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
Sleeping in an elephant lodge, super cool experience – but, can’t travel to Africa & not see LIONS, right? Week before flying out, pre-purchased a safari drive in a nearby game reserve. Just me/solo travel, easy enough to tag along with a larger group.
Seeing Africa’s Big 5 today: Rhino, giraffe, lion, hippopotamus, cheetah. Ok, maybe these were my Africa Big 5. More interested in giraffes than Cape buffalo 😊
Breakfast early, elephant lodge checkout, 40 minute dirt-road drive to Plettenberg Bay Game Reserve. Good to be off the N-2. Traded shoulder-driving humans for an active cattle train with zero intention of leaving the roadway. Inched my way through the half-mile caravan, entered the game reserve grounds, ‘nother dirt mile to Reception.
Very different experience from my past 2 days [Elephant Park] conservationist talks. Like going back in time early 1900’s. Animal heads posted to walls, zebra skins tanned & available for purchase. Bully bully. That said, animals actually killed on the reserve were limited to culling growing herds – and didn’t include any of the Big 5. Herd animals (wildebeest/zebra/deer) mostly male, majority later fed to the predatory eaters. Safari hunts today are limited to South Africa’s northern neighbors: Namibia, Botswana & Zimbabwe. South Africa is a mining country, industrialized & heavily populated, no large swaths of tribal wilderness.
Today’s drive: FAR exceeded expectation. Didn’t come with preconceived ideas, so didn’t realize these exotic animals would be roaming free. Predatory breeds were fenced apart/separate & away from herbivores. Found it interesting which animals the guide gave distance [game reserve/notta drive-thru zoo]. Hippos. Unpredictable, most dangerous animal in Africa (most human deaths). Lion. Male dropped his head in the grass, guide backed our jeep & did a full loop through shrubs/hill area. Approached the lion from a direction he did not feel threatened. Elephants. Spook easily, BIG, run fast. Least threatening predator? Cheetah. Limited short bursts of speed. Otherwise, they’re lazy sun worshippers [took no chances/kept a healthy distance in the Jeep].
No Kruger, no Cape Town on my South Africa itinerary. Hard to do it all AND marathon. Another time. Still managed to see all of Africa’s Big 5 plus finish out my holiday living B-I-G in a posh B&B overlooking the ocean. Happy life ❤
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- everyday road sign?
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- Plettenburg Bay Game Reserve
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- wall o’ heads
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- wildebeest & zebra
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- the mighty Rhino
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- juvenile Giraffe
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- Hungry Hungry Hippo
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- STARE down
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- deadliest in Africa – TEETH!
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- (endangered) wild dog
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- CHEETAH mates
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- brothers (same litter)
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- Lion King
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- ELEPHANT parade
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- water-hole social
Sleeping 2 nights overlooking an elephant boma, feel like I’m the guy to ask. Yep, they snore. Sleep on their sides. Wake middle of the night & trumpet. Watched one sleep: one leg up, one leg down. Guessing elephants are as unique as humans. Lucked out visiting during African winter (colder evening temps). Counted 6 in the boma, 2nd night.
Strong family pod. Devour 5% of their body weight EVERY SINGLE DAY. Herbivores — diet varies on the day, varies by the elephant. That’s a whole lotta roughage. HA!
Same lifespan as humans, 80 to 100 years old. Sadly, they last as long as their last set of molars. After their 6th set goes, they slowly starve to death. No way to eat; crummy end. Suppose we’re not so different. Oatmeal & breathing tubes highlight our expiration.
Learn a bunch at an Elephant Sanctuary. Surrounded by guides, absorb facts like a sponge. 6 rooms at the Lodge. Gotta/hafta/must stay at Knysna Elephant Park 🐘 ✔
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- African sunset
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- herbivore FEAST
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- Boma (indoor shelter)
Boma Sleep-Over
Sleep Over with the Elephants
Built within the elephant sleeping quarters, our Extraordinary Elephant Lodge offers guests the unique opportunity to spend the night with a herd of African elephants. The Parks’ elephants enjoy world-class facilities: during the day they roam the property, but at the end of the day they hurry back to their boma / night camp for a pampered night’s sleep.
Enjoy your elephant sleep-over in unique accommodation overlooking the boma; or spend the evening relaxing in the communal lounge, watching the elephants browse, feed and snooze.
