nfld4

August 1,2000 Tuesday
Cool night but Heather�s sleeping bag was plenty warm. Vic and I had the tent to ourselves since Karen decided to sleep in the car because she was cold. Took full advantage. We were supposed to do the Bonavista Peninsula today, but we decided that everyone needs a city fix. Onward to St. John�s! Watched a squirrel at the campsite. He was so cute and didn�t seem to be afraid of us too much. Saw a pitcher plant! Official plant of Newfoundland.

Heard a report on the Max Mols (the Vomit Comet) on CBC radio and they played Great Big Sea�s version of Wave over Wave after the report. It was hilarious! Also heard Heave Away by the Fables and one by Tickle Harbour. I love this place! My favorite songs on the radio! At home I have to play the CDs in order to hear them! Lots of country stuff on the radio stations and we can�t even get ANY radio stations in some parts of the island. No wonder all this good music comes off of this place � if there�s nothing to listen to, you gotta make your own music, right?

Called Jenny, who just arrived herself! We are going to see her probably tomorrow. Can�t wait to see her! Ate lunch in Clarenville and had a partridgeberry muffin. Now THIS I could get used to real fast! I had another.

The Avalon Peninsula is another world still. As soon as we hit the isthmus that connects the Avalon Peninsula to the rest of the island, the fog just rolled on in real fast past us. It was amazing. I�m used to fog rolling gently in-this fog was steam rolling in. The terrain at Butter Pot Park was very strange, lots of erratics � these big rocks that were dropped by the glacier wherever.

Approaching St. John�s was exciting! Very big � much more spread out than I�d thought. Karen is extremely happy � she has been eating more than her share of pizza, salad, and French fries on the island. This is a tough place for a vegetarian! St. John�s has more than one vegetarian-friendly restaurant. We can eat in a different one every night! Checked into the Captain�s Quarters and got a 2-bedroom efficiency for the rest of our stay. Yes! Privacy for Karen AND us. Went to Leo�s for dinner. I�m sorry to tell Alan and Darrell that MaryJoe�s in Glace Bay had better fish & chips. Why do Newfoundlanders eat the fish & chips with dressing and gravy? Yuck!

It was the last night of the George Street Festival, but we are all too tired to even think about that! Tomorrow is the Quidi Vidi Regatta. I thought Vic would be all hepped up about it, but he said he�d rather row than watch, and since he�s not rowing, we�ll visit Jenny tomorrow. It is a civil holiday in town and everybody will be at the races, I suppose. Nothing�ll be open, so we might as well go out of town. Went up to Pippy Park and rode around for a while.

Played Mini Golf there. Vic won, but I got a hole in one! The Fluvarium was closed when we got there, we�ll have to see it another time. Went halfway up Signal Hill through the Interpretation Center, it was great. We drove around Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) and just drove around the city, getting the lay of the land. Some of the intersections are a little confusing. It�s sort of a free for all. It�s a great walking city. Saw the Rawlins Cross intersection! I knew the group was named after this intersection, but it was still somewhat of a surprise to see it! Lots of Coast Guard ships in the harbor. Vic was able to check into the local ham radio net when we were at Pippy Park and met Ken on the air. Vic had only spoken to him via email. We�ll have dinner with them later this week. It was great to take a hot shower, wash hair, and see the b�ys on TV on CMT! Who�d a thunk? Haven�t seen �em since Canada Day 1997 on the big screen! Well, tomorrow we go to see Jenny�s new place. I know I�ve said it a million times. Can�t wait! Maybe we�ll see Jane and her family there, too!

August 2, 2000 Wednesday

Walked out of the hotel to discover that the street was closed for the Regatta traffic. Took a look back on the map to realize that the lake was a very short distance away. They showed all the races on TV, too. There were lots of people walking to the lake. It�s really a big thing! Rode past George Street on our way out of town. Boy oh boy! It looked like they had one heck of a party last night!

Took the long ride to Jenny�s on the Burin Peninsula. Whoa! What a harsh landscape! But beautiful! Rocks, bogs, ponds, erratics, bogs, more bogs and ponds, inlets and a very occasional town here and there. I figured the town of Burin would be big, after all, it has a Peninsula named after it. Or it must be the other way around! Marystown was much bigger than I expected. The harbor scene was beautiful except there was this big oil-rig-looking thing in the middle of it. It looked sooo out of place! Later Jenny told us that it was for repair of big ships or something. That made me feel better, but it is still really ugly in this gorgeous place.

Finally hit Lawn. It is a small community of about 60 houses all around an inlet between two hills. Jenny�s house is right in the thick of things. You can probably see most of the town goings-on from her living room window! The store across the road bears her last name, too. Only she didn�t know the people when she came there. Her house is being renovated so she can make a Bed and Breakfast. She�s decided to call it �Down By the Sea.� What a perfect name for a great spot. The gentleman in charge of renovations, Tom, does absolutely beautiful work.

Well, we spent the night �Down by the Sea� and met Tom, Hillary and Kyle, who all had such lovely Newfoundland accents. It was a bit difficult understanding them in the beginning but we got used to it pretty quickly. Jenny was a study in accents. She moved with ease from definitely Newfoundlandish to �what accent?� depending on who she was talking to or about. Sometimes I had to use context clues to figure out the vocabulary. Hillary told us she had a fun week and had gone for 3 scoots that week, one to Marystown, one to St. Lawrence and another one. Not wanting to appear stupid I said �Oh, how nice!� since she seemed happy about it. Figured out later in the conversation that it must be a short trip. Hillary�s accent was the strongest of the bunch.

We had pizza for dinner with Tom, Hillary and Jenny. I drank Bakeapple tea � good stuff! Talked for a long time after dinner about many different topics. We talked a bit about GBS, of course, and she popped in the video of the New Year�s Eve party in St. John�s. The only glimpse we got of it here in Philly was the last 20 seconds of Consequence Free on audio and some guy talking. Then the next 5-10 minutes of the live coverage, none of which included GBS. It was nice to see all the coverage and the good time everyone had. Jenny is one of the luckiest people I know. Except for her accident, of course, and that IS a major thing. She and Caroline managed to get right up in front just by asking the right question of the right person.