Glad to be home!

Eating at Chick-fil-a the day after we got home for Cow Appreciation Day. We have dressed up for several years in a row. :)

Eating at Chick-fil-a on the first day of our trip.

Well, it was a fantastic excursion! However, we are very glad to be home. On the way home we thought of a few things that we learned to greatly appreciate:

CLEAN, cold water

Tall drinking glasses with ICE

$1.00 menus at fast food restaurants

Refills on drinks

To-Go cups

Good beds

warm, sunny weather

low gas prices - we paid $4.40/gallon in Newfoundland - today it is $2.47 here

No metric system - yes, I have taught the metric to my children but it is still hard to think that way only

Brick houses

Good, well-made FOUR lane highways MARKED with yellow and white lines

Toll free roads - we spent $24.20 in tolls

Thank you for following along on our voyage and a special thanks to those that commented! The boys were excited to know someone was checking our blog out!

The day we left we dined at Chick-fil-a for lunch and the day after we returned we had dinner there. :) It was Cow Appreciation Day that day and the boys dressed up like cows and went for free combos! Gotta love Chick-fil-a!

Thanks again!

Amazing memories...

Waterfall in fjords in Gros Morne Provincial Park

MOOSE! RIGHT BESIDE THE ROAD!

That is our car window at the bottom.

Gros Morne Park fjords boat tour

Running moose right beside the road

Visiting with Great Aunt Audrey

WOW! What an excursion. Big J was depressed some b/c of the money we spent, but we had fabulous time. Eleven people traveling together for 17 days. It was super! We saw so many things that we will always remember. We are home now and watching our videos. We have some awesome videos to look back and remember.

Day 16 & 17

Pizza after swimming in the indoor pool in Pennsylvania.

Relaxing in the Ramada we found that looked just like the 70's/80's. Hilarious.

Swimming in Pennsylvania - our last night...

A house and barn joined together in Maine to keep the farmer out of the cold.

Check out this Maine rest area on hwy. 9.

Rest area ---- a little slow since we had 11 people!


The pics above are actually in backwards order. Sorry. ;)

Well, our trip is winding down. We have had a great time and seen some of the most AMAZING things we could have ever imagined. Big M is a great tour guide!

Day 15 - Sea Caves in New Brunswick

Bay of Fundy tide - rises and lowers most in the world!

Walking over rocks and more rocks to see the sea caves. We loved these!!

Day 15 - We began our drive from Moncton, New Brunswick today. We decided since we were slightly ahead that we would take a scenic route on the Fundy Bay coastal drive. The scenary was really peaceful and beautiful. I know I keep saying that but it is so true.

The Fundy Coastal drive took us by rolling hills and simple white farmhouses. It was very pretty and just relaxing. We were headed to the Sea Caves and boy, they did not disappoint. The Bay of Fundy (same bay where Reversal Falls is - we visited here on the way up) rises and falls with the tide the most footage in the world. We drove by little fishing boats sitting on the mud with their docks about 20 feet above them. Once the tide comes in, they will be right beside their docks. Truly impressive.

Enjoy...

Day 14 - Boat back to mainland

Day 14 - Today it was time to take the ferry back across. Our boat was scheduled to leave at 8:45. The boat is most always late. This time it was only 30 minute late. We were excited b/c that put us on the mainland ahead of the time we thought we would be there. The ride was nice and smooth. We made good time crossing. The boys enjoyed eating lunch on the boat, playing games and the bigger boys played poker once again. The younger ones enjoyed a movie and everyone loved walking outside in the wind.

Day 13 - Salmon Swimming Upstream

As we drove down from St. Anthony we also stopped near Deer Lake at Sir Richard Squires Provincial Park. We drove a short ride down a 2 lane country road and then 10 miles down a gravel road into a park where we had heard you could see salmon swimming upstream. We were able to walk a path down to a gorgeous river with a waterfall where the salmon were doing their best to jump up the waterfall. Crazy fish!! The boys enjoyed seeing this also.

We have really seen some amazing things. The pics just do not do our sights justice.

Day 12 & 13

The Arches

Cow Head, Newfoundland

Beautiful stones from The Arches, Cow Head, Newfoundland. We were driving back down from St. Anthony and stopped for a short time to see this wonderful creation! It was totally amazing!

Look how big these are!! Have you ever seen anything SO amazing? Totally cool!

Skipping rocks into the Atlantic ocean on Sunday morning!

Walking dow to The Arches

Day 12 - I actually posted the pics from St. Anthony under days 10 and 11.

Day 13 - On day 13 we drove down from St. Anthony (northern tip of Newfoundland up by Labrador) to Port aux Basques (where you catch ferry). We started off early around 6:15 am I think. It was rainy and very cold. We drove for at least 2 or 3 hours before FINALLY finding a small hotel open with a restroom. We passed fir trees and a few houses scattered here and there. Every now and then you come to a small village. However, during the time before lunch we only passed a few cars. I guess since it was Sunday traffic was even more slow. Thankfully we have 2 vans traveling along. Otherwise, we were pretty much the only ones on the road for long stretches.

The pictures above are of The Arches. These are located near Cow Head. By the time we reached them, the rain began to stop good enough for us to get out and enjoy them. It started back up before we left. Are these amazing or what??? The boys LOVED them. As you can tell, they were carved by the ocean for years. Underneath them the sea washes in beautiful, colorful rocks. You just want to take them all home. The rocks are SO smooth against your skin. I was amazed at their colors: green, pinkish, grey, black, etc.

Enjoy...more to come...

Pictures from Day 10 & 11

Boat Tour in Gros Morne National Park

MOOSE!!!!!

Shallow Bay Motel - Cow Head, Newfoundland

Fire wood cut and stacked for the winter. These stacks are EVERYWHERE along the road. The locals told us everyone pays for a permit to cut a certain amt. They then cut it in the wilderness, bring it out using ski-dos and stack it for their winter heat. Look at how much it is!

Gardens like this are all along the road. There is ONE main road all the way up the northern peninsula. These gardens are all along it.

Walking in to the boat tour for the fjords in Gros Morne = AWESOME!

Day 10 & 11- Newfoundland

July 1st - Oh Canada Day! We began this day driving back across Newfoundland heading to

Cow Head, Newfoundland. It was rainy, foggy and cold when we first started out. It is a days drive back across so we started out early. After you get to the west side you go through Gros Morne National Park. WOW! And WOW again!! The hiking scenery is FANTASTIC. The mountains are huge and rocky. On one side you drive RIGHT on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean and then the other side is the mountains. Before we reached Cow Head, guess what we saw on the side of the road? His picture is up above! He was right on the edie of the road...about 15 feet from us. He began to run along with us and continued with us for about 1/4 mile. He then turned into the woods and looked back at us.

We stayed at The Shallow Bay Motel in their cabins. They were very nice and very comfortable. They were located across the street from the ocean and it was a great little village. The local Anglican church was having a FRESH lobster dinner but they had just finished up. Fireworks went off at 10:30 pm for Oh Canada day(the sun sets VERY late here) and then we all turned in.

Day 11 -

The next day we did a FANTASTIC 2 hour tour at Gros Morne of the fjords. They aren't actually fjords at this point according to our guide b/c they no longer contain salt water. The high cliffs rise ~ 2000-2500 feet up and were formed by glaciers. The pictures above can't describe enough the beautiful views. It was the most gorgeous scenery we have even seen. They played Newfie music on the ride back in and we all tapped and enjoyed the sights. I sat beside a nice couple from Germany. We are amazed at the people who have traveled so far to visit here.

We drove on to St. Lunair Griget located right before St. Anthony. Along the way we saw several houses with seal skins lined up in the yards drying. The people here are mostly fishermen from what we have been told. You come to an area with 10-40 houses, one tiny store, maybe a post office and that is it. You see TONS of wood cut and stacked all along the road. You also see gardens along the road EVERYWHERE. We asked and were told that people pick a spot and make their garden. We aren't sure why unless it is b/c the land is not boggy and already cleared.

In St. Lunair Griget we stayed at St. Brendan's Motel. These towns are so small and the little houses are just perched right up on the side of the rocky hills and out by the ocean. We love the scenery and the surroundings. We pass moose along the road and they just stare at you. There isn't a Walmart for at least 6-8 hours!!!!!! All they have are small convenience stores that have a variety of high-priced items. :) The people are friendly and welcome us. In fact, we arrived there rather late around 8:45pm. After checking in we went down to 1 of the 2 restaurants in town and they were closing. It was a mother and 2 daughters. They allowed us to come in and they fixed supper for us anyway. It was fantastic food!

The next day we got up and toured L'anse aux Meadows, the Viking settlement. This was really fascinating. They have artifacts dating to the year 1000 where Leif Ericson came here and founded Vineland. We visited the actual site and the site where they have replicated the buildings the Vikings would have had. The actual site was unearthed and then natural erosion began to occur and they covered the actual site back up. All you can see of the actual site is dirt mounds forming buildings, etc. The replicated area was really cool. Men were there in full garb and talked just like they were the real vikings. They informed us that Viking is a VERB. They were really Norsemen who went viking. Therefore, they were replicating Norsemen. All the boys enjoyed this and got to experience hands on activities. They tried on Norseman helmets, held swords and spears that are used today for working on site, etc. We have some great pictures with the Norsemen there.

After getting a quick bite to eat, we went on an Iceberg tour. Our guide was a local man named Tobias. He was really nice and we toured out of the bay for 2 hours. We saw a rather large iceberg and some smaller ones, moose on the mountains overlooking the ocean, houses that have been abandoned, 2 eagle nests and whales!!!! WHAT A TOUR! The boys enjoyed this tour. This boat was rather small - holding only 13 of us with 2 guides. We had a great time, no one got sea sick and we arrived back safely - whew!

Our day wasn't over yet! We went to the Viking Theatre at Fishing Point in St. Anthony for a dinner theatre/mock trial. The waiters and waitresses were all dressed as Norsemen and a traditional Newfoundland Jigg's Dinner was prepared, stuffed salmon, cod casserole and salad were provided. We had to eat with our fingers, spoons and knives like the Norsemen did. Everyone had a fantastic time. M's youngest charged his oldest brother with scaring him too much. Our youngest charged his brothers with not sharing their Legos enough. C was punished for his crime after the audience voted he was guilty. Our little guy was told that his brothers had to buy him something. We all had a fun time and enjoyed ourselves.

One the way home we saw several moose. It was late and we fell into bed - exhausted!!