Sorry, Another Long 2 Day Post

Last I left you, we had checked into the Bennett Lodge in Newfoundland, south of the ferry from Labrador. This hotel is in a little town and the dining closed about 15 minutes before we checked in. Luckily, there was a small convenience store in town, so we picked up some cans of Irish Stew and Beef Stew. I also picked up a can of some Norwegian beer that came in at 10% ABV. The perfect end to a frustrating ferry day!

The next day as a another relatively short day. We had to be down to Port Aux Basques by 6:30 for the 8:30 ferry. Without any stops, we would have been there by 1 PM. So, we had plenty of time to kill. Luckily, we were still north of Gros Morne National Park, so I said I would stop at any sign that had said there was a view. I must not have been paying attention on the way through the first time, because there were more stops than I remembered. Still, Gros Morne is a beautiful place. I am not even sure how to describe it. On one side you have this rocky rugged coast and then the other side you have this mountainy, piney steep mountains. Kind of like if the Pacific Coast Highway and Yosemite had a love child! I took lots of pictures, but they don't even do the park justice. Oh well, they will help me remember.

I finally saw a moose on this trip. In fact, there were two. I still haven't seen any bull mooses in the wild, but seeing at least one moose made the trip better.

We started the trip with a relatively warm 61 degrees, but as we made our way south, we had cloud cover and it must have gotten more humid because it was cold for a while. Then clouds burned off and it got hot! Like 71 degrees! Don't be hating me you Texas folks stuck in the heat.

Just north of Port aux Basques there were signs warning of wind. One said gusts can get up to 200kh. We didn't experience anything like that, but we were blown about for a while.

Even with riding through Port aux Basques several times and getting some Subway sandwiches for dinner on the ferry, we were there a couple of hours early.

I am on the boat now and internet is again spotty. So, I will be making this post later. Plus, we will be getting into North Sydney sometime between 1:30 AM and 3 AM. Not sure what our plans are at that time.

Turns out the boat arrived in North Sydney at 3:30 AM Atlantic time. It was dark and drizzly. It was too late to pay for a motel, but too cold and wet to stay outside. I had thought earlier that we could stay in the terminal. But then later realized that you are dumped OUT of the ferry zone when you exit the boat. Mike had the brilliant idea to find a 24 hour Tim Horton's and we would hang until the sun came up. There are TONS of Tim Horton's. Sadly, a very few that have an open dining room at that hour. Eventually, we found one. It was 1/2 Tim Horton's and 1/2 Marble Slab Creamery. Marble Slab isn't open that time of day ... go figure! We figure it was open 24 hours in the dining room because there is also a casino behind it. We saw a sign that said no loitering and to only stay for 20 minutes. Given we had at least 3 hours to wait, we wanted to see what the staff would say. Luckily, nobody cared and we had plenty of hot coffee and a breakfast sandwich. Once the sun was up enough to see the road well, we took off for The Cabot Trail around Cape Breton.

I love that road, but it was still very wet from the drizzle and in spots it was still drizzling. So, for a while the going was slow and even with the fog, still a beautiful place. After Cape Breton, we weren't exactly sure what we were going to do. After riding The Cabot Trail, it started raining again, so we stopped at a local restaurant called Mother Webbs, home of the 9.95 steak. Johnny and I had the fish and chips and were happy with them. Mike had a chicken sandwich with brown gravy and really liked the cole slaw. After coming back outside to slightly dryer, but still heavy overcast skies, we were no longer interested in driving around and exploring. We made ferry reservations for the 8 AM sailing and headed for Digby where the ferry port is located. It was a 4 hour ride and sadly, you don't see much along the way.

At one point, I was concerned about the route the GPS had conjured in that it took us into Halifax. I have ridden through there once and didn't want to fight traffic this time. So, we stopped, pulled out the map and found a little country road to follow to save about 20 miles off the trip. What a nice choice! All 2 lanes with not TOO much traffic and lots of sweeping curves and few tighter ones as well. After The Cabot Trail, definitely the next hilight of the day.

Once in Digby, we started looking around for hotels. We drove to the ferry port and passed one hotel that looked like a resort and didn't give it a second thought. We stopped at the visitor center and the woman at the desk called 8 or 9 places to get rates and availability. Strangely enough, the resort looking place had a room with 2 single beds and a roll away for an incredible price. We were kind of out of place in the dining room, but had a nice dinner. I had Digby scallops on the theory that "when in Rome ..."

Once we cross into St. Johns, New Brunswick tomorrow, we will be only an hour or so from leaving Canada after only 9 days. It will be a little bitter sweet, but it is time to come home now. But, we still have a few days to go!