Tag: road trip

Exploring my Island: Port au Port Peninsula

Published on by J. Kelland Perry31 Comments

They say that travelling to places you’ve never been before is good for your brain, especially as you age. The island of Newfoundland is quite large and is the perfect place to accomplish this, with its ancient rock formations, dense forests and breathtaking coastlines and seascapes.

I know, I know—there’s no big culture shock from travelling within my own province, but it’s still nice to sightsee in locales we haven’t visited before. As I mentioned in a previous post, Paul’s work affords us many short road trips to all corners of the island, and we try to visit little nooks and crannies of interest in between.
So when we found out about site visits to two schools on the Port au Port Peninsula last August, we were particularly happy to go. We’ve both been up and down the west coast but never there. And this would be our chance to visit the only peninsula on the island that we’d never been!

Port au Port Peninsula is that tiny arrow shape on the west coast.

We booked a two-night stay at The Inn at the Cape on Cape St. George. It was lovely, the host was friendly, and the breakfasts were wonderful.

Inn at the Cape

“Discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” – Marcel Proust

Gulf of St. Lawrence
Limestone cliffs of Port au Port

We didn’t get to take in everything on that trip but would gladly go back to sightsee what we missed.

“I take to the open road. Healthy, free, the world before me.”
– Walt Whitman

*INN AT THE CAPE

Exploring My Island: The Mighty Gander River

Published on by J. Kelland Perry21 Comments

(My apologies if you received a blank post in your inbox previous to this one — I had a glitch. Hope I have it fixed!)

On icy cold days like today, I love to reflect on photos from my summer travels. This selection takes me back to an overnight stay on Gander River last June.

Whenever my husband Paul has to travel for work in our beautiful province, I often accompany him. Particularly enjoyable are the trips that take us somewhere we haven’t visited before. And when we can combine business and pleasure, the trips are all the more fun.

This time Paul’s work took him to a business associate’s cabin on the Gander River, to design an extension and renovation for the client. The long boat in the photo above took us there, the only way to access the site.

In spite of the high winds, and getting splashed by spray over the side of the boat, the temps were warm and the views were lovely.

Here below is a shot of the little guest cabin we stayed in on the property. So cozy!

The Gander River is well-known for its salmon pools and outfitting business. To learn more, check out this site.

Below: blue flag iris growing along the shoreline.

Time to eat, sit back and relax.

Our gracious hosts provided a delicious grilled steak supper and refreshments at the main cabin.

Did you know I have a Newfoundland and Labrador category of posts on this blog? I will add this post to it shortly. Depending on what device you’re on, you can access the list from the menu or from under the header. Or click on here: Newfoundland and Labrador

Road Trip 2: Beautiful Bonavista

Published on by J. Kelland Perry37 Comments

Last weekend, Paul and I took another work trip, this time to the town of Bonavista. Thankfully, it was a much shorter drive than the last one—3.5 hours to our destination, compared to nearly 8 hours to St. Barbe and Flower’s Cove on the Northern Peninsula‘s Viking Trail, and we only needed to stayed one night instead of two.

And Spring happened! The weather was much nicer on our trip to Discovery Trail, although there was still plenty of snow around. We arrived at our Airbnb accommodations early on Saturday so Paul could get a jump on his work at the school there. Check out the beach home where we stayed:

The house was exceptionally clean, warm, and charming. I loved its shiplap walls and beadboard ceilings. The ceilings were low, though. I’ve never felt so tall in my life!

The next morning while Paul worked, I took a stroll around the block to see some heritage saltbox and vacation homes. The day was crisp, cool and gorgeous, and it was hard not to take too many pics.

Of special note: a “Seaside Loafers” bench, a potential fixer-upper, a fence made of branches, a seawall, and a family of Labradors.
This was our second visit to Bonavista. I blogged about our fall trip here. If you liked what you saw above, you’ll love the photos in that post. Was it really eight years ago??

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” -Henry Miller

Western Brook Pond Mountains in winter

Road Trip to the Great Northern Peninsula

Published on by J. Kelland Perry46 Comments

Mountains around the Western Brook fiord

Last weekend I accompanied my husband on a work trip to the Great Northern Peninsula. Also known as the Viking Peninsula, it is a large rural area in western Newfoundland, located north of Gros Morne National Park and extending to L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site, a former Viking settlement at its northern tip. The region is known for its Long Range Mountains, the most northern section of the Appalachians.

Both the park and the Viking settlement are UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Having visited the region several times in summer, I was excited to travel to the west coast for my first opportunity to see the mountains covered in snow. Lucky timing too, as it’s been an odd winter. Most areas off the Avalon Peninsula didn’t get any amount of snow until late February and early March. Marble Mountain skiers didn’t hit the slopes until March 4th, due to lack of snow and the new Covid-19 variant. Strange times indeed!

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Paul’s work will soon take us to the lovely town of Bonavista, another locale I look forward to seeing in the off-season for the first time. Stay tuned for more photos! Perhaps they’ll be more spring-like.  🙂

Cityscape: the Big Apple*

Published on by J. Kelland Perry24 Comments

In June of 2002, husband Paul and I took a trip by car to New York City. We were attending my cousin’s wedding in Nova Scotia that month, so we settled on a plan to extend our vacation afterwards and to take in some of Maine and Massachusetts on our way to the Big Apple.

View of Manhattan Skyline on our Liberty Cruise Boat Tour

With our plan already in place when 9/11 happened, we thought about cancelling the U.S. leg of the trip, but ultimately decided to go anyway. No trouble to notice the absence of the Twin Towers in the photo above, as well as the absence of the new Freedom Tower.

I will never forget our visit to Ground Zero.

View of New York from the Empire State Building

Atop the Empire State Building

In retrospect, I’m glad we didn’t cancel. It was a memorable experience all around.

*Photo Challenge: Cityscape by Nancy Merrill Photography

West Coast Road Trip

Published on by J. Kelland Perry34 Comments

Earlier this month, husband Paul announced plans for a quick business trip to Port aux Basques on our province’s west coast. It had been far too long since my last visit there, so faster than you can say “riding shotgun,” I had a bag packed and my camera ready.
Fall has got to be the most colourful time to drive across the island.
As usual, I took far too many pictures,
but managed to sift and cull them down to what you see here.

Mountains loom in the distance.
The Codroy Valley is a glacial valley in the Anguille Mountains,
a sub-range of the Long Range Mountains.
It is “a lush haven for birders, nature lovers, and adventurers alike.”

Marble Mountain Ski Resort waits for snow.

Port aux Basques:

Marine Atlantic Gulf Ferry

Hotel Port aux Basques, our home for one night

Corner Brook:

The long drive back.

We opted to stay somewhere for the
second night to break up the trip.

The trees were just as vibrant from
Springdale to King’s Point, where we stayed.
We knew the inn was nice from our overnight there two years ago.

 I hope you enjoyed these scenes from our fall road trip.

*Photos taken with Canon EOS REBEL T3 and iPhone 6

Getaway to Twillingate – Part Two

Published on by J. Kelland Perry8 Comments

Yesterday’s forecast had been accurate. We woke up to a brilliantly sunny morning, though it was a little on the chilly side.

After breakfast, I zipped up my hoodie, grabbed my camera and took a stroll around the area we were staying. Won’t you come along with me?

This theatre is busy all summer long.

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 Plenty of B&B's, cottages and inns in Twillingate, mostly deserted in the off-season.
Plenty of B&B’s, cottages and inns in Twillingate, mostly deserted in the off-season.

As usual, I couldn’t resist the pull of the ocean, so I took a walk down along the coastline to get these last few shots:

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His work finished, for now, on the new winery, my guy is ready to go.
His work finished for now, my guy is ready to go as soon as I get back.

Maybe the next time we visit Twillingate, we’ll come in late spring during iceberg season.

Thanks for tagging along! I hope you enjoyed it. 🙂

Getaway to Twillingate

Published on by J. Kelland Perry13 Comments

Just as I had almost given up hope on an autumn getaway, my guy came through with a road trip in early November to Twillingate.

Being a working trip for him, I didn’t expect it to be much more, for me, than a chance to grab a few scenery photos in yet another part of Newfoundland I hadn’t had the pleasure to visit yet. Known as the Iceberg Capital of the World, Twillingate is a lovely little town that draws many tourists, and although this is not the time of year for icebergs, it is still a pretty location to drop in and take a look around.

The place we booked, the Sunshine Inn, had only opened in August after major renovations, and as it turned out, we were the only guests there that night. That meant we had the entire main floor common area to ourselves.

Take a look at our accommodations:
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Our room was the only bedroom suite on the main floor.
Our room was the only bedroom suite on the main floor.

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Pretty artwork in the common area:

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Taking in Twillingate Harbour as dusk settled in and lights winked on, I found myself looking forward to morning. The forecast called for sunshine, which would be perfect for a walk with my camera. Come back for Part Two of this post to see what I came up with!