The trip was awesome! Newfoundland was even more beautiful than I imagined. The views were absolutely breath-taking, the nicest scenery I have ever seen in my life. I couldn't believe it. Everything is so rugged there, huge cliffs and rocks everywhere. Just my kind of place being a geo.
We arrived last Thursday and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. So, we decided to make use of the sun and went to Cape Spear (the eastern-most point of North America). That was really spectacular. All the waves crashing ashore, it was amazing. Then we went to Signal Hill (the spot where Marconi received the first trans-atlantic wireless signal in 1901). So, we hiked all the way down the cliff (there was a trail and even stairs in some parts). That was another beautiful hike). We did some walking around St. John's, what a neat city, I can't imagine driving in the winter though, all the hills are super-steep and sometimes they get hugs blizzards, one year they got 6 m!
The next day, we drove down to Cape St. Mary's, which has "Bird Rock". It's a large sea stack where thousands of gannets and other seabirds come to nest. There's this one rock, about 100 m above sea level and every sqauare inch has a bird on it, that was really neat. Of course it was raining, but it was still amazing. Then we drove up the coast to Terra Nova National Park.
The next day (when we were supposed to go hiking in Terra Nova), it was absolutely pouring, so we just went to the Marine Interpretation Centre which was pretty cool. They had a touch pool where you could pick up all these sea creatures. I even picked up a crab when the girl that works there was too scared to! She was a wuss, I think. Then we drove back to St. John's. On the way back, we took a slight detour to go to a place called Dildo (we just had to with a name like that). I even took my picture with the sign that says "Dildo". Who names a town that? When we got back to St. John's, I had my first lobster dinner too - it was sooooo yummy!
Sunday we just walked around downtown St. John's and bought some souveniers. Lots of cool little stores and the prices weren't bad either! I bought myself a few little things, I just had to.
Monday, Dad and I went to the "FLuvarium", which was essentially a place where you could look at river life from the side of a river. It was like the underwater viewing areas at the zoo, only for a river. Then, we went on a puffin and whale-watching tour, but it was a little too early in the year to see whales, but we saw lots of cool birds. The puffins are adorable. And so small! I didn't know they were that small, only about 8 inches. And their wings seem too small for their bodies or something because sometimes when they tried to get out of the water to fly, they would make it for a bit, then a wave would come along, and they would hit the wave instead of taking flight. It was funny. In the evening we took a boat tour out of the St. John's harbour to Cape Spear and back. It was beautiful, right as the sun was setting. When we got back to St. John's, we went to get officially "Screeched In". You have to drink a shot of screech, and kiss a puffin's butt, and there is a whole ceremony and then you are an honourary newfoundlander, with a certficate to prove it and everything! That was fun! And the screech wasn't bad, I even bought a bottle to bring home.
Tuesday, we went to the "Geo Centre" and of course, I was in heaven. Lots of rocks to look at, sweetness! I even bought myself a cool Amethyst Crystal sample and a cool looking geode. And they weren't even expensive, so I just HAD to get them! There was also an amazing Titanic Exhibit, I learned so much cool stuff there that I never knew about the Titanic. It was basically just one error after another. For example, they spent thousands upon thousands on all the fine china and staterooms for the first class passengers, but they did not get a spyglass for the men in the crows nest! If they had those they probably would have seen the iceberg sooner! And, there was a ship (the Californian) within view of the Titanic when it hit the iceberg, but the Titanic set off the celebration rockets instead of the distress rockets. Crazy! And there were a whole bunch more errors like that which could have saved them, but I am getting tired of typing... It was facinating and I feel much more knowledgeable about the subject now. After the Geo Centre, we hiked the whole loop at Signal Hill, which took about 2 hours.
Wednesday, we did some more shopping and then headed home.
It was a great trip. It was cold though! I was so glad that I brought my winter coat, I wore it lots!
I was reading some of the blogs I missed out on while I was away and I noticed there was a lot of talk on the evolution vs creation (and creation science) subject. This is a topic that I am facinated with as well, so I will post my take on this whole situation soon.
1 comment:
Sounds like you had a great trip! The East coast of Canada is really underrated as a tourist destination. Not a lot of people go to New Brunswick and there are some really neat things there too. I'm glad you had an awesome time. You'll have to show me your rocks someday! ;o)
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