1,000th Lighthouse and Trip To France

Cape Bonavista Lighthouse

We are back in Nova Scotia after traveling almost 8 weeks in Newfoundland.  We enjoyed our visit there so much that we have made this one of our premier places to revisit (and have started to make plans to come back in 3 or 4 years).  Here are some of the highlights from our last few weeks in Newfoundland:

• We reached a milestone on a foggy day on the Burin Peninsula (south central Newfoundland) when we took photos of the Middle Head lighthouse (near St. Lawrence).  This was our 1,000th lighthouse photographed so far.  In order to reach it, we had to drive down a pretty rough narrow gravel road for over 2 miles and the lighthouse was not all that impressive – but it still had that mystique that draws us toward these lights in the night.  Instead of celebrating very long, we drove back the gravel road and headed to the next lighthouse on our way to our new goal of 1,250.  This will probably be our last realistic goal as we are running out of lighthouses to see in the USA and Canada.

• While on the Burin Peninsula we took a day trip to France.  You might say ‘How is that possible?’  Well, just a few miles off the coast of Newfoundland are small islands named Saint-Pierre and Miquelon.  This is a self-governing territorial overseas collectivity of France and it is the only remnant of the former colonial empire of New France that remains under French control.  Two of the islands are permanently inhabited (Saint-Pierre has 6,000 and Miquleon has 600 permanent residents).  After a passenger only ferry ride and going thru customs you step into another world.   Some of the things different are: most of the cars are small European ones; all signs are in French; the currency is the Euro; they are on a different time zone (same as Greenland, the Falkland Islands, & Argentina);  almost everything closes for lunch from 12 noon to 1:30 (except restaurants); the police (gendarmes) come from France with their families for 3 years (free housing included); and (from what we understand), the French spoken here is Parisian and not the Quebec Canadian version.  On the day that we went, it was so foggy that no one got off our tour bus at the view points that we stopped at, but we did manage to take photos of lighthouses when the fog lifted for a few minutes.

• We spent almost 2 weeks in St. John’s in Pippy Park which was very convenient right in town.  While there we took 4 day trips to the 4 mini peninsulas of the Avalon area (the southeastern part of Newfoundland) and visited Cape Race where the first SOS signal from the Titanic was received; the Cape St. Mary’s Seabird Ecological Reserve; and Hawthorne Cottage (the home of Captain Bob Bartlett – world famous Arctic Explorer - he was the unsung hero in Perry's expidition to the North Pole).  Of course, we took photos of multiple great lighthouses along the way. 

• In St. John’s we visited the provincial government’s Assembly room in the Confederation Building.  One of the things that we like to do is take tours of the center of the government in each of the provinces & territories.  We have found this to be an excellent way to learn about the unique history of each one.  Some have a parliament (with 2 houses), some have only an Assembly, and in the Northwest Territories the 12 delegates sit around a table.

• The 2 outstanding places we really enjoyed in St. John’s were to go up to the top of Signal Hill (where you can get great views of the city, the harbour, and the ocean) and the beautiful new ‘The Rooms’ (Provincial Archives, art gallery and museum).

• While at the Iceberg Festival in St. Anthony in early June, we so enjoyed an evening listening to ‘Ennis’ (a Newfoundland sisters singing group) that we checked to see where they were performing again.  We were fortunate to get tickets to hear them again in Tors Cove (near St. John’s).  What made this so special was that there were only 40 tickets available for this evening.  It was a family affair with their parents and other relatives there mixed in the group.  There was another couple there from Texas that had flown in to see Ennis and to go swimming with the whales (which you can do here).  I think that the four of us from Texas were the only non-Newfies there.  What a wonderful evening we had.  We called this our bookends event since we first heard them in the far NW corner of Newfoundland & then here on almost the far SE corner.

• All in all, we enjoyed exceptional weather (except our foggy trip on the Burin Peninsula and to Saint Pierre and Miquelon).  We had been told to expect foggy overcast days in St. John’s but were blessed with many bright sunny days.  The temperatures were also quite comfortable and cool.   It was sort of humorous to us when the temperature reached 85 degrees Fahrenheit one day and we overheard some Newfies say that it was ‘sweltering’.

As we continue our journey in Nova Scotia, we are now looking forward to seeing Nova Scotia (most of which we have not visited before, except for the Cape Breton Island part).  We have been asked so many times ‘Have you been to the Peggy’s Cove lighthouse near Halifax? (and we have not been) that we have to go there this time.  Since there are over 100 lighthouses in Nova Scotia (80 of which are accessible that we have not seen), we will be kept busy. 

Hope this update finds you all doing well.

A view of the tickle (an inlet) at Newtown.  The yellow buildings on the left are part of the historic Barbour Living Heritage Village (place where a merchant family in the sealing and fishing industry in rural Newfoundland lived).  One of the Barbours was the captain of a sailing ship adrift in the Atlantic for 48 days and managed to finally make it to Scotland.

Atlantic Puffins in the colony at Elliston (near Bonavista).  You can walk out to get a pretty good view of the puffins there.

Cape Spear lighthouse (old one) - there is a newer one close by.  This is the easternmost point in North America (however, if you want to be technical and include Greenland as part of North America, then it is further east - and to be really techical and use true longitude, there is an island in Alaska that is further east).

Northen Gannet perched on a rock at the rookery in Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve.  Note how flexible it's web feet are clinging to the rock edge.

Here it is.  Our 1000th lighthouse.  Middle Head lighthouse as seen on a foggy day.

New Terry Fox Memorial in St. John's.  This is where in 1980, Terry Fox (after losing one leg to cancer) started his Marathon of Hope run across Canada to raise funds for cancer research.  He made it to Thunder Bay, Ontario (on northern shore of Lake Superior) where his cancer returned and he had to stop.  He so inspired the people of Canada that more than 600 million dollars have been raised in Terry Fox runs since his great feat.  We wanted to visit this memorial since we had visited the Terry Fox Memorial in Thunder Bay years ago.

Heart's Content lighthouse.  Notes: Heart's Content is a community adjacent to the communities of Heart's Desire and Heart's Delight. Heart's Content was the major transatlantic telegraph cable terminus in North America (connected to Ireland).

Ennis - Maureen Ennis (in the middle) is the main composer and singer - Karen Ennis (on the right) is the storyteller, singer, and tin whisle player - Mark Murphy (on left) co-composes some songs and helps accompany the group.

 

Fort Amherst (fort and lighthouse) - as viewed from the top of Signal Hill in St. John's

Our best campsite in Newfoundland - overlooking the ocean in La Scie (which means The Saw, because of the jagged coastline that looks like the teeth of a saw)

 

Some of the colorful houses in St. John's.  They were painted this way initially to help fishermen find the harbour in the fog.

A model community set up beside a house in Greenspond - with the Puffin Island lighthouse in the distance

Orange growth on rocks in front of the Green Point lighthouse near Bay Roberts

One of many wild irises found along trails (this one on Cape Bonavista).

A large number of the homes have a nice front door, but no steps or porch.  It is required for an extra escape door.  This door is commonly referred to as the 'Mothe-In-Law' door.

Newfoundland Wolf (became extinct in the 1930's).  This last known specimen was in 'The Rooms' musuem in St. John's