Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Quick Honeymoon Update


Here is a photo of Jennifer and I at the Easternmost point in all of North America.

More photos that were originally at the bottom of this, but I figured people might miss them.

Nova Scotia Part One
14 Hour Ferry Ride to Newfoundland
Puffins, Whales and Gulls
Cape Spear (Easternmost point in North America)

I only have a minute since, well, it is my honeymoon and I shouldn't be on the computer. However I had to upload some photos, mostly so I don't have to do it later. Right now I am sitting in our room in St. John's, Newfoundland. The inn we are staying in tonight is unbelievable it looks like an old mansion from the movies. The lobby is enormous with all sorts of fancy looking things. The room itself is nice although the toilet isn't really separated from the rest of the room by a door, so its kind of weird. I guess we are married so all that shouldn't matter. There is also a giant jacuzzi tub, but it is too hot to use. Enough about right now, since it is one of the more boring parts of the trip so far. I will instead start at the beginning.

Saturday morning we drove up to Portland and got on the CAT for a six hour ferry ride to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. The trip over was great, the boat had tons of things to do and before we knew it we docked in Yarmouth. The first thing we did was test out all of our satellite technologies, Sirius and GPS, and both worked perfectly. I have to hand it to the satellite radio industry, they have something great. I can be driving in a completely different country and still have the same channel line up as I had at home. Even in the most rural areas where there aren't any radio stations, I know that if I want to listen to 90's music I can turn to channel 9, The Pulse, or if I want some acoustic music just turn to channel 30, The Coffee House. Enough promotion of satellite radio for now. We drove about an hour to hour bed and breakfast for the night and the GPS nailed the location.

We woke up in the morning, had breakfast and started our long trip across Nova Scotia. We stopped at a couple scenic spots along the way and even got to walk in the Bay of Fundy, although we won't see it at low tide until next week. We also went to a winery to help break the trip up. After seven hours of driving we arrived at our next B&B, in North Sydney, the home of the ferry to Newfoundland. We had an okay dinner at a local restaurant, where I ordered spaghetti and they gave me a plate that seemed to be filled with an entire box of spaghetti.

Monday morning we woke up early (4AM) and went to the ferry. We departed from North Sydney at 6AM, and thankfully were given a cabin so we had a home base and a couple bunks to sleep in should we get tired. I had been nervous about the 14 hour trip to Newfoundland, but it seemed to fly by. The weather outside was so nice we just spent most of the day on deck reading and laying in the sun. Finally, at about 8:30 Newfoundland time, 7:00 Eastern time, we arrived in Newfoundland. Our first views of the place were breath taking. The mountains seemed to have formed right out of the ocean. We were actually greeted by a Bald Eagle that flew across the bay. It was amazing.

Once ashore we had to drive about 45 minutes to the next B&B. Unfortunately the fastest way there involved driving down a dirt road for about 15 miles. It was brutal. At one point a moose was blocking the road and we had to wait about five minutes before he ran off. We did make it to the B&B, where we passed out after a long long day at sea.

Now this morning we had our breakfast and then drove to Bay Bulls for a puffin and whale watch. It started raining before the trip, but as soon as we were out on the water it cleared right up. First we saw a huge colony of puffins, birds were flying all over the place. The puffins are fun to watch when they are in the water, because sometimes they can barely get off the water and often times crash back into the water. After seeing all of the birds we set out for some nearby whales. We saw a couple dolphins and a humpback whale, but they quickly took off for more interesting things. There was another boat within a few clicks, so we went over and saw that they had a whale swimming right next to it. We spent about forty five minutes watching the whale swim around our boat. You can see from the photos that he was really close and I got some fantastic shots.

After the whale watch we went out to Cape Spear, the Easternmost point in North America. It was a beautiful spot that we could have spent many hours at, but since we were getting hungry we drove in to St. John's. After checking in we went to a yummy dinner and walked around the downtown area for a bit. After a few hours we wandered back to the room and I logged on the internet for a little while to update this journal.

Tomorrow we are going to Terra Nova National Park for hiking and then ending up in Trinity where we will be spending two nights (finally a chance to rest). Then we will drive across to Gros Morne National Park and stay there for a night, I am really looking forward to that place. The next day we catch an overnight ferry back to Nova Scotia, where we will spend a night. Finally, we return to the states on Monday night in Bar Harbor where we will stay with the Riebe's for a night. An action packed week ahead. Hopefully I will get another chance to upload.

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