| Atlantic Crossroads Newfoundland 2005 |
| I�ve always wanted to see an iceberg. Although I saw icebergs in Newfoundland in August a few years ago, I was told that it was very unusual, an anamoly.
�The best time to see them is June in Newfoundland,� said everyone I talked to. �Hopefully I�ll get there someday in June,� I mused. And here I was - set to go to St. John's in June! The idea for this trip was conceived in Cork, Ireland, in March. Jim and Lillian Fidler had invited Vic and I to come to Cork and �cover� the Islands of Song festival there, where six of Newfoundland�s best singer/songwriters were performing. Jim had arranged to bring Ron Hynes, Pamela Morgan, Colleen Power, Darrell Power and Hugh Scott with him and Lillian to perform with some of Ireland�s best - Niall Connolly, Ken Cotter, Martin Finn, Mick Flannery, Mark Greville, Clare O'Mahony (pronounced O'Manny) and Ger Wolfe. You can read about that here. When that was over and we were ready to leave, Jim gave a compelling argument to come visit him and Lillian in June. It�s not like my arm would have to be twisted for I love Newfoundland any time of year. Yes, I�ve been there in February and came back! He told us that Newfoundland would be hosting the Irish songwriters and invited us to come participate in the putting on of this Atlantic Crossroads Festival and Islands of Song Gala. So I found myself on the road to Newfoundland four days after school ended. It was a miracle that I was doing this. A few weeks ago my car, my trusty roadtrip worthy van, Ira, had given up the ghost. My hopes of going to Newfoundland pretty much ended there as I couldn�t afford to fly up and rent a car. Vic�s new job compelled him to stay home as no work equals no pay. But someone up there likes me and I have a very understanding husband. Vic gave me his blessing to go it alone and a car (van) sort of fell into our laps! I christened him Brandan and off we went! In the weeks previous I had gotten an iRiver and Jim asked me to record my journey on it. So I found a condenser mic on eBay and was set up to do some recording.The last week of school, the computer teacher came into my classroom and handed me an iBook G4, so that came too, as a repository of photos. I tend to take a lot and was planning to offload them nightly. Worked like a charm once I figured out how to use the darn thing. Too many years working on PCs had made me forget a lot about Macs. Learning on the fly kept it interesting for sure! Online friends made from the GBS website make great contacts for roadtrips and lodging. Columbine in Somerville offered a bed at her house on the way up to Sydney, Cape Breton. We had supper together at the Burren and I thought I recorded a great conversation about the moon. The haze around the full moon that night seemed to be in three stages. It was like a fried egg with an extra thin film around the outside. We even stopped people on the street and had them looking up and commenting! Columbine and I had traveled together before and we still got along famously. It was nice to sit and catch up in person for a while. Plus, she makes the best breakfast! |
 |
| Monday, June 20th
I left the next morning at 11 AM because the Yahoo Maps directions said I could make it to Moncton, New Brunswick in 8 hours. Never believe what they tell you, it�s a pipe dream. Shortly after leaving Columbine�s house, my CD player broke. So I stopped at the local Radio Shack for another. Purchased a decent one and went to take off only to discover my remote CD player tuner thingy that I use to tune into unused FM stations had gone south too. And this Radio Shack didn�t have a tape adapter. But they directed me to the next Radio Shack over who did have one. I ended up not leaving the Boston area till noonish. |
| The fried-egg moon over Somerville, MA |
| The text only review of my trip can be found if you click here. |
| Index of trip: 1.Speeding across the border (you are here) 2. Fun in Nova Scotia 3. Cape Breton Music and dancing 4. Ferry to NFLD 5. Pre-Festival Fun 6. The Irish Have Landed 7. This Is Summer! 8. Entertainment at the Ship Inn 9. A Day at Signal Hill |
| The ride up was fairly uneventful till I got to Maine. I stopped at a rest area on the Maine Turnpike and had a little chat with Penny, who was going to Dingwall, Cape Breton for vacation. She and her hubby are from New Hampshire and his folks used to vacation there and he fell in love with Cape Breton. Not hard to do, I can tell you. They got married and bought a summer home in Dingwall and spend all summer. Lucky people.
I had my music blasting on the CD player and the van on cruise control. The speed limit was 65 and there was no one on the road so I felt safe cranking it up to 70. Mace�s restaurant was a welcome sight when I was beginning to really tire of the ride. Great place for ice cream, decent food and cheap gas. I ordered a hotdog and it came to me PINK. Not raw � cooked � it was neon pink! �Is this supposed to look like this?� I asked. �She laughed and said yes so I ate it, trusting soul that I am. Unfortunately for me, shortly after I stopped at Mace�s on Route 9 for pink hotdogs, the speed limit changed to 55 mph. But I was in another world apparently and didn�t find that out till the flashing blue lights appeared in my rearview mirror. What could I say? I KNEW I was going 70! The state policeman was very nice as he handed me my ticket. Boy, that was gonna hurt! The rest of the way was spent pretty much sticking to the speed limits. I filled up the gas tank in Calais (pronounced �callous� in Maine) for $2.25 a gallon. It wasn�t cheap but it was better than what I�d have to pay in Canada. There were the usual questions at the border � Where are you going? Why? How long will you be there? DO you have liquor, fruits or vegetables, guns? I was in like Flint, so to speak. |
 |
| The view of Chocolate Town, St. Stephen's, New Brunswick from the Border Crossing |
| Drove up the New Brunswick coast through St. Stephen�s (Chocolate Town), St. George�s and St. John. It was the first time I had approached St. John without fog! Yelled out the window to Margie (CeilidhCat) in Quispamsis. I have no idea if she heard me, but my thoughts were with her. |
 |
 |
| This poster will return you to this page |
 |
| 19. Gypsy Day #1 - Long Pond 20. Gypsy Day #2 & 3 - fog! & Bell Island 21. Gypsy Days # 4 & 5- lazing around 22. Gypsy Day #6 - Caplin & Castles! 23. Sobering Thursday & Festival Friday |
| 24. Blackhead views 25. Cape Spear 26. Sunday Shenanigans 27. Ferry musings 28. Home again |
|