Yukon Chatter Bug

These photographs from St.John’s focus on two of the most important landmarks in the area: Signal Hill and Cape Spear.

Cape Spear is the easternmost point in North America. My coming from the Yukon where Canada’s westernmost point is located made this visit all the more interesting. Below is the oldest surviving lighthouse in Newfoundland, located at Cape Spear. Construction began in 1834:

Old Lighthouse at Cape Spear

Below is the new operating lighthouse at Cape Spear:

New Lighthouse at Cape Spear

Notice the outhouse hanging over the edge, no longer in operation I might add. Yikes!

No need of a "honey-dipper" on that one

There are trails around the harbour and narrows that have breathtaking views. Here I am sitting on the stone wall just below Cabot Tower overlooking The Narrows. You can get a peek of Cape Spear in the background.

Sitting atop Signal Hill

Looking back toward the harbour from Signal Hill:

St.John's Harbour from Signal Hill

Cabot Tower atop Signal Hill, near where the first trans-Atlantic wireless message was received by Guglielmo Marconi in 1901. (I wonder if they called him Elmo).

Cabot Tower at Signal Hill

Some of the surplus stones from the building of the Cabot Tower along with those from the recently demolished St. George’s Hospital were used for the houses below. The builder and designer of the Cabot Tower, Samuel Garrett, built these homes for his daughters. They were connected with doorways in the inside walls and are now referred to as the Temperance Street Houses or the Samuel Garrett Houses:

A close-up view of the stonework on Cabot Tower:

Stonework on Cabot Tower

I’ve always struggled with my weight. The problem started when I paid my doctor a visit in my mid teens for a regular check-up. He decided that I should follow a strict 1000 calorie-a-day diet. The sad part is that I don’t remember asking him for any help; I was there for a regular check-up. I didn’t perceive myself as being overweight, or at least not enough to warrant a doctor’s visit, and now that I look back, I know I was fine.

When I got off of this ridiculous starvation diet a couple of months later, of course I put all the weight back on and then some. That was the beginning of my yo-yo dieting. Try something, fail, put the weight back on and more. Cleaning out my closet was a tough job. It was hard getting rid of clothes that didn’t fit me anymore.

This went on until I hit my early 30s when I decided NO MORE. No more diets. No more closet cleaning. This is who I am, I will never be pencil thin, and that’s okay. When I finally accepted this, there was such a sense of relief. It’s not that I was all mopey or anything about my weight, but it had always been in the back of my mind.

Seeing my 40th birthday creeping up on me, I wanted to do something to improve my health, and that’s when I decided to set a goal for myself to lose 30lbs. Well, the big day came and went and I’m happy to say that I did reach my goal. I joined Weight Watchers, started cross-country skiing last winter, and generally increased my physical activity level.

Once I got back from my trip this summer, I was very excited to learn that I didn’t put the weight back on. I’m very happy where I am, but at the same time, I figure if I lost 30lbs, I could probably keep going. So, I’m setting a new goal before the new decade hits us: another 20lbs.

I’ve never had so much fun cleaning out my closet.

As promised, here are a few more pictures from Newfoundland.

The first pic is of a little fishing port, Bauline, and I had to spend some time searching online to make sure it was, indeed, where I thought it was. Really, I need to start taking notes when taking pictures as I end up not remembering where exactly the photos are from.

Bauline

This second photo was taken near the same place as the boat ladder, and again, I’m not quite sure where it was taken. It’s at some little cove on a sideroad off of Hwy 60. If anyone out there knows where this is, let me know.

Shipwreck

We stopped for lunch and sat out on the deck of a little family-owned restaurant in Spaniard’s Bay. I had Jigs Pie (a variation of Jigs Dinner, sort of a pot pie) and my hunny had Fish ‘N Brewis.

Spaniard's Bay

More pictures to come.

When telling people where we were travelling from this summer, most people were curious about the Yukon. After all, most Canadians are clueless about the North. After describing this wonderful place we live in, I often talked about the story most Yukoners are familiar with. They planned on visiting for a week, a summer, a year, and end up never leaving. “You’ll never go back if you come for a visit.” It was only in Newfoundland where people would respond, ” Oh yes I would!”

I should have known. Silly me. It’s obvious how they feel just by taking a peek at many traditional Newfoundland songtitles:

• Back Home in  Newfoundland
• Back in Newfoundland
• Come Home to Newfoundland
• Down Home in Newfoundland
• Gotta Get Back to Newfie
• Hills of My Newfoundland Home
• I’m Coming Home to You Newfoundland
• My Home Newfoundland
• My Newfoundland Home
• Newfoundland Is Calling, Welcome Home Again

Indeed, as we are proud of our adopted home, they are too of their native home. So, here’s my ode to Newfoundland:

We had planned on taking the ferry over to Bell Island. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it. So I’ll just have to stare at this photograph I took from a distance…until my next trip.

Bell Island

Somewhere north of Torbay off the highway (60)…a little sideroad….cove? (I really need to take notes when taking pictures), I’m not sure where, there was this boat ladder. Maybe there’s a more accurate term, but I’d never seen one before.

Boat Ladder

And what would be photos of Newfoundland without Jellybean Row? They kind of remind me of the Smarty Houses in Inuvik, NWT.

Jellybean Row

Jellybean Row

Overlooking the Narrows

St. John's Harbour

Suited up and ready for a tour

Dave suited up for the tour

I should mention that we hired O’Brien’s Whale and Bird Tours. We didn’t see any whales. Apparently the capelin were late coming, and the whales rely on these for food. Regardless, we had a blast. We were on a Zodiak with two other couples, and I think our captain gave us an extra thrill with all the bouncing in the waves. I’ve never laughed so hard. As for the more serious stuff, we did see puffins and other sea birds.

Puffins and other sea birds

I’ll stop here, and I’ll post more photos on a later post.

Do you remember playing Pong back when video games first came out? Change it to three players instead of two, forming a triangle. There’s what my summer in Ontario was like.

To put it in perspective, we logged in almost 16 000 km on the truck, and add to that another 4200km by plane from Toronto to St.John’s, Newfoundland. All of that and we didn’t even get to visit another country. Though if this same trip would have taken place around the time my mother was born, then our trip to Newfoundland would have constituted international travel.

I’ll stop there though, since my hunny has already painstakingly figured it all out.

Despite the fact that we missed all the beautiful weather Yukoners were subjected to (sheesh!), it was really nice to spend time with family. We laughed, we cried, we talked, we hugged…a summer filled with stories to tell, some of which I’ll share over the next little while. For others, however, you’ll have to check out Dave’s blog.