Sunday July 12, 2009 St. John's to Trinity

Hard to believe, but another sunny day. We packed up and left Pippy Park and drove to Trinity, a small historic town on the Bonavista Peninsula. Lots of colorful houses that have been restored or are being restored. A quiet place; we parked and walked through the town. As usual, we were drawn to the churches. St. Paul's, the Anglican church, was large and in the Gothic Revival style. It has a lovely interior of wood and a rose window. Services held here every other week for 12 people. The Catholic church just down the road was more modest and built 50 years earlier in 1833. It is the oldest wooden church in use in Canada. It is also Gothic Revival, with no heat or electricity. Trinity is an interesting place; not as vibrant as I thought it would be. Houses throughout Newfoundland have front doors that go nowhere. They are called mother-in-laws doors. This is not an extreme example. We have seen houses with beautiful front doors that are five or six feet above ground with no steps. Everyone knows to go to the back door!

On our way up to Bonavista, we listened to a radio show called Jigs and Reels. It is amazing how many people are out there making music; it is a very Celtic place. The other thing we noticed about the place is that there are cover bands playing everywhere. They have funny names, like Bon Journey, and must draw the audiences because tickets are not cheap.

Continuing along the road we came to our campground. It was one big circle with some sites lakeside. We had one of these sites, but the proximity to the lake meant mosquitos. We set up the camper and took off to see the local sites. A small town nearby, Ellison, had a Puffin festival going on so we drove there to see what it was all about. By the time we got there, the festival was over, but we walked out to the Puffin viewing spot to see a few of the birds. Mike is fascinated by them and spent time on the photography. Ellison is known for its root cellars. There are over 300 of them in town. It was the old way to store veggies all winter and summer.

After leaving Elliston we drove to Bonavista to see the big iceberg. Coming over the hill we could see the iceberg. We drove down to Cape Bonavista, where the lighthouse was, as was the best view of the berg. We then stopped at the Cabot memorial. This was the area of first landfall for John Cabot in 1497. This town has quite the longevity. For its 500th anniversary in 1997, a replica of Cabot's ship sailed into the harbor as did Queen Elizabeth.

A little ways further down the road is Dungeon Provincial Park where you can view a collapsed sea cave. After viewing that, it made me wonder how safe any land close to the edge is? As we drove into and out of the park we passed grazing sheep, who often wandered onto the road. Shades of Ireland.

We had a nice dinner at a restaurant in a restored building right on the docks. Nice evening. Pictures will come later when I have a faster internet connection.