal Hill http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_Hill,_St._John’s . This has always been one of my very favorite places and offers photo ops one could not even imagine. I spent a couple hours just wandering around, taking in the vast scenery, the breath taking views and watching first time tourists standing in awe as they try to comprehend the beauty around them. Off in the distance, you can see the most easterly point in North America, Cape Spear. This would be my next stop. It was about a half hour drive to this stop.
As formentioned, Cape Spear is the most easterly point in North America. It is where Canada begins, or ends, depending on what way you are going. Consisting of rugged coastlines, crashing waves , historic buildings and of course, the light house, The scenery there is second to none. As I was in Bonavista, I was disapointed to see the world famous light house in terrible need of a paint job. Newfoundland has become a major destination for tourists, I think it would serve them well to start putting more money in to their historic buildings. Other than that, it was a great stop. For some indept history on Cape Spear, check out the following link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Spear .
After leaving Cape Spear, I made a few stops for photo ops and headed back to CBS to get cleaned up and went out for dinner with my cousin. We then spent the remainder of the night visiting a friend and her family in the nearby town of Bauline.
The next day was wednesday and my final day in Newfoundland. I could not believe that my time was coming to an end already. There just wasn’t enough time to do all the things I had planned. There were two trails I wanted to hike in the St. Johns area but just never got to do them. Next time they will become priority. I headed downtown to have lunch with a friend from home and then took cousin Russ to the airport as he was flying back to Alberta that afternoon. A few more of the gang had arrived in St. Johns by that point (who were also heading back to Alberta the next day). I spent the evening with them and then ended our summer reunion with a farewell dinner. We said our good byes and parted ways. I then had a couple more stops to make to see some family before I left on an early morning flight the next day. I visited with my aunt in Paradise and we both then headed down to Kelligrews to visit a couple cousins. It had become quite late by this time and I still needed to pack so I headed back. There I was, packing my suitcase for my flight back to Ontario and thinking to myself, how could this be, I just arrived!
The next morning was a very early one, I headed off to the airport, returned my beautiful rental car and checked in. The trip went back went smooth, great flight, no delays. I arrived back in Toronto just after 11 and there it was, trip done! Another trip in the books. A year of waiting for this trip home to arrive and it had come and passed in the blink of an eye. It was a fantastic trip to say the least. The weather could not have been better, especially on Fogo Island. I got to spend time with many of my childhood friends and lots of family and that was the goal for this trip. I travel abroad as much as possible but as pointed out by several people, it was time to go home. Stay tuned for some announcments from the Traveling Newf. Cheers!