May 29 – June 5, 2013
Spent the week in Kingston at the annual Titaniun reunion.
Spent time the group catching up, chatting around bonfire.
Wednesday, arrived day early and set up;
Thursday went to Raxx’s for ribs with others; found place
last year, cheap and good
Friday, some of them went to Casino in Gananoque
Saturday, there was a tour of the Kingston Penitentiary
Warden’s house across from Kingston Pen.
The penitentiary is still open, so could not tour it. Interesting items in the museum showing how
prisoners were treated, and also what they could make out of just about
anything! The next tour was of the
icebreaker in Kingston, we saw a couple of years ago, so went back to park.
Sunday, pot luck dinner in club house, great food as always.
Monday, golf day for some of the group that wanted to go,
they had a good day for it
Tuesday, tour of Spindle Tree Gardens, this is operated by a
couple that brought the property years ago and were spending weekends here,
then found they were spending for time here than in town so he started
gardening and it has become a labour of love.
They are open in summer and there is one guided tour a day or you can
take a self-guided tour. He was an
architect and he has built some amazing things on the grounds, in winter he
takes on “small” projects. Did not know what to expect as we were there early
in season, but there are all kinds of flowers in bloom but so many different
trees and pathways that is made it very interesting – worth a trip out if you are
in the area. He has one helper in summer and his wife runs the restaurant and
gift shop. Admission was $12.00 and you could get lunch for an additional
charge. Most of money probably goes to
get more shrubs, etc.
Wednesday, had farewell steak dinner at club house and Tony
and Sharon announced they are no longer doing the reunion and Mary Moore (our
sister in law) has taken over from them.
Thursday June 6, 2013
Left Kingston from Reunion at 9:30 am, said goodbyes to all. Weather was nice and sunny for whole trip, no
hold ups. Arrived in St-Antonin, PQ
around 6:30 pm park names Chez Jean – nice park, friendly people. We only staid the night and were hooked up. TV stations on French, but that was OK as we
were tired as was a long day.
Friday June 7, 2013
Left St Antonin at around 9:30 am again and head toward
Moncton. Stopped at Irving to get gas
and lunch and picked up a list of their stations throughout the eastern coast –
some in USA as well. Rain most of the
day and arrived in Moncton, NB and staid at Wal-Mart. spoke to fellow in
motorhome beside us and he said he stays at this one all the time and so we did
not need to speak to manager. We did go
in and do some shopping.
Saturday June 8, 2013
Left Moncton at around 9:30 again, (not sure how we work
this out) and it POURED all day. We went
to McD to get breakfast and use WIFI but could not get on with my computer –
girl did say it was an older Wal-Mart (with McD) and Wi-Fi was not always great
with laptops – works fine with phones and tablets (my bug now in to get
tablet….) Left there for Stellarton – truck not running quite right, we went to
Truro to find a GM dealer but they were closed at noon. Stopped at shop fixing large units and they
called and referred us to fellow in Westville who does transmissions, just
outside of Stellarton. Arrive there and
shop was actually as his home, which would have worked if just truck but could
not fit the 5th wheel in. Ken
decided to keep going as not sure if transmission or not – keeps revving up and
down at around 2800 RPM. Since was nasty
day, decided to keep travelling and ended up in North Sydney at Arm of Gold RV
park on Bras d’or lake (see translation??)
Called to get price for here and for KOA just up the road, neither park
was busy but KOA quote me 42.00 for full hook up, E\W/30, this one was 36.00
but since his Visa machine was not up and running, charged us $30.00. They had over 400 high school kids here at
the time that was getting their prom pictures taken inside due to the
rain. By the time we got here, they were
mostly gone. Did feel sorry for the kids
though, all dressed up and have to bundle up like crazy to get around and some
of them were SOAKED. From here they were
going to dinner and dance – oh well, the kids can handle it!! Nice park and people, great view out
back window when rain stops but did not for long. Will see how it is overnight. We are still booked to take ferry tomorrow at
23:45 so as long as weather ok will be going across to island. Would like to stay here as long as we can
instead of in line at dock, but will need to speak to park people.
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Staid in park until around 4:00 pm and headed for dock to
sit in line. We went in to dock office
and guard advised we could leave by foot and come back in as long as we had our
boarding pass. We went in to town and
had dinner at a nice restaurant on the around 9:30, went to our berth and
dropped off bags then back on to ship to explore. The had double berths, about
the size or twin beds, TV, bathroom c/w shower, small but since only sleeping
overnight, was great (remember not a cruise ship, just very functional) They
had a cafeteria, Bistro and bar. Had
couple of drinks at bar and then to bed.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Wake up call in room at 6:00 am then up and get ready to
disembark around 7:00 am.
We drove straight to Port of Bay to Barry and Lynn’s place,
arrived around 4:00 pm and set up trailer. They had us in for dinner which was
really appreciated!
They have a lovely little place right on the bay; the back
yard is amazing and facing on the bay.
Our back window has an amazing view.
This was made even better after a few days as they were ripping down trees
and grading the back yard.
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
After travelling for the last few days, took some down time
to set up trailer, relax and visit
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
We have no internet access here, good old Rogers!! So need
to go in to Botwood to the library, about 16 kilometers away to use internet. Ken’s
phone also does not work, but my little cheapo Koodo package, works great, yeah
TELUS!!! It is not really a big deal, but do not realize how much rely on
internet to look up info, check schedules and gather information. Checked info, and then took a drive up to
Leading Tickles of Hwy 350. FYI a
“tickle” is a body of water that is smaller than a bay. While up there, the Heritage sights and
Tourist places were not open but we could still walk around and see the views
and different things they had. We stopped
at Glover Harbour and saw the world’s largest squid that washed ashore here in
1878 and a couple of artisans made life size replica, 55 feet and it is at the
tourist centre, so we could go and look at it.
When arrive in Leading Tickles, the museum there was also closed, but
there was a dock with fishing boats and some people. We went and talked to the fellows and they
were waiting for some boats to come in with crabs. They were off loading them unto trailers to
go to the various fish sellers. I wanted
to take pictures of boats and area and they said to go ahead. The actual boats still had not arrived when
we left so did not see them unloading.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
We had Barry and Lynn come along with us to Twilingate,
there had been an ice burg sighting earlier.
We left at 9:00 am and was about a two hours’ drive, but did some
stopping and breakfast on the way. We did not see an iceberg, as it either passed by us or still coming down, so
did not see one. We walked out to the trails to look. Found what looks like it may have been an
ammunition bunker on face of rock. Even without that, the views and the rocks
up here are amazing. The landscape of the Island by the water always has
magnificent views, looking down into the bays or out to the ocean. Inland, are trees and small lakes. Inland, and around the side roads are mostly
trees, same as northern Ontario.
Saturday June 15, 2013
We went on a mini excursion up Hwy 352 (from B&L place)
to Fortune Harbour at the end of the road
as all roads lead to the Ocean at some point.
Monday June 17, 2013
Did a tour today to through Gander up Hwy 330 to Musgrave
Harbour, down to Gambo, home of Joey Smallwood, Father of Confederation. We stopped at lookout near Gambo, and you
could see the whole valley ahead of you.
It is a little strange seeing train trestle or railway bridges when
there are no longer any trains. We are
so used to most RV Parks having a train track with active trains quite near.
The entire trip we are watching for moose; we have been told
that there are more moose in Newfoundland, than people. As far as I can tell, they are BOTH few and
far between. Went through several little villages, people living on fishing
industry, this time of year the crab traps are all out. We were surprised though that there were
still quite a few new homes being built on just about all of these bays; we
were told it was probably mainland money.
While travelling along Route 330, Musgrove Harbour, by Deadman’s Harbour,
got a glimpse of something white out on the horizon, not sure what it was, so
we started chasing it, and sure enough, an iceberg! We were told there were none in this area
when we went to Visitor Center so was really neat. It was far out, but we confirmed with
binoculars and took some pictures. Does
not show really big but a couple of them are pretty good considering the camera
I have.
Wednesday June 19, 2013
Left Barry and Lynn’s in Botwood to start heading for touring
on the Eastern Side as well as St John’s.
Staying for a few days in Terra Nova National Park and will drive east from
there.
