USA ~ "Rocky Mountain High" Italy~ "Dolomite Higher"

Google image of Dolomite Mountains
in Magdalena, Italy

Yes, finally time to explore the interior Dolomite Mountains also known as the “Italian Alps” . The weather on this day, sunny with limited clouds. Our destination was a very small village of Magdalena, Italy way up near the Austrian border. Why this village? Because every time, you Google, “Images of the Dolomite Mountains” this little village appears. According to Google maps it was 185 kilometers from Aviano, that’s about 114 miles.

After extending our, “on base lodging” for another three days, Sam took the wheel and we were off. Of course, we had a regional map and written directions. Now you must understand Italian routes are a little different from US routes. When you come to a round about, which there are many, directions are

This is where we stopped for directions and lunch!

given by towns. Not all towns are on the map and written directions are overwhelming. I had highlighted the route most of the way and we were doing just fine until we reached Cortina D’Ampezzo, the town which held the Winter Olympics several years ago. This town is overgrown with hotels, restaurants, ski and hiking enthusiast. Sam and I are good navigators, but we got turned around a couple of times before heading out on route 51, (in the wrong direction). All is not lost! It turned out to be a beautiful “circle tour". We all agreed it was time to eat. A wonderful Alpine styled restaurant just happened to appear next to a lake with people fishing and sightseeing. We were in “Parco Naturale D

Gnocchi was our choice for lunch and Karla
took care of us for directions!

olomiti di Sesto” (a mouthful, but we were after food). Low and behold a waitress, who spoke very good English. Karla was her name. She put an X on the map, gave us a direction and of course a delicious lunch of “Gnocchi”. I will put in a good travel review in Travelocity. Oh, the restaurant’s name is “Restaurant Duerrensee”. So, back to the road issue. We made a large circle and never had to back track any of our route. Also I haven’t mentioned anything about the scenic views! I think, we’ve been driving the last couple of hours with our mouths wide open in aah! I’ve never seen such grander around every corner! I can’t post every picture here on the blog, but I can tell you I’ve got plenty of keepers!

Gnocchi

From Cortina the route would be more isolated, but not deserted. Nearly every village or town had multiple skiing facilities. I mean large chair lifts, gondolas and ariel tramways! I mean multiple in each town. There was no end to this skiing mecca. From route 48, we took a right onto route 244. From here it was extremely difficult! In St Martino in Badia, we took our last recognized turn on route 29. We were one turn away on route 163 to our destination. It was now mid to late afternoon and we had to make a decision. Turn around and head back or find a place to stay. We turned around! I had plugged a geocache at ground zero which was 22.9 miles away. The problem with the Garmin GPS (handheld) was that the road switchback so fast that I kept loosing the satellite fixes.

I was not disappointed! We all had one of the greatest road trip explorations! Sam had done a great job driving all the way up here, some seven hours of aggressive driving! It was time for me to take over the wheel and get us back to Aviano. Sam had looked at our map and set a more direct route. We would be driving most of the switchback roads in daylight. Around 7:30pm, in this part of the world it does get dark.

We didn't make it to Magdalena, but I did get some awesome
photos!

It is no wonder that Italians make excellent road race drivers. Mario Andretti comes to mind. The thing you have to remember about left, right curves is this…in slow out fast! I soon got the feel and I was very comfortable and awake! We did stop one more time to photograph a village 3000 feet below the edge of the road.

That my friends is what we saw and did

Warm Sun ~ Cool Breeze @ Colle Santa Lucia

On The Slow Crawl North

Slow Crawl North…by Choice!!

On March 19th 2015 we pulled out of Trumbo Point RV campground. This was just a few minutes after 7 am. The last thing I did there was to pull the start cord on my neighbor, Gene's generator. I’ve been doing this for a week or so because I’m an early riser and when Gene and Carol get up the coffee is ready in their 5th wheel camper. One last stop in Key West was to attend mass, which we had been doing daily during lent.

Route US 1 heads Northeast and by 8:15 am,the sun had already moved a little more East and we had no problem with the sun in our eyes. Leaving town is always a little sad. We met a lot of friendly good folks and some were already heading north, but some were staying until the end of April. By May 1st, this campground is shut down until October 1st. The reason being that it gets too darn hot and humid. There are no full hookup sites at Trumbo Point, hence when it gets too hot,the military will not allow the generators to run all night for the A/C units on the RV’s. This is not as drastic as it seems because three miles down the road, the Navy has another RV campground called “Sigsbee” they have full hookups and in the summer there is always plenty of sites.

The ride back to Homestead, Florida always seems to go faster than going to Key West. As we moved closer to the mainland, familiar places peaked our interests. McDonalds coffee break in Marathon was the first stop for both coffee and restroom needs. After that, we were in Homestead at the first Wal-Mart from Key West for less expensive resupply of food stuff. So far this doesn’t sound to much like an adventure story, does it?

The adventure really started at the Miccosukee Resort and Gaming. Back in the Keys, we had been told to stop overnight at the Casino. You just had to get an overnight permit. The Casino gives each person a $30 ticket (for the slots) and bargains on food for first timers. We did the above exactly, with the only requirement that we had to play the thirty bucks voucher on one machine. We followed directions and played the slots. I jumped up to $64 dollars and Helen jumped to $62 dollars. "Quit while your ahead", that’s what we did and walked out with $126.00! It was early afternoon and we had no intentions on really staying overnight. Our game plan was to headout on US41 and than take US 94 (the loop road) and find a campground. Mitchell Landing was our destination. We headed down this dirt road for a short distance and found this motorhome with a camp host sign in front. “Yes”, the camp host said, “$12.00 with a

senior pass", which I had. There was only one other camper in the campground and he was in a tent. After backing in and getting set- up we took a walk to visit these endangered snails that are only found in this site. The camp host had given Helen direction and just a few yards away I was taking pictures of these very unusual snail shells. Moving along to the boat landing, a sign said boat landing closed due to low water levels. Ok, I didn’t have a boat, but I settled for pictures of vultures and other birds hanging around the marsh. It was now time for a bite to eat. Helen is always good at coming up with something scrumptious. Later, we walked up to the camp host and they invited us to sit and chat. It was interesting to learn all about volunteering in the NP system. They were leaving to take up their summer volunteer jobs up at the “Great Smokey Mountains National Park"

In about an hour or so, the bugs started to come out. Another camper showed up and we started walking back to our campsite. The camp host was just returning in his golf cart and stopped just about fifty feet past us. He said, “Did you see that snake”? “No" I said. We turn around and walked toward him. There was the snake! A “Cotton Mouth” also called a “Water Moccasin” right on the trail. We must have walked right over him! He grabbed his four foot snake grabber and went towards to the snake. It jumped, for sure, two feet in the air! He moved it along to the edge and it took off into the vegetation. Our luck held out on this night. He figured that the evening was getting cool and the snake was very passive. The camp host had just finished showing us his 410 revolver a little earlier. It fires 410 shotgun shells or 45 cal. slugs. This is some firepower and I guest after this snake encounter, not a bad defensive weapon. We crawled into bed after dark and my plans for doing some star gazing and photography in the middle of the night were a thing of the past with the snake incident.

Next morning, we were on the road fairly early. The camp host had told us of this watering hole next to the dirt road, where we might catch a glimpse of this 12 foot alligator . I knew that the cold morning temperature was a deterrent against seeing any warm blooded creatures moving around, but we gave it a chance. The sun wasn’t even risen and light patches of fog covered the swamp here and there. The birds were still roosting, but they were coming to life. No alligators were visible, but I could see an occasional bubble indicating they were there and staying close to the bottom in the warmer water. No sightings, but all was not lost!

Big Cypress National Preserve Sunrise

The gravel road was extremely straight, visible for miles in either direction. I looked up and immediately spotted a photographic opportunity. The sun was just starting to rise miles away in the middle of this gravel road. Everything surrounding was still dark and with the sun now beaming, my shutter was going at full speed. My mind was thinking…This would make another contest picture for the 2016 Truck Camper Magazine Calendar Contest. The Truck Camper was in the frame with its lights on, the sun was beaming through a slight haze fog. We'll see how I do this year in the contest!

That is what we saw and did!

From Northern Hardwood Forest to Mangroves in KW

In our homeland forest in Northern New Hampshire, I would be talking about Maple, Oak, Beech, Ash and Birch as some of the most popular and abundant of hardwoods. In Florida, I would be talking about, blank, blank, blank! I have no clue on their names, but I do know that I have seen some mighty awesome looking trees here in the Keys. I’ve got to educate myself and hopefully pass some of what I have discovered, here on my blog. What I know now is… Take pictures of some of these magnificent trees. A couple of them have plaques with descriptions. I will get back to this subject further down on this blog and possibly in future blogs.
Yesterday afternoon, we were at the soup kitchen for our second volunteer serving on the food line. It is amazing how they/we feed 100 people in twenty minutes or so. It reminds me a lot of my old Army days! At the end of the serving line, a 37 year old said he needed to go to the hospital. He said he had a hard time breathing, has high blood pressure and hadn’t taken his BP medication for a month. He said he was sorry and started to cry. There was some discussion about bringing him to the hospital. I had my pickup truck there, but I was very hesitant about bringing someone to the hospital. I kept thinking, what if he’s on drugs, what if he has a seizure, and a lot more what if’s. The correct answer was to call 911. Soon the ambulance and a police officer were on the scene. We stuck around to watch what would happen to the patient. They checked him out, did all of their on site evaluations and than allowed him to board into the ambulance. I guess we did the proper thing in calling 911. Many of the homeless people have a multitude of problems. They are all in need of assistance in one form or another and most are very grateful for what they get from the Soup Kitchen. Another unexpected outcome from volunteering at the Soup Kitchen was the age of the needy. I surely expected middle age men, down and out, but to see young men with haircut short enough to meet military standards, some wearing camouflage bush hats and backpacks. I wonder if they have a military history, PTSD or whatever. The one thing I do know is that they are in need of help! Men are not the only gender in the line. Women, young and old, some look like they could be our retired neighbors at the campground in Trumbo Point.
Sunday night it rained just enough to screw up the Bocce courts for our Monday morning round of Bocce down on White Street. It wasn’t cool this morning, but the clouds were occasionally very dark. Should we bike or not? The forecast, 20% chance of a shower… After a couple of false starts, a little drizzle, we stayed put and read our books close to home. Monday evening the skies cleared and I grabbed onto my Nikon. We took a three mile walk around the water front. I did get a couple of good night shots.
The weather up north is terrible, I’m told. The weather isn’t as nice as it was this time last year, but we’re thankful that we are here.

One Tree...One Person

The last couple of days we have been riding the bikes, crisscrossing the main arteries of KW and getting into more side and back streets. I’m amazed at the number of City of KW workers that are out and about beautifying the city. Most residents also pitch in and keep the maintenance on their properties updated. Every now and then, I stop and click a landscape front entry to someone’s home. Also on our quest are those amazing trees that I mentioned at the beginning of this blog. This Saturday, there is an open house at the Botanical Gardens, they, I’m told, have a couple of National Champion trees.
Sunday, Feb 15, 2015

Air Force checking in for the night at
our campground!

The Key West Tropical Forest and Gardens had an open house this past weekend. Many artist and vendors were present to sell their crafts and goods. The main reason for our interest was the fact that the Tropical Forest  has five National Champion trees and Challengers (runner ups). You would think they would have had a plaque or marker to help easily identify them from the many others clustered together. No dice! I just have the names, but no pictures. Cinnamon Bark, Milkbark, Wild Dilly, Locustberry, Pigeon Plum and finally Saffron Plum. I did get pictures of the Nation Champions down on Truman Ave by the Basilica. Key West definitely has some remarkable massive trees. The summer hurricane season does reduce their numbers, but they are still surviving here in the tropics.

Nearly looks hand painted!

Amazing flowers in the Tropics!

One of the most interesting vendors at the Gardens was the KW Botanical Garden Society Tours to of all places “Cuba”! I often talk about visiting Cuba and we both brought our Passports just in case. There are several different tours on different dates. The next one is called the Western Loop scheduled for March 17 to 24th, 2015. The Vinales is a red-earth pasture area known for Tobacco growing. The breathtaking National Park, “Vinales” is also a highlight I’m told. May 14-18, 2015 will be Havana Only tour. That’s the one I would be interested in. The May schedule is past our must leave KW campsite, so most likely that won’t happen either.

Night, Night until morning!

That is what we saw and did!

Technorati Tags: Dendrology,Baby Boomers,Culture,Nature,Retired Military,Travel Adventure,Truck Camping

 

Our First Month…Snow to Sun!!

Yes, this week will mark our one month departure from zero degree weather to more favorable temperature down in the Keys of Florida. I can’t believe how fast the month has flown by! Our schedule seems to be busier than ever. That’s a good thing. I’m trying to get back on my routine of biking around the ten mile perimeter of Key West every other day.

Sunset on our evening bike ride

This morning, we did our ten miles and tonight we went to town on the bikes again, this time to buy batteries for my bike’s head and tail lights. It is incredibly wonderful to bike in the evening. We find many new little streets to explore. We are doing this relatively early evening, just after sun down. The breeze is light and the temperature is near perfect for the ride. Key West is a unique town with many small blocks of residential housing. Many of the streets are nearly passable by only one car at a time. This is where we enjoy riding and seeing what the different residences have for landscaping. All have trees of different species, that I would never be able to identify.

Another stop for an evening photo

The real-estate is tight, as there isn’t enough for all of the people on the island. This naturally brings the cost up to unbelievable amounts. This exploration is what we enjoy immensely in riding our bikes on the byways of Key West. 
Another thing we enjoy is finding nighttime locations to photograph. Key West is well lit and many of the mansions have landscape lighting that accentuates the mansions and especially the landscaping. I experiment with different camera settings to try and get the image I'm looking for. My Nikon D-7000 is capable of taking photos in nearly total darkness. I can make

Many of the street are perfect for an evening stroll

a totally dark scene turnout just about into broad daylight. So the trick is to try and reproduce the scene as my eye sees it, dark, with evening lighting accenting the mansions and landscape.
Now, a recent comment on Facebook about the lack of trees here at the Coast Guard RV campground has me thinking of all of the majestic trees we’ve seen here in Key West. I’m going to have a new tree photo each week on Facebook. Some of these trees are Nationally recognized. We’ve seen giant red wood trees that are 15 feet across at the base, but there are trees here that are 30 feet across. The difference is that the trees in California are hundred or so high, where here they are maybe seventy-five high.

Truman Annex next to the Truman White House

The first week of February was marked by steady wind and a few rain showers. This interfered with our Bocce schedule. You can’t play Bocce if the sand is damp. The sand sticks to the balls and it just doesn’t work! That meant that we tried something different. We volunteered at St Mary Star of the Sea soup kitchen. Yup, my first job was to make peanut butter/jelly sandwiches. I used 12 sandwich breads and one large bowl of peanut butter and plenty of jelly. The sandwiches are not part of the one four o’clock meal they serve. The sandwiches are for the next day’s breakfast. We actually worked from 11am to 12:30pm.

Our neighbors Jerry & Maxine are leaving
Key West for their home in Georgia

We left and did some shopping for our selves after that. We volunteered to come back at 3:30pm to help serve the four o’clock meal. I sort of had a pre-conceived notion that they were all homeless, drunks or on drugs, but this was not the case. A lot of people just run out of money each month. Nearly all were so thankful for the meal. We are going back later this afternoon to help serve another 4pm meal. Ninety three meals were served to these people in need.

And finally a photo of the full moon taken a few nights ago from our campsite at Trumbo point

I am ending this blog for today Sunday Feb. 8, 2015

That is what we did and saw!

Technorati Tags: Baby Boomers,Nature,Retired Military,Travel Adventure,Truck Camping,Health Workout,Culture

Homeward Bound, But The Adventure Continues!

Friday, July 18, 2014
      Location this morning is Deer Lake, Newfoundland. The sun is shining with a bright blue sky. Our plan was not to rush home, but to explore anything that caught our fancy.

Salmon Fishing ~ Deer Lake

We weren’t even a mile from our night’s stay location at the truck stop, when we were intrigued by a row of fishermen, with waders standing nearly waist deep in the inlet of Deer Lake. What looked odd was the shoreline filled with spectators. After talking to some of them, we discovered they already had their two Salmon limit, hence they were cheering their fellow fishing buddies. For those of you who are wondering, the fisherman were catching Salmon left and right.

Bringing in the Cod!

Traveling South towards Corner Brook, we looked at many side roads that followed Deer Lake. If they looked interesting, we just meandered of the main road and explored the small villages. I was always looking for that special photo opportunity. In no time we arrived in Corner Brook and revisited the tourist info center. “What have we missed in this area”, I ask the young lady. She said, “Have you

Fishing Village Life

been to Lark Harbour”? “Yes”, I said. “How about the, ‘very scenic hiking trails near Little Port’? “No”, was my answer. It was only mid-morning as we headed towards Lark Harbour. This time we looked very carefully as the road weaved passed small fishing villages. I spotted several small red boats on shore in the village of Frenchman Cove . If anything else, they would make for a colorful picture. A dock just prior to the little red boats

Lobster Trap ~ Harmony Wave

caught my eye as a fishing boat was starting to unload some fish. I parked and started to walk over to get a better look and take a few pictures. I could see the fish were Cod and soon I started a conversation with the fishermen. A lady wearing a safety vest and hardhat was taking tally of the basket weights and recording the numbers on a clipboard. She was obviously from the fish processing plant. Helen and I walked around the dock taking pictures and finally walking through the village towards those small red fishing boats for more pictures. A little further at the end of land, a half dozen larger boats were on shore. I imagine they only put them

The "Cave" in background

in the water when the fishing season is open, for that particular type of fish or lobster. What really caught my eye was the names of these boats. Some were female names, one as to wonder who they were named for?… Girlfriends, wives, children or grand-children. Another noticeable thing about the locals, walking around the village, was their rubber knee-high boots. I’m sure they looked at us and said, “Another bunch of tourist with their sneakers”.

Wild Raspberries!

Our forty-five minute ride to the end of the main road brought us to this huge pile of Lobster traps. They were constructed a little differently than the usual type and warranted a picture of them all piled along the fence line. We had driven through villages of Benoit’s Cove, York Harbour and finally the end of the road here at Lark Harbour. One final side road called Little Port road was were the Visitor Center had sparked our interest in some hiking trails.
On a side note…  Last year, on our first visit

Odd Rock Formations

to Bottle Cove, we had stayed overnight in a gravel parking lot at the end of Beacon Road. This was our destination today. We weren’t too excited about tracing last year’s adventure again. The parking lot overlooks Bottle Cove and a spectacular view of a fairly large cave facing the ocean. At high tide, water enters the cave. I don’t think one could explore the cave unless a boat was used. In any event, it was still a spectacular view for us this year.
What we didn’t do last year, was hike this area. On the edge of the parking lot ,was a crew of men working on the trail. We talked to them and they assured us it was worth the hike of the views we would see on the other side of the mountain. The trail made a large loop. Another couple ahead of us took to the left and we took to right just to keep the journey as pure as it could be. The trail had primitive rest areas with log benches here and there. At this junction, so far the trail we heavily wooden with softwood spruce

Clear Ocean Water

and pine trees. No ocean views, but peaceful forest with moss covered grounds.
The trail soon opened up to a meadow with wild raspberries and flowers sprawling throughout the large meadow. The trail led to the edge of the meadow and rocky cliffs, with the emerald green ocean below. The water, even though green emerald in color, was clear and the multi-colored stones below the surface shined in the sunlight. The camera was at the ready and I was looking for composition from different angles. Miranda Cove is, in my book, a five star location for photo composition. The unusual thing is the rock formations. Unlike glacial rock that is scratched, scraped and worn,

Little Port and the Mountain

these formations seem to be melted together as in  some sort of volcanic lava creation. We spent some time admiring these formations before hiking to the higher cliff locations.
So far, we enjoyed this hiking relatively alone. Hiking to the higher terrain, we could see more hikers on the lower trails. I carefully made my way to the highest point of the land. You know I’m always looking for that magical photo opportunity. This brings me to a note of caution. For many years, I feared no heights, able to walk a 2x4 wall on many construction sites. Well now that I’m nearing my 70th year of adventure, I must say I must now plan my footsteps.My balance is still there,

Edge of Miranda Cove ~ Volcanic Rock Formations

but now I have to think about it instead of being on auto pilot. In any event, this old dog still plans to travel and see what’s on the other side of the hill and share what I discover.
After our little hike we left Bottle Cove and drove a couple of miles to Little Port. We had visited here last year, but I wanted to see how many  boats were anchored. Little Port lies adjacent to a very high mountain. If we would have had more time I think we would have taken the trail up this mountain. I’m sure their would have been impressive views from the top.

That is what we saw and did!

Technorati Tags: Baby Boomers,Adventure Travel,Truck Camping,Retired Military,Nature

The Ferry Crossing…Local Talk…The Best!

Thursday July 17, 2014
For the first time, I made reservations for the 3:30 pm sailing across to St Barbe. It was now 6 am, dense fog, drizzling and I was ready to hit the road. There was an earlier ferry, I would gamble and try to make the 9:30  am sailing. Maybe I would loose a $10 dollar deposit, but that would be better than hanging around

Drizzling wait to board the ferry

and peering into the fog. The ride back from our roadside campsite to Blanc Sablon was slow going due to the dense fog and drizzle. I didn't want to run into another oncoming vehicle or for that matter a moose.
We arrived at the ferry terminal and where sixth in line for standby. Surprisingly, the ticket agent credited our deposit and or total cost was only $19.95.
When you are on standby, you sit in a waiting room with everybody else and wait. This is where I enjoyed the wait. You see most of the people are locals and know each other. I listened and picked up some of the conversations. They, the locals, talk low and in a drawl, but listening very carefully, I could follow their conversation. Many of them

Not a good photo, but a view of hundreds
of Lobster traps waiting for the next season!

were construction workers and old timers. They were scattered in Labrador from many construction projects, from road construction, to power  transmission line work. One of the conversation that caught my ear was that of a guy saying to another. “I saw one of your wolves.” The other said, “What do you mean?” “Remember those wolf pups that you were feeding? They are grown up now. One of them was within 15 feet of the welding gang. They hollered at him, but he wasn't skittish at all. I figured he might have been one of yours.”

Rain most of the way to Deer Lake! 

Stories like that were being told among the local standby passengers. Another guy was retelling how he left Quebec city early morning and by 9:30 at night he was already in Churchill Falls, Labrador. The other guy said, “very good time”. When we tried that route last year it took us two days just to get half that distance. He must have been flying!
The ticket agent said, “I want the first six numbers.” That was an indication that the first six would make the ferry. We were number six!
The ferry crossing was uneventful. No extra conversations with passengers except for a couple who were in their wet weather gear, which also carried a humongous spotting scope. They spent the entire crossing outside of the ferry in the rain. They were looking for Whales, Dolphins and Sea Birds. Yes, they did spot some. They spoke with a French Canadian accent. We answered them in French and they were surprised. Montreal natives they were. They didn't even bring their vehicle across. They were just walk-on passengers. When you think about it $6 a piece is very reasonable for a whale watch! Tourist pay as high as $200 for a private whale watch.
Upon reaching the shores of St Barbe, I headed for the gas station as the price of gas on the Quebec side was very expensive because of their taxes.
Lunch was on the Newfoundland side in the camper. It was pouring rain and a good day to head towards Deer Lake. We did see one accident on the way down. A vehicle rollover, but by the time we arrived the ambulances were gone and the police were just wrapping things up. In Deer Lake, the sun broke through the clouds and it turned to be a mild end of the day. We looked around for a parking spot for the night. The Canadian Legion parking lot was a possibility, but the highway was just yards away and the traffic was noisy. We settled on a large truck stop, but it was set back from the highway. There was a local campground just a mile up the road, but why would you want to pay good money to get the same amenities at the truck stop!

That is what we did and saw!

Technorati Tags: "Baby Boomers",Nature,Retired Military,Travel Adventure,Truck Camping

Labrador…Here We Come Ready or Not!

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Our night stay at Plumley Cove was quiet and peaceful. The prior evening had been full of locals and visitors coming and going to take a look at the massive Iceberg. Icebergs, in this area, are common. This big boy was large and what can happen, as the tide goes in and out, the Icebergs tend to shift and move around. This action could possibly block access to

Iceberg at the mouth of Plumley Cove

Plumley Cove. I think this was why there was so much local interest. Like I mentioned in the last blog, all these people came to the trailhead parking lot and never gave us a second look and walked a few hundred feet to the Iceberg.

This morning the clouds and fog were gone. The sun rose over the little hamlet of Plumley Cove. We got are cameras and walked around taking pictures. The Iceberg had split in two during the night and the danger of blocking the channel to Plumley Cove appeared over. The village looked different with the sun to it's back. We have and will continue to have fond memories of Plumley Cove and the big boy Iceberg!

The drive to St Barbe was about a hundred miles. We would try and make the late morning ferry over to Blanc Sablon, PQ. With no or very little traffic, the road was ours. That’s not to say we could speed down the highway at will. The road, in this part of Newfoundland, has frost heaves, remnants even in summer. We arrived at St Barbe at 8:45am. The ferry building was open, but the ticket office window opens only two hours

Point L'Amour Lighthouse

before departure. That was ok. We were the only ones there and a fifteen minute wait would give us time for a coffee break in the camper. A 9 am sharp, six tractor trailers pulled along the highway and the drivers were inline at the window. I was now seventh in line and managed to get a standby ticket. Next, a two hour wait to board the ferry and as usual the suspense of waiting to see if we would have a spot onboard…remember no reservations. Yes, we were second to last to board! After leaving the truck camper on the deck below, we found seats and a table on the top deck solarium. Soon we were joined by people from a tour bus. The accent of our neighbor passengers appeared to be European. It wasn't long before we were in conversation with them. Germany was their country of origin and we soon were learning more travel information on Europe. Italy is a possible destination this fall and any tips on travel was appreciated.

The ferry ride over to Blanc Sablon, PQ is only 90 minutes. Soon, we were headed in a northerly direction towards the Labradorean border, 6 km up the road. First on our agenda...always to find a Visitor Center for maps and tourist attractions. The Visitor Center was a converted church filled with tons of information brochures and most of all a lady, a volunteer staff person, with answers to our many questions. She also noted that we could stay just about any spot off the highway to dry camp. Helen prepared a quick lunch and after filling our tummies, we slowly headed up Route 510.

The road climbed over these rocky mountains, descended back into the Ocean level several times. One of our first major stops was Amour Point to visit a lighthouse and in L'Anse Amour, the site of the oldest known burial monument in North America. The Maritime Archaic people buried a 12 year old child here 7,500 years ago.

Oldest Burial Monument in North America

The lighthouse is the tallest in Atlantic Canada. Both sites are very impressive! I've included a short video link of the road leading to the lighthouse. Road to Point L'Amour LighthouseOne has to stop, step back and think of the history of this area. Many settlers lived, worked and often times died from harsh living conditions. I imagine that there was some good times also. I tend to reflect on this because my great- great- grandparents were first to winter in a new settlement in Paquetville, New Brunswick, Canada. http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/19883156.jpg This link is of a picture of the Catholic Church that my great-great-grandfather helped build. It is said that when renovations were made in the mid fifties his smoking pipe was discovered between the masonry walls. 

That is what we saw and did!

Technorati Tags: Truck Camping,Culture,Nature,Baby Boomers,Retired Military,Travel Adventure

  

The Vikings Are Coming! ~ L'Anse aux Meadows

Monday July 14, 2014

Viking Welcome Party

Our plans in St Barbe were not to immediately take the ferry over into Labrador, but to do the National Historic Site in L'Anse aux Meadows. at and "Meadows" would mean meadows as in a field. Well according to Wikipedia: L'Anse aux Meadows; Jellyfish Cove...so much for my translation....Who would have guessed!
So many new site discoveries were uncovered since 1960 (the Norse and or so called Vikings.) First the name "L'Anse aux Meadows" translated (by me); L'Anse would mean handle such as a tea cup handle "aux" would mean

Re-constructed Norse Dwelling

The highway from St Barbe followed the westerly coast line for another 40 to 50 miles before turning to an easterly inland direction. Here, the landscape changed to a softwood forest. We really started to notice firewood piled for hundreds of feet long along the highway. Another unusual site was homemade lobster traps by the hundreds.

Life in the Dwelling

That's what they do! Remember, that the majority of lobsters are caught for only two months in the spring. That's followed by the Cod, followed by Stone Crab and so on.

The road here was paved, but more noticeable frost heaves were present. We turned left on Route 430 for the last leg to L'Anse aux Meadows.

It was overcast, foggy with a slight drizzle, but as we arrived at the National Historic Site, we were greeted with metal sculptures of a Viking Scout party. The parking lot did have a handful of cars and we watched a bunch of motorcycle tourist arrive. This gave us the courage "if they can brave the fog and drizzle, we certainly

Natural ~ Nature's Beauty!

can also. We marched towards the Visitor Center for tickets and a view of the glassed in replicas. We waited our turn to also view a documentary film of the Vikings settlement in this very area. We would be on the guided tour for 11am down to the recreated village and the actual building locations that were discovered in the relatively near past...1960.

By eleven, the drizzle had stopped and our tour guide led us down to the board walk towards the excavated building sites. He had a very good presentation about the Norse and the elite Viking warriors. I was totally surprised to hear that the Viking were not all savages and wild warriors as I had

What is he looking at?

thought. They were the only nation in Europe that bathed regularly. Some say, to attract the local women. Our guide also said that they weren't trying to establish a permanent settlement here, but this place was used as a forward base to get lumber for building sailing ships (locally) and also to make cotton sails from the sheep they raised in this area.

The ocean has receded several feet from the location of the original settlement. They were a busy people building their ocean going vessels from harvesting the wood to actually forging nails. Yes, by burning peat moss there was enough iron in the ashes to produce the iron for the nails! Remember this was 1000AD!

Looking

Goose Cove, NL

around this Viking site, one has to imagine how harsh this part of the world would have been and still is. The wind, rain and snow must have taken a hardy group to survive. Even on this July 14th day, one could see pockets of snow in the sheltered areas around the bay.
Another thing that I hadn't realized was the fact that they didn't sail all the way across the North Atlantic in one shot. They did have permanent settlements in Greenland, Iceland and England. Their time spent here in L'Anse aux Meadows was relatively short, about 15 years from the archaeological digs. The site has a few side trails that lead to other parts of the bay. After our guided tour and

Goose Cove

meeting period Viking people in the different buildings, our tour ended and we headed back to the Visitor Center via one of those alternate trails. This turned out to be rather a pleasant surprise. We encountered many wild flowers and the foliage with it's many shades of green, after the drizzle. It was just what the camera ordered!

It was lunch time and after leaving the Viking site, we found an excellent restaurant, "The Norseman Restaurant" down by the bay for lunch. I had a combination of local delicacies. After lunch, we strolled around down towards the water and discovered one big Viking statue in an unusual outcropping of rocks. I took my pictures of the Viking and all of the quaint fishing shacks and the fish nets and such.

Onward to St Anthonys. This was the only good size community for everybody to resupply... for food, gas and even a decent size hospital. It was mid to late afternoon when we arrived and we headed towards the bay. Who did we meet there, but the lady traveling alone with her "A" frame trailer. She had left the trailer back in St Barbe and did a day trip up this way. We had a long chat with her the night before. She told us of the set of stairs that climbed hundreds of feet to a wonderful overlook of the bay. She hadn't climbed because she is not in a healthy condition.

Got Wood? Winter is coming!

For that matter, we also declined to climb hundreds of steps. The view from down here at the lighthouse wasn't bad. Oh, there were three Icebergs in the bay! They weren't that far out, but it did call for my 300mm lens (another good photo shoot). After I was finish shooting the Icebergs, I was taking some shots of the wild flowers at my feet. A lady sitting on the bench...a local, said, "Why are you taking pictures of flowers"? "They're only flowers", she repeated. This was the first time in my life that I've heard that one! I really didn't know what to tell her. She was an older lady and I guess she never "smelled the Roses!" We moved on going Southeast towards Goose Cove. St Anthonys looked too busy to find a place to beddown for the night.
Arriving in Goose Cove, we got surprised again. This time the Icebergs were just a few hundred yards from shore. I kept driving to scope out the little village. Ah, I just spotted a huge Iceberg, I drove towards it to a place called

Plumley Cove ~ Notice the boat for scale!

Home for the night ~ Iceberg looming above

Plumley Cove. The end of the road, with a nature trail boardwalk, pointing directly at the massive Iceberg. Parking was available and off we went to checkout this monster. It was like we ordered this Iceberg to park just in front of us. We both took several pictures including selfies. We followed the trail that was paralleling the ocean to see if another Iceberg would be present just around the corner from our view. None was present, but a sign describing the Icebergs and where they were from was inspiring. We headed back to the truck camper and decided this was our campground for the night. After supper,

were we surprised to see all of the locals come down to this spot to walk the trail and view the Iceberg. They didn't even take a second look at the camper. They never realized that we were inside.

Their mission was the Iceberg viewing!

Note: Click on the upper right hand corner to enlarge the map and zoom in to see our detail adventure locations!

That is what we did and saw!

North Western Side of Newfoundland…Still Plenty to Visit!

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Water Taxi to Woody Point, NL

"The Arches Provincial Park"

This was another sunny morning and perfect to head on our northerly trek for more places to explore. Helen read, in a tourist brochure, that Humber Village had several tree carvings and Totem Poles. It was the first exit off the TCH-1. Not all of our side trips are successful. We found Humber Village OK, but the tree carvings must have gone away on holiday as we didn’t find a single one! Not to be discouraged, I soon was back on the TCH-1. The terrain in this part of Newfoundland is heavily forested with plenty of mountains and ocean to look at.

The next major town is Deer Lake. Here the

Multi-colored Stones at "The Arches"

road splits to the right and your headed Twillingate and  St John, the biggest city in Newfoundland. We would be taking a left fork here for our journey towards St Anthony’s way up North. The road traffic would decrease by 75 percent. In Deer Lake, we stopped to fill-up with gas and one last stop for groceries at a reasonable price. 

The road here really starts to be hilly with miles of climb up hill and down hill. Soon, Bonne Bay was visible and we could see Woody Point in a distance across the bay. We had fond memories from our stay in Woody Point last year. It was time to slow down and

Port aux Choix ~ Lighthouse

we did just that and took a side trip to Norris Point. This a very small village, but the craft shop and it's owner made up for small size with quality. I couldn't believe how many clever items were displayed. We talked to the lady proprietor for a considerable ~time about the novelty crafts. She told us how many other craft people have come to her shop to pirate ideas for crafts.

Endangered Flora

The restaurant next door, with its bay facing windows, was just what we needed to sip our morning coffee. The local water taxi was just about to leave for Woody Point. The operator hollowed last call for Woody Point. He then began to sing as happy as a lark. He pushed away from the dock and headed across the bay. We also pushed away from the restaurant and headed back to Route 430.

We were now in Gros Morne National Park. No stop at Western Brook Pond this year,as we had explored this hiking area last year. Back home, I had contemplated the idea of hiking deep into the back country for a spectacular photo opportunity of the Fiords. I was told that this was an overnight-er and we weren't really equipped for this type of hike. A short distance

Natural Driftwood Art

up the road and we were out of the National Park and in Arches Provincial Park, a day use area. Here, we made a stop as this is such a beautiful place. The Arches, the multi-colored well rounded, weathered rocks are just irresistible to photograph as well as good ballast. Last year, we had stayed overnight without any problems. This was also the farthest point north traveled last year. Everything from here north was a new experience. Generally, I hate to repeat travel experiences, but I strongly felt that northwestern Newfoundland and certainly Labrador  was worth a repeat route experience.

Our first new adventure experience was Port aux Choix National Historic Site. This site has so much history, Natural and Cultural, that one has to study the web site to capture a glimpse of this gem. After visiting the Park Visitor Center, I decided to take the gravel road to the lighthouse, a couple of miles to the point of land. What a photogenic place from the “Barren Limestone” to the endangered, greenish-blue flowers (Fernald’s Braya), to the lighthouse itself, to even the drift wood on the limestone (Calcareous) barrens.We spent

Norris Point, NL

time walking and exploring this historic place. Except for one other couple,we were alone and enjoyed the lighthouse experience. I did think of staying here overnight, but being a National Park, we might be asked to leave and I didn't want to look for an alternative late in the day or night. It wasn't that far to St Barbe, the ferry crossing point to Labrador and for sure a private campground available, if we  struck out for a boon-docking site.
From Port aux Choix, the road stayed fairly close to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. We side- stepped into the many coastal communities to see what they were like. With names like Bird Cove, Plum Point, Black Duck Cove and Currant Island, they were beckoning for a truck camper visit. The one thing that we started to notice was the ever increasing amount of firewood that is used for heating in the winter time.

St Barbe, a busy place with a community owned campground, had many tractor trailers lined up to get road salt from a freighter at the dock and a busy restaurant across from the campground. This was to be our sleeping port for the night. Now, the campground was full of motor-homes, the same bunch that we encountered way back in the Codroy Valley. All 24 of the big rigs were deserted. They all left their RV’s and took a bus tour over to Labrador. That meant that we had the whole

Truck Camping at its Best!

campground to ourselves. The facilities were brand new with outstanding washrooms, WiFi, cable TV, activity rooms. The only other camper present was Theresa who was traveling alone in her “A” frame tag along trailer. She also was a military retiree or at least her Quadriplegic husband was a disabled military retiree. He was not with her on this trip, but another friend had been traveling with her, but she had to return back to the west coast for a family emergency. It was a long story, but an interesting conversation.


That is what we did and saw! 

Note: Click on the upper right hand corner to enlarge the map and zoom in to see our detail adventure locations!