Newfoundland 1

Friends from Smithers now live in St. Andrews, NL so we had a nice visit and a tour of one of Canada's top 5 largest dairy farms, where they milk over 1100 cows.

 Rob and Maren gave us the tour of the heifer farm.

 Paul showed us around the milking farm.

 At Cornerbrook we were introduced to trail systems.  I think NL cities have more walking trails than in any other province.

 I sang I's the by's lots today.  We almost went to Fogo too.

 We came to see icebergs and we saw wind, fog, and some beautiful women...

 ...and scenery.

 Janna and Gramma V made us anticipate desserts.

 Cape Spear is the furthest point east in North America.  It was cold and windy, but....

 ...it had some soft grass.

 The oldest lighthouse in NL is here.

 The place is well fortified with bunkers.

 We did a "Run for cover! She's gonna blow!" drill.

 We weren't allowed to go out on the rocks so the kid with the longest arms got to reach the furthest east.

 Hwy 1 and TC trail start here.

 St. John's tries to make new blend with old.

 Eastern dogs and western kids.

 I got my 10k run in on Sunday morning.  There were at least 3 others from BC in the run.

 Camp fire was a favourite time for us with Gramma V.

 St. John's from Signal Hill.

 This is where the first trans atlantic wireless signal was received about 1901

 It's hard to keep a good man down.

 The colonial building was the parliament for the Republic of Newfoundland and continued as the legislature until 1960.

 We went to Linda's place to be skreeched in as honourary Newfoundlanders.  Her bar was closed, but the mailman said, "Just knock on her door."

 Linda was a hoot

 We were there for over an hour ....

..and left with the paperwork.

 Quidi Vidi is a tiny town right by St. John's worth seeing.

 The legislature is not the prettiest on the outside, but it has two special features.  Elizabeth Gallagher, the only female Sergeant  at Arms in Canada, gives the tours, and the provincial motto is 'Seek first the kingdom of God'

 NL's Supreme Court is right downtown.

 What some people will do for a view of St. John's Harbour.

 It was an early rise to send off Gramma.

 Thanks for being with us Mom!

On to Cape Breton with Grandma

We picked up Grandma Vandermeulen and spent one more day in Halifax checking out the citadel and more of Pier 21.  Then it was off to Cape Bretton where the best chinese food is in Port Hawksbury.

 We had a stroll at Battery Park near St Peters.

 This ruin is from about 1750.

 Water is clear and trails beautiful.

 We camped near a small port at Big Bras D'Or ( bigbrador say it as fast as you can to sound Cape like).

 Fort Louisbourg near the tip of Cape Bretton.

 Being there out of season meant we got to drive where most can only walk.

 The second oldest lighthouse in Canada was on the foundation to t he right, and the current one was built in 1912.

 Everyone do not take two steps back.

 We had a drive around the northern loop called the Cabot Trail......

 ......and found some squatters on a beach at the Bay St. Lawrence.

 They mean it.

 At the A.G. Bell museum  in Baddeck we learned Bell was most into teaching the deaf to communicate...

 He was also responsible for the first Canadian flight and a hydrofoil built with this hull in 1918.  Since the war was over the hydrofoil never got off the ground.   That and the fact that it was only meant to stay on the water anyway.

 We took a misty ferry ride to Newfoundland on Mother's Day, but monopoly was good.