Sunday, August 28, 2016

We are in Fort Wayne, Indiana, our last stop before home.  Fort Wayne has the third best genealogical library in the country, after the National Archives and the Mormon sources in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Someone left their fortune to develop it and it has been put to good use.  We’ll spend a day there before heading home.

My sincere sympathies to those of you who have had to endure this heat all summer.  I’m not good with heat at the best of times and after spending the summer as far north as we were, I wasn’t ready for this.  And, yes, I know that this is actually cooler than it has been.  We will head north again next summer.

I also want to remember to stay out of Direct TV satellite range in 4 years.  We were far enough north and east that we couldn’t get satellite TV during the conventions.  While the Internet kept us informed, I didn’t have to listen to all the talking heads drivel on.  Maybe we can plan an overseas trip for that summer.

The last adventure in Canada that I wrote about was coming back from Newfoundland.  We accomplished the ferry journey without incident and drove to a nearby campground for the night.  Which is where the fun began.

We had supper and then Steve decided to head out and try to make some satellite amateur radio contacts.  He’s done a lot of that on this trip and has a nice stable tripod that he can mount his antenna on.  What I didn’t realize was that he sometimes doesn’t use that and ends up waving the antenna around in the air by hand to find the satellite.  Ok, fine.

But it’s dark and he said he was going out to an overlook.  About an hour later he comes rushing back in, grabs two flashlights and says he needs my help.  This is not good.

We hop into the truck and he heads back to the “overlook” and explains the problem:  while waving his antenna around and trying to broadcast, he set his phone on the truck where he could see the information about where the satellite was.  You can see what’s coming.  He packed up his antenna and his radio and jumped into the truck and headed back to the trailer.  Getting out of the truck he checked for his phone.  He doesn’t swear very often.

So back to the overlook we went, which was in reality a wide spot in the road, and we’re hunting for the phone with flashlights.  My phone is turned off; we only use one phone in Canada to cut down on international costs.  But I turn mine on to call his phone, hoping to hear it ring.  Silence (at least when the 18 wheelers weren’t whizzing by).  Later I realized that we wouldn’t hear it ring, as it only rings in his hearing aids and was too far away for that.

Panic.  But Steve remembered that he had the Find My Phone App on his phone and he used that to locate the phone – about 100 yards down the road from where we were looking.  It stayed on the truck way longer than it should have!

Only a few dings on its case and one scratch on the screen.  We were very lucky!

Now, stop what you are doing and check your phone.  Do you have the Find My Phone App?  If not, get it, install it and Google how to use it.  You won’t regret it.

Steve won’t be doing any more nighttime beside-the-road satellite communications.

The next day we headed north on our way to Quebec City. 

The drive through Nova Scotia and New Brunswick was interesting, as the landscape changed from rocky hills to river valley farmland.  Quebec City sits on the St. Lawrence River, which over the millennia has left relatively flat land for farming.

 By the time we reached the St. Laurence River, it almost felt like the mid-west.

Both last year and this year, as we have traveled around Canada, we have noticed that most signs, directional, informational and advertising, are in at least two languages.

The languages are usually French and English, but in the Yukon were frequently English and a First Nation Language (or occasionally all three). 

In New Brunswick, we saw signs that were in English and Gaelic (Scottish) (we think).  

So as we are headed toward Quebec, I’m expecting to see signs in French, as that’s the official language in Quebec, with the English below.

Not exactly.  Stop sign.

Road sign.

Hmm.  Even New Hampshire had a dual language welcome sign when we reached there.

We really enjoyed touring old Quebec, but I’ll leave that for another day.

Take care,  

Deb

Friday, August 26, 2016

We are outside of Cleveland today, after visiting Niagara Falls.  It is spectacular!  The sheer power of the water is awesome.

This is the American Falls to the left with the much smaller Bridal Veil Falls to the right.  Farther to the right, out of sight, is the Canadian Horseshoe Falls.

We decided to take two tours, one on the American side and then one on the Canadian side.

The Falls are on the Niagara River, which connects Lake Erie with Lake Ontario and allows water from the Great Lakes to flow to the Atlantic Ocean.  According to Wikipedia, the average flow of water is 4 million cubic feet of water per minute.  The amount of flow depends on many things, including snow and rainfall in the Midwest and how much water is being diverted for hydroelectric power.  90% of the water flows over the falls most of the time, with that decreasing to 50% after midnight and during the winter months.  The diversion of water has slowed erosion of the falls from 3 feet per year to one foot per year. 

Part of the Horseshoe Falls on the right with the American and Bridal Veil Falls on the left.

Our Cave of the Winds tour took us next to Bridal Veil Falls.  They gave us ponchos to try and keep us dry.  And sandals so we could keep our regular shoes dry and to give us some relatively non-slip shoes.   The decking we are standing on gets torn down every fall and rebuilt every spring.  Winter would totally destroy it.

Here’s a close-up of the sandals. 

And here’s a picture from the Maid of the Mist (name of the boat) where we were at Bridal Veil Falls.

It’s probably hard to see, but there are people on the decking, getting soaked!  The Maid of the Mist has been operating for years from the American side and there is a different company that operates from the Canadian side.  The ponchos on the American boat are blue, the Canadian, red.  Both boats travel into the mist created by the Horseshoe Falls far enough that you feel like you’ve been in a storm.  And then it’s back to the dock.  It’s a short trip.

On the Canadian side we took a tour “Behind the Falls” which takes you into some tunnels with openings near and behind the falls.  This shot is of the western end of the Horseshoe Falls.

The American Falls from the top, with Horseshoe Falls in the background.

American and Bridal Veil Falls from part way down.

And the falls at night.

We took two bus tours, the American side tour, which included the Cave of the Winds (Bridal Veil Falls) tour and the Maid of the Mist boat ride and the Canadian side tour, which included the “Behind the Falls” tour and the trip up the Skylon Tower to the observation deck.  We enjoyed our tours, but it would be a very expensive way to take a family to the falls.

The American side of the falls is all in a state park.  Parking in the park is $10 a day (the commercial lots are more expensive.) and the views are free.  The Cave of the Winds tour is $11 for adults.  (The cave no longer exists, but the name lingers!)  The Maid of the Mist boat ride is $18.   None of that requires crossing into Canada.

The Canadian side is very commercial and to get there you need a passport.  If you like to party, this is the side for you!  The observation tower is on the Canadian side.

So, if I were taking a family, I’d stay on the American side and probably just view the falls and take the Cave of the Winds tour.  It gives you a chance to feel some of the power of the falls.

That’s all for now.  We’ll be home on Tuesday, which is rather hard to believe!

Take care,

Deb

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

I’m writing as we ferry back to Nova Scotia from Newfoundland.  I won’t be able to post this until we get to our campsite in Nova Scotia where I think we’ll have Internet access.  But I have 4 hours on the ferry, so I should be able to get something written.

This should be our last ferry crossing for this trip.  It’s our fourth.  We did one last year in Canada across the Yukon River at Dawson City, but the river was only a few hundred yards across. 

Loading onto a ferry is quite interesting.  This ship appears to be a marriage between a cruise ship and a cargo ship.

They loaded 18 wheelers on the open deck of the cargo ship part and most of the rest of us in the level below that.  All kinds of vehicles are loaded on board: cars, trucks, trailers, buses, buses on flatbed trucks, and I’m not sure what to call this one:

Truck is a bit big for that camper.  I’ll bet there is an interesting story to that.

We drove into the stern (back) of the boat and they very carefully guide you in.  The side of our trailer wasn’t 6 inches from the mirror of the truck next to us.  But these people are pros.  They know how to pack them in.  Entering the boat.

Getting parked inside:

Adirondack chairs in bright colors are either a trend in Canada or a trend everywhere this summer.  These were at our campground in Gros Morne National Park, but a lot of homes have them and the Canadian national parks system has placed two red ones at most scenic overlooks to enjoy the view.  Makes me want some for home.

Our drive from Gros Morne National Park to Port au Basques, where we caught the ferry was all about scenery. 

It was along the west coast of Newfoundland.  So if it was on my side, we weren’t always sure if we were looking at a lake or an arm of the ocean.  Newfoundland has lots of lakes.

We did find a ski slope.

The scenery here can be very rugged.

And towns get nestled in between hills and the shore.

There are lots of creeks, many that resemble quintessential mountains streams and others more like this.  But all are rocky!

Wherever we go, we occasionally find unusual folk art and Newfoundland was no exception.

Since these were across from a septic company, I assume they are septic tanks painted with cartoon characters.  Made us smile.

 I noticed that the farther south we got, the more meadows we saw.

 Not fields, although I did see one. 

Farming is not a big thing on Newfoundland.  There are few areas where the topsoil is good enough or deep enough.  I saw one dairy farm and they had gone to great lengths to establish some flat fields to grow hay.  I never saw the dairy cows; the only livestock we saw was one herd of sheep.

I thought these were sheep, then rocks, but they were sheep!

One last scenery shot:

We’re heading out for Quebec City from Nova Scotia, but it will take us several days to get there.  If I don’t blog, it’s either because there wasn’t much to blog about or I’m tired after a long day of driving.  Or no internet!

Take care,

Deb

Friday, August 5, 2016

We are camped at Gros Morne National Park, near Norris Point, Newfoundland, Canada.  We caught the ferry from Labrador yesterday and are officially on our way home.

Newfoundland is a large island and Labrador is the most easterly part of mainland Canada.  They are both rather sparsely populated and in order to be a Canadian province they had to join forces.  So, together, they are Newfoundland and Labrador and most signs (and internet searches) refer to them that way.

Last week we visited Port au Choix National Historic Park, which is on Newfoundland’s western coast.  Our campsite was basic: water and electric at the site, no trees, but this was our view:

At least, that was the view when the fog didn’t roll in.

Port au Choix seems barren and desolate.  The landscape is classified as a limestone barren.

But this area has been occupied for 5000 years.  The sea, of course, provides fish, whales and seals.  The land provides berries and meat, caribou in particular.  And beside the limestone in the area, other stone including soapstone, was available in the region.  Different types of stone were used for different tools and soapstone was even carved into cooking pots.

The landscape seems barren, but we took a short walk along one of the trails and I think I counted at least 6 different kinds of berries.  The limestone creates a unique soil and there are plants here that grow nowhere else on earth.

There are two different kinds of berries in this picture.

This one is out of focus and I don’t know if it’s two different berries or just a ripe and an unripe.

And then there was this one, which is on a stem like a strawberry, but looks like a raspberry.

I apparently didn’t manage to take any pictures of the strawberries.  They were tiny, as were most of the berries.  But they still apparently provided a nice meal for the local caribou, who showed no interest at all in the humans around them.  Although one momma kept her eye on me as we approached.

The park used a few sculptures to tell the story of some of the peoples who lived here.  Like most natives, they made good use of what they had.  This picture is a sculpture to give you an idea of their homes.

The base would be a circular stone wall with a mostly flat top.  These would be used for sitting and sleeping.  Whalebones would be use to build the structure and give it shape.  And animal skins would be stretched between the whalebones to create the walls and roof.

This sculpture depicts the processing of the seal skins.

The national park is next to the village of Port au Choix, larger than some of the fishing villages.  It has a fish processing plant and school and profits from the tourists the park brings in.  It also has a Trip Advisor top rated restaurant.  It’s not a fancy place, but the food is good and most of it is local.  I had cod for dinner and Steve had a moose burger.  Both were delicious.  We went back the next day for lunch!

I’ll close for now.  It took me 2 hours last night to get to photos loaded to the web and I have more in this post.  I do miss our high speed connection, but am lucky to have any connection at all.

Take care,

Deb