Sunrise

I didn't last to long trying to sleep in the chair and got down on the floor instead....got a couple hours of sleep. There were signs to not lay on the floor but I would say half the people did....it was an obstacle course when you wanted to go anywhere. We had a beautiful sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean.

Inside the ferry parking deck. This one is not going to be near as full as when we came over...but I'm sure the time of departure is part of the reason. We sail at 12:30 am and hopefully we can get a little sleep on the 6 1/2 hour trip. They had nice reclining chairs you could rent for $40.00 each....but we passed on that.

Our ferry is the "Blue Puttees"....we had a great sunset as the ferry landed. We have spent 27 days in Newfoundland and really enjoyed the whole island. The "Newfies" are very friendly people and we've seen some incredible sights here. When the fuel costs got so high we debated whether to take the ferry and drive the whole island....but we are all four very glad we decided to. I'm sad leaving, knowing that we probably won't ever come back....just wish Newfoundland wasn't so far away because it is a very special place to visit and there were lots of places that we didn't get to.

8/23/11 - Port aux-Basque - 29 miles

Alice, the owner at the campground told us that we could stay as long as we wanted to today....our ferry doesn't leave until 12:30 AM and we don't have to be there until 10:30 PM. I got lots of blogging done today, the Wi-Fi is really good here. We left the campground about 6:30 to drive the 30 miles to the ferry dock and get in line. We had to go through an inspection there and have the rig washed off....we had to turn in any potatoes we had. I had just bought a 5# bag not knowing that they couldn't be taken off the island. We went in the gift store and looked around.

There was hardly any RV's in the park....you can definitely tell their season is winding down. This classic car went through the park and Pat talked to him a little while. The trees were beginning to change colors in the park....this one had a bright red section in it that was really pretty.

Cody and Addie, laying at the back of the motorhome watching Pat work....they have quite the easy life!

We are staying again at Grand Codroy RV Park.....it is a beautiful park and the owner (Alice) is so friendly and nice. We got in pretty early today, so Pat worked on trying to clean the motor home a little and I did some blogging and paper work. When we got there and opened our e-mail we had a note from one of our friends that a really wonderful Christian leader in our church in Tempe had died suddenly on Sunday...our prayers go out to his wife and kids.

8/22/11 - Doyles - 114 miles

The flowers along the roadway were beautiful.....when we went north on this road the first part of August it was raining and foggy so this was a much nicer drive today.

We had planned on stopping in Grand Falls-Windsor, but were making such good time that we decided it was to early to stop there so we went on to Cornerbrook and stayed at a Walmart. Did some shopping and Pat got some supplies for the towing connection on the Tahoe....we're still having some issues with it...so hopefully this will stop the beeping we get when we first start to leave.

We are so surprised at the amount of water that we have seen in Newfoundland....there are lakes and rivers everywhere. We started to see some leaves beginning to change colors today. These pictures, as are a lot of them are taken out the window as we are traveling.

8/21/11 - Cornerbrook - 428 miles

St. John's, Newfoundland was our destination and we have traveled 7471 miles to get here....so now it's time to turn around and head back. We said our goodbye's to Richard and Karen and were on our way for our trek back across Newfoundland. Shortly after leaving St. John's we came upon this accident. We always say a prayer for those that were involved and thank God for watching over us so that we weren't involved.

We are leaving tomorrow to drive back across Newfoundland, to Port aux-Basque, to take the 5-hour ferry that we came across on to Newfoundland. Richard and Karen are taking the longer 14-hour ferry that leaves from Argentia, which is on the Avalon Peninsula so they are staying in St. John's a couple more days. The shorter ferry is cheaper, not near as much time on the ferry and just works better for us with the dogs and Pat doesn't mind the 575 mile drive that it will be.

These dog sculptures were on the ground of the GEO Center. They are of a Newfoundland and Labrador dog with an explanation of each.

Johnson GEO Centre

Pat was the only one that wanted to go to this attraction....it tells the story of "Our Earth" and "Our People," as explained by the geology of the province of Newfoundland. Most of the displays were underground. While Pat was there Richard, Karen and myself went back up to Signal Hill and then to downtown St. John's to do some shopping....both Karen and I were looking for T-shirts from Newfoundland.

8/20/11 - Our last day in St. John's

We stayed in Pippy Park which is a huge 3400 acre park right in the middle of St. John's. There were 216 sites there and they were pricey....we paid $45.00 per night, which is the highest we've paid yet on the trip. There really wasn't anyplace else to stay so we didn't have anyother option if we wanted to be in St. John's. This morning our first stop was at The Fluvarium, which was an exploration in the underwater world.

Conception Bay South

There were some beautiful homes in the Conception Bay area....what a beautiful view they had of the Bay. We haven't seen houses like these anyplace else in Newfoundland.

Portugal Cove in Conception Bay

When we got over on the west side of this peninsula....the water was a beautiful blue color....in one area a little farther north it was the turquoise color of the Caribbean waters. There was a ferry that went to Bell Island from here. Bell Island is in the background in the first picture. The second picture shows both a ferry coming and one going.....they must have lots of ferry traffic to/from the island.

Pouch Cove

Just north of Torbay we saw this Catholic shrine that had been built and a plaque showing that Pope John Paul II had blessed a fleet at this site in 1984..

8/19/11 - Killick Coast

Our first stop today was at Quidi Vidi Village (I liked the name of this little fishing village). This use to be a small coastal battery which supposedly has been reconstructed to the time when it was built to ward off a possible American attack during the War of 1812-14. Pat and Richard tried to find it but couldn't.