johnboystravelblog

August 5, 2019

I learned, much to my dismay (selfishly), that today is Civic Day in Nova Scotia, Canada.

(Photo credit: flagmartcanada.com)

I know this because my car broke down last night after I got off the ferry and most businesses (including car mechanics) are CLOSED today.  An inconvenience for me, but there are many positive aspects of it.  It happened in a gas station parking lot, not on the road (and not out in the middle of nowhere in a spot with no cell service and no place to walk to for help (and perhaps very little traffic)), the weather ended up being ok and not stormy, I was able to get in the same Airbnb I stayed in for three nights before taking the ferry north 10 days ago (there were people with reservations but they cancelled), and it is nice today so I walked to the store for two days worth of food.  My original hostesses, one over in Sydney, where I was supposed to stay last night, and one for the first of 4 nights in the same house over on Prince Edward Island, were very understanding.  The woman in Sydney even offered to come get me, and tried to help diagnose the problem over the phone!  CAA (the Canadian equivalent of AAA Motor Club) towed me to a garage within walking distance of where I am staying and I will be there bright and early when they open at 730am tomorrow.

Someone told me last night that today was Boxing Day in Canada but that is, in fact, the day after Christmas.  Civic Day is celebrated in certain Canadian provinces on various dates based on each province’s “birthday” or other significant event.

So HAPPY CIVIC DAY Nova Scotia – I will celebrate it by getting caught up on my blog!!

 

 

August 1 & 2, 2019

Here are more of the colorful Jellybean Houses I saw while in St. John’s last Thursday and Friday (see previous post).  These were in spots where utility poles and wires distracted somewhat from their beauty.

In this environment even a white house looks great:

And evidently some folks paint their stairs & railings and put pretty flowers out – and some don’t:

 

August 1 & 2, 2019

Thursday and Friday I spent the day in and around the large town of St. John’s in northeast Newfoundland. This is one of the posters currently being distributed by the Visitor’s Bureau promoting the town.

These are called Jellybean Houses because of their color and variety.  They actually call it Jellybean Row (because they are rowhouses) but that isn’t an actual place, just the concept.  These colorful houses are everywhere in the city of St. John’s.  I took lots of photos, and could have taken lots more, but I will try to only share the better ones. While the pictures on the posters are pristine and clear of vehicles and utility poles & wires, real life is a little messier.  I do have some relatively “clean” shots which I will post first, followed by more cluttered shots in another post. Many of the residents plant pretty flowers which often complement the color of the house and it is unfortunate that parked cars often block the view of them.  I guess we can’t all live in Disneyland…..

I tried to take photos of the houses on the sunny side of the street, though sometimes I took them of the shady side but at an angle so the sun wouldn’t distort the shot.  You will also notice that many buildings are level, whereas others are staggered in height, sometimes quite a bit.  The streets parallel to the waterfront in St. John’s increase in altitude very quickly and walking up or downhill is very steep, like being in San Francisco.

I waited in the shade across the street in front of this yellow house for a few minutes as a well dressed man methodically scraped at a sticker on the door using his fingernail. When it became apparent it was going to take a while I decided to go elsewhere and come back later. I walked to his side and commented “that looks tedious” not to be a wiseass but just to acknowledge his effort. He explained that he owns this house and just had a new front door unit installed, with glass side windows. He basically said “You’d think that for $ 4,000 they would have at least removed the barcode!”.

I did come back later and as you can see, remnants of the sticker are still there.

More houses:

If you look closely at the blue house in the photo above you will see that even the mailboxes have multi-colored house designs on them.  This was what I was referring to in a post I made several days ago of an old building located in a fishing town with one of the sides painted to emulate the Jellybean Row concept.

I saw many other things in St. John’s which I will address in other posts.

 

 

 

July 31, 2019

After visiting Salmonier Wildlife Park I continued south on Route 90, driving the “Irish Loop”.  Newfoundland has many scenic drives indicated on their provincial map and they all have names and pictures to keep you on course while traversing them. Canadians like pictures on signs, not just words and numbers.

It was a beautiful drive, most of it inland until I got down to the southern tip of the peninsula near the town of Trepassey.  Then I was near the water and for the first time this trip – coastal fog. I am actually quite surprised that as close as I have been to water for the past three weeks that I haven’t encountered more fog.

On the southeast end of the peninsula I stopped in at Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve, which includes the lighthouse out on Cape Race.  It was here (just a lighthouse and communications shack at that time) that a radio operator received the CQD call from the Titanic.

CQ is a radio communications term, still used by amateur “ham” radio enthusiasts, meaning “General Call”.  Operators will sometimes broadcast that general call and talk (either by voice or using Morse Code, as Titanic did) with whomever answers. CQD means “General Call – Distress” and pre-dates the now more commonly used emergency call SOS.

This is the lighthouse at Cape Race:

Let’s try that again – THIS is the lighthouse at Cape Race:

As I was driving back out to the highway from the lighthouse I saw this waterfall not far from the gravel road I was driving on:

As you can see, it was a nice day but for the fog by this part of the Atlantic Ocean.

I continued north on what had now become Route 10 and saw signs for the S.S. Florizel disaster. Not knowing anything about it, I stopped to take a photo of the view from the memorial site and read a brief recap of the event.

On February 23, 1918 the S.S. Florizel set sail from St. John’s, Newfoundland (my destination for the night, north of where this happened) headed for Halifax, Nova Scotia and ultimately New York City.  It was the flagship of the Red Cross Line, one of the first ships specifically designed and built to operate in icy seas.  On board were 138 passengers and crew.

 

(Photo credit: beothic.blogspot.com)

The journey began at night and the Captain gave orders to get out to the open sea and sail south at full speed. It was very stormy and they couldn’t see any of the lighthouses to let them know where they were. This was obviously before radar and GPS.

After considerable time had passed the Captain ordered that the ship be turned west, assuming they had cleared Cape Race. After the accident the Captain was charged with neglect, but was later cleared when it became known that the Chief Engineer, who controlled the ship’s speed, had ignored the order to operate at full speed at the outset because he wanted to delay the arrival and force the stopover in Halifax to take place overnight so he could visit his family. Consequently they weren’t nearly as far south as the Captain assumed they were and they sailed directly into the rocky coast near the small town of Cappahayden.  The ship hit the rocks at approximately 450am local time on the 24th.

(Photo credit: facebook.com)

Once the townspeople were made aware of the accident, and at first light a short time after it had occurred, residents and rescue workers watched helplessly from the shore as the passengers and crew flung themselves into the frigid water.  94 people died.

A brief moment of silence, please…..

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I continued north and when I got to Ferryland saw this great view (a restaurant just to my right as I took this photo was understandably called “Million Dollar View”):

I continued on north to my ultimate destination of St. John’s, where I would be spending the next three nights.

 

August 5, 2019

After more than three weeks in Canada I finally heard a Canadian utter the interjection “eh?” at the end of a sentence!  For those of who are too young or not familiar with the skits that Canadian comedians Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas used to do on SCTV back in the early 1980’s (there are lots of them available on YouTube.  They’re hilarious), at the beginning of each 2-minute episode of “Great White North,” their skit, Moranis would say “G’day everyone, I’m Bob McKenzie and this is my brother Doug” – at which point Thomas would always say “How’s it goin’, eh?”.  Like the “Weekend News” segment on Saturday Night Live, or Seth Meyer’s “A Closer Look”  segment, their bit was something I’d always stay up to watch on late night TV.

(Photo credit: mentalfloss.com)

As I was preparing to disembark from the ferry which brought me back to Nova Scotia yesterday I overheard the young man who had prepared my smoothie earlier in the day at the little snack bar on Deck 9 of the ship say “So, you finally found a box of paper straws for me, eh?”  to a co-worker.  I’ve been wanting to post about this since the beginning of my trip but was waiting for the right time.

And I’ve only heard one “aboot” so far during this trip.  That was uttered during a conversation I was having with the kid in Truro, NS at the Tidal Bore place aboot three weeks ago (as Shawn would say – Ha!).  He was giving me directions to a restaurant he was recommending and said to go “aboot” 4 kilometers up a certain road.  I never knew Peter Jennings, the late anchor of the weeknight ABC News broadcasts, was Canadian until I heard him say “aboot” one night during a story.

PLEASE understand, I’m not making fun of Canadians, or if you think I am it is good natured fun.  My mother was from West Virginia and I can say “y’all” with the best of ’em.  And I have added “fixin”” to my vocabulary since moving to North Carolina.  I’m sure other people have observed that about me, too.

Hey – different is what makes the world go ’round….

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Photo added 8/6/2019 after original post

I was in Walmart today to buy a fire extinguisher for my car (see separate post) and saw this:

 

 

August 2, 2019

Friday morning I drove back in to St. John’s to take more photos (and eat more yummy food) and I decided to park way up on one of the higher residential streets and gradually work my way down to the water. I found a street with a 2-hour free parking zone and as I pulled in to the furthest forward of two open spaces I noticed this situation which brings to mind a photo I saw online recently (and which I had seen similarly depicted a few months ago).

The parking zone sign and white line on the pavement clearly shows that this is a legitimate parking spot. But look closely – there is also a fire hydrant (and sign) near the front of the space. A dilemma.

This scenario didn’t end well for the owner of a car in Halifax, Canada about 2 weeks ago when they parked in front of a fire hydrant and, as misfortune would have it, a fire broke out nearby. The firemen broke the car windows to get the hose through the car in order to extinguish the fire.

(Photo credit: globalnews.ca)

When this was reported in the news the authorities were still deciding whether or not to reimburse the car owner for damages. Although it was a clearly marked parking spot, the presence of the fire hydrant made it a no parking zone.

I had heard of another similar event from Anaheim, California back in February but in researching this post it was evidently a “watch and learn” exercise to help inform the public.

(Photo credit: thestar.com)

As you can see from the photo below, I moved my car BACK one space before leaving it for my walking photo shoot and eating tour, and it was thankfully intact when I returned about 2 1/2 hours later.

 

 

August 4, 2019

This is a variation of something I found online while doing research for this trip.  I was looking for a map of the northeast US and the Maritime provinces of Canada to post on the blog and show, in true scale, where I was going to be.

(Photo credit dailyhive.com)

In the map above, each state, province and region has three words or phrases which were evidently gleaned from Google Incognito searches performed in the US in 2016. Enlarge and or zoom in on the map, or print it out to read the fine print.  By the way, you should be able to right-click on any of the photos I post (mine or those found online, like this one) and save them to your own computer where you may view or manipulate them.

For example, North Carolina, where I live, had these three things:

Humid, Racist, Stupid

(And let me stop right here and say that these views do NOT reflect those of JohnBoy or the blog!)

The Southeast US in general:

Poor, Religious, Humid

Some are rather humorous (check Kentucky) and some had few, if any, responses (check Labrador and the Maritimes in general).

My friends Eric and Shawn recently traveled to three countries in Europe to celebrate a milestone anniversary and I changed the rules a little and asked them to formulate three impressions about those three cities or countries based on their short time there.  I plan to do the same for the areas I am visiting and will post my thoughts on the Maritimes (individually and collectively) after I have been to PEI and have seen more of New Brunswick.  Later I will add my thoughts on the small portions of Quebec and Ontario provinces that I will be seeing before going home.

A fun little game you can play at home to pass the time between blog posts (especially since yesterday was a travel day – car, and today is another travel day – ferry).

July 31, 2019

After visiting Dildo I proceeded back to the TCH and further east, then south on Route 90.  I saw signs for this Nature Park and thought I’d make a quick stop and check it out.

I walked around the Visitor Center and asked the young lady at the front desk what there was to see here.  She showed me a map of the walking trail but I told her I probably wouldn’t be doing that today (historically I don’t see many animals out and about mid-day, even in a zoo).  She went on to explain what this facility is all about, and it isn’t a zoo…

The folks here at Salmonier rehabilitate injured animals and, when possible, reintroduce them to the wild.  My youngest brother lives outside of Cleveland, Ohio and twice they have taken me to a similar facility there (in a county-run park!).  The young lady explained that unlike a zoo, their animals are likely to be visible during the day but, of course, couldn’t guarantee it.  She talked me right into it.  I went back to the car to get my floppy hat (the sun was now out in full) and my digital camera.

There is a long boardwalk which meanders through the park and goes past various areas where the animals now live while recovering from their injuries.

The bird of the day was the red finch (not in for rehab, just native to the area).  Children are asked to keep an eye out and alert the staff if they see one.  I didn’t see any.

First up, this Snowy Owl:

Next, the first caribou I have ever seen in person:

Next, a Great Horned Owl – but first, a warning:

His eyes appeared to be open when I first saw him but after I moved the camera to see both eyes through the chainlink fence he had them shut in all the other photos (and his left eyelid appeared to be damaged).

Next up, a beautiful pair of Bald Eagles:

A Peregrine Falcon, which I have seen in flight but never up close.  This one was on the ground near a tree trunk and shrubbery was hiding most of his body.

As we walked down the boardwalk to the next area this small bird landed on the railing.

The people I had befriended during the walk knew what it was but I don’t remember what they told me.  I have looked up birds of Newfoundland but didn’t see it.  I do know it wasn’t a red finch.  It, too, was just passing through from the outside world.  …

When we got to the Newfoundland Pine Marten area the people in front of us said that it had been out running around but had gone into a box up on a pole (to hide or nap) just before we got there.  The red foxes were also hiding.

The moose were not.  I present the only two moose I’ve seen in Newfoundland – Joey and Isabella.  The young lady at the Visitor Center said that Joey often responds to his name but he was resting quite a ways from the boardwalk.

Isabella, the cow, was even further away, almost totally obscured by trees and brush (I don’t think I would have spotted her with the naked eye and had trouble even finding her with the camera when my new friends told me where she was.  Looking at the photos she appears to have been facing away from me with her head pointing downward and to her left).

And maybe Joey did hear his name called after all, as he turned to face us directly:

And last up on my little excursion, a mink.

This little guy would come out in the open, grab some food and take it under some nearby plants to eat in privacy.  He came out for more every minute or so.

And here he is licking his little mink lips after eating a tasty morsel:

Visiting this Park was time extremely well spent.  I enjoyed meeting new friends and spending quality time in this excellent facility.

 

July 31, 2019

… a phrase I would never have thought I would write in my little blog…

Wednesday morning I left Sunnyside and drove south on the Trans Canada Highway.  When I got to the exit for Blaketown (they don’t even have the guts to put Dildo on the big sign) I got off the highway and proceeded north on Route 80, backtracking to the village of Dildo. Yes, there were directional signs once you were off the TCH but I drove right past the exit as I noticed the smaller signs up at the top of the exit ramp and had to turn around.  In many rural spots the TCH is just a 2-lane road.

Before I got there I actually drove through fashionable South Dildo (in case you want to live here and not have to associate with Dildo white trash).

 

Well damn, I could have stayed here!

I continued on up the road to Dildo proper.

Below, looking west from Route 80 towards Dildo Island in Spread Eagle Bay (insert, pun intended, your own joke here).   JohnBoy – Stop It!

And finally, I made it…

Now I can honestly say  Been There  (but NOT gonna say  Done That!).

It was foggy in places on the way down the TCH that morning and I was prepared to say that Dildo was moist when I arrived  (JohnBoy – STOP IT!) but the fog had burned off by the time I got here.

That sound you hear is my mother spinning in her grave.  Believe me, she would be embarrassed and sooooooo ashamed of me.  I can still taste the Ivory soap when she washed out my mouth with it if I said a bad word (in the 60’s probably just “damn”).  Oh, if she could only hear me play Cards Against Humanity.  My sister-in-law in New York says she’s heard things she NEVER expected to hear me utter.

I went to the Dildo Brewing Company in town to buy some, uh, artifacts to remember my trip by.  Their beer may not been any good (don’t know, didn’t try it) but you can bet they sell a lot of t-shirts and beer mugs.

My friend Shawn had informed me that Jimmy Kimmel talked about the town of Dildo on his show Thursday night last week, the day after I was there.  You can find it on YouTube.

July 31, 2019

My itinerary for Wednesday was to stop in Dildo (if you don’t understand that comment wait until the next post…) and take one of my primary scenic drives following Route 90 south from near Holyrood to the bottom of the Avalon Peninsula where it becomes Route 10 north through Trepassey and all the way up the east coast to St. John’s.

First let me comment on a side trip I didn’t make.  My original plan was to take Routes 210 and 220 southwest from just north of Goobies (highlighted in pink on the map above and just north of where I had stayed Tuesday night in Sunnyside).  That spoon-shaped route would take me down to the southwest part of the Burin Peninsula.

Off-shore there, to the west of Fortune and Lamaleine, are three islands which are technically France.  There is a ferry which takes people out from Grand Bank (on the upper part of the spoon) to St. Pierre.  You are, in fact, going to another country and need to take your passport.

The three islands, Grande Miquelon, Petite Miquelon and Ile Ste. Pierre are south of the island of Newfoundland (obviously) but curiously are in the Greenland Time Zone!!  I have verified this fact – pay no attention to the map which says they are in the Atlantic Time Zone.  Greenland time is 1/2 hour AHEAD of Newfoundland & Labrador time, which itself is 1/2 hour ahead of Atlantic.  This means that while riding the ferry from Grand Bank to Ile Ste. Pierre you must set your watch ahead 1/2 hour even though you are traveling west.  This is perhaps the only place in the world where this is the case.

The three islands sound charming but time simply did not permit me to take this trip.  If there is one thing I’ve learned being on Newfoundland is that these small, secondary roads have low speed limits, go through small towns and often are not in very good condition.  Going anywhere using those roads takes longer than you think…