Step aboard… experience the WONDER. Witness the world’s largest concentration of humpback whales, as we cruise along our beautiful coastlines. Steam through the passageway of 12,000 year-old icebergs as they arrive after breaking off from the Greenland ice shelf and slowly melt into our frigid waters.
Book a tour on IcebergQuest.com, kinda think you’re gonna see – well, icebergs. Oops, wrong season. No icebergs, no puffins, no whales. No discount either. BUT still the BEST way to see St John’s, Newfy’s harbor-nestled capital on the North Atlantic.
Downtown walk, easy to locate: Water St to Pier 6 (street parallel to restaurant-littered George). Knowledgeable upbeat crew – ALL with the Newfoundland accent. LOVED it! Sailed thru the Narrows into the cold expansive Ocean. Can’t imagine how our Pilgrim ancestors stomached the voyage OR had the courage. Blank landscape/nothing but grey rocking waves. Looked back on the North American continent: Greenland north, Ireland due east. Cool/constant breeze kept me easy, stomach steady. 2 other tourists not as fortunate. Crew comforted with trash bags, exchanged ‘em often. Uck.
Cape Spear, Signal Hill, Cabot Tower, Fort Amherst. Capt’n spouted lotta Newfy facts, furthering my O’ Canada knowledgeable. Tuned in bit more than normal, dug his pseudo-Irish brogue. ‘Round the active lighthouse on Cape Spear, then circled back to town.
Marathon tomorrow but not before dinner. Ya’ll know I’m a foodie 😊 Seafood’s what’s cookin’ in St John’s. Tops here? Mussels & cod. Heard it, lived it: LOUD & CLEAR. Cod chowder starter. Cod tongues app. Steamed mussels dinner. GREAT local eats.
Transportation fail. Bowring Park, Monday’s Huffin’ Puffin start: FIVE miles away. Taxi to the airport, last-minute car rental. These boots are tired of walking ♫ ♬ ♭ ♮ Whew!
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- downtown St John’s
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- National War Memorial (WWI)
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- Jellybean Row
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- city tour on the North Atlantic
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- the Narrows
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- Signal Hill Historic Site
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- Fort Amherst
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- Bald Eagle
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- Cape Spear
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- North America’s easternmost point
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- GREAT local eats!
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- far far from Colorado
Newfoundland Island
Two provinces every year for 5 years. Marathon goal: all of Canada by 2020.
Holiday weekend destination: NEWFOUNDLAND. Nowhere further East on the North American continent. Marathoning Labour Day Monday, holiday same-day both Canada & US. Colorado return late Monday nite; days missed from work: ZERO. Perrrrrfect – stockpiling PTO (vacation days) for Antarctica (Jan 2019).
Denver to Toronto [everything Air Canada involves Toronto] almost missed my connection clearing Canadian Customs (Nova Scotia last summer, 8 extra hours ‘til next available flight). Thankfully this time, an Air Canada rep walked [me] to the front of the line; otherwise, would’ve been Sunday first opportunity to see St John’s.
Newfoundland & Labrador. Newfoundland’s the island, Labrador mainland Canada. #10 of Canada’s ten provinces, joined the Confederation March 1949. Entire weekend spent in St Johns, province’s capital city. Booked a pricey B&B stay downtown (B&B sans one ‘b’/NO breakfast). Old historic home. Unique rowhouse experience. Capital city, sleeps downtown, why rent a car? Walking vacation. By Day 2 that flaw’d be rectified. No Lyft, no Uber. Whole lotta walking. HILL-Y! Like our San Francisco without the busy city part. GORGEOUS scenery however. Over-the-top OCEAN views, unique local foods & Canada’s FRIENDLIEST people. Crazy accent too – super FUN, more Irish than Canadian.
Late to bed, early to rise. 3 ½ hour time difference. HALF hour time change? No joke. Day’s first waking thought: MUST FIND FOOD. Missed a couple meals Saturday. Ready, ready to eat! LOL>
Classic Café East on Duckworth TOPPED the short-list. For a guy who digs diners – absolutely, bang on. Waitress recommended 2 local specialties. Add my first choice (fish cakes) & that’d make THREE. Spending Canadian $$ this trip – bring it on. Words of Scarlett O’Hara: “I’ll never go hungry again.”
Fish cakes & eggs (cod cakes), toutons with molasses (fried dough/fritter) AND salted cod/hard tack & scrunchions (fish/potatoes/onions/mystery meat, skillet’d together). SUPER TASTY. Lotta take-away — big eyes, little stomach.
Boat tour scheduled early afternoon. Plenty of time to walk off breakfast – well, maybe part of breakfast. Who am I kidding? 2½ kilometers to Quidi Vidi Village. Would have to add 40 to that figure to walk off MY breakfast. SOOOO very FULL 🙂
Hafta/MUST do while in St John’s: Quidi Vidi [pronounced kiddie-viddie].
Village on the water, hemmed in the island’s rolling hills. Fishing boats, sea gulls, brightly-coloured dockhouses. Super scenic, quiet/peaceful, reminiscent of Maine. HIGHLY recommended. HUGE FAN of Newfoundland. LOVE LOVE this place ❤️
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- Labor Day Holiday
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- Jellybean Rowhouses
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- fish cakes, toutons, salted cod/hard tack & scrunchions
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- HILLY; like our San Francisco without the busy city part
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- hip artisan co-op
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- day’s WOW pic!
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- in from Boston, LIFE’s moments BETTER when SHARED
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- fishing boats & sea gulls
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- brightly-coloured dockhouses
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- LOVE this place ❤️
Quidi Vidi Village, NL
I love a local marathon – today’s run, a local marathon.
Left Shelburne, arrived in Barrington Passage 10 minutes before race time. Timing a bit tight…but with less than 200 runners, no worries. Start: quarter-past 8, sun waking, rising UP above the ocean.
Cool breeze as we left town/passed Tim Horton’s & crossed the causeway to Cape Sable Island. Clouds deflected [sun] rays ‘til the Half Marathon turnout. Ran miles with a couple from Lunenberg NS. We talked ships & tourism, my 100 marathon goal & ‘bout the other American they met at the Start [fellow Maniac Dan Ruiz – hung around & congratulated his Finish; good guy/another 50 Stater].
Halfers peeled off near mile 12-ish (course marked only in kilometers). Sun beamed, temps warmed, luckily ocean winds gusted (keeping it cool) as we neared The Hawk (Nova Scotia’s southernmost point). Traded places back-n-forth with a foreign runner entering Clark’s Harbour (mile 18-ish). Friendly guy, tried communicating/offered his grapefruit…but I struggled to understand, so nodded & smiled politely. [Talked later. Syrian refugee, living local, running his first marathon.]
Barrington Passage, Clark’s Harbour, Cape Sable Island – small sparse populations. today’s Aid Stations? ALL manned (or wo-mann’d) with friendly upbeat individuals. THAT’s why I love a local marathon. LOVE the support they give to runners & the impression they leave of their community.
Water, energy drinks, gels, buckets of wet sponges. Used those sponges from mile 19 on. Emptied one overhead, wrung another ’round my neck. Next aid station: wash/wet & reapply. Plan worked 8 days ago in balmy Iowa. 10 degrees cooler in O’ Canada: felt even better.
All ’bout adjusting summer-month expectations. Not a sub-4 but finished & finished with a smile 🙂
4th province completed, second marathon of the month. Free showers provided at the Rec AND a hot bowl of lobster chowder – FAAANNNNTASTIC! LOVE LOVE local marathons. Barrington IS the ‘Lobster Capital of Canada’.
2 hours to Halifax, return flight home – but not ‘til Monday. Stephen & Sheila in one car/headed back to the States, sleeps in Fredericton NB. I with Lynne & family, destination: Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia’s iconic lighthouse. Best hosts ever, right?
Originally built in 1868, Peggy’s Cove Lighthouse is Nova Scotia’s busiest tourist attraction, an iconic Canadian image. Towering white with red trim, [the lighthouse] stands STRONG/majestic over the inlet’s craggy rock shoreline. Breathtaking. Just WOW!
To the Cavanaughs, Gillis’ & Schofields – I am indebted. Two weeks of vacation squeezed into a 4-day weekend. What an adventure!
Thanks from the bottom of my American heart ❤
47th Annual Nova Scotia Marathon Half Marathon and 10 Km – Results
Sunday, July 23, 2017
Barrington Passage, NS
42.2K
Place Bib Athlete From Gun Time
42 104 K R Haga Louisville, CO, US 4:26:05
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- Cape Sable Island out-n-back
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- Start Line anticipation
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- lanyard in Nova Scotian tartan
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- marathon KING
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- Nova Scotia’s busiest tourist attraction
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- breathtaking, just WOW!
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- Fishermen’s Monument
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- squeezed two weeks vacation into a 4-day weekend — what an adventure!
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- I ❤ Canada
Nova Scotia Marathon
