The Tacoma overland build

Tonight, we board our ferry back to Nova Scotia. To our delight, we were accommodated on our return voyage and have a two bunk room. We are also prepared for the emergency briefing video and have a plan to make this more enjoyable for D.

On the drive here from Gros Morne, we stopped at Stephenville to see Jeff's buddy and we took a tour of the town. Stephenville used to be the location of the largest air force base for the U.S. Air Force outside of the U.S.A. It was in operation until the 60s. Many of the installments still exist, including multiple air fields, hangars and munitions bunkies. All of the roads are named after places in the U.S., which was weird to see. Dylan particularly loved their war-time movie theatre and hopes to see a movie there one day.

As we settle onto the ship, a bit of reflection on how much we love the Maritimes. How the culture, activities and environment make you feel like you finally belong. It's really special.

On that, Newfoundland ... It's been a slice.

You are beautiful. Your people have big hearts. And we can't wait to come back (hopefully next year).

Yesterday was a pretty amazing (and full) day in Gros Morne park.

We woke up and headed toward the Tablelands in the morning. This park is so huge that you can drive for an hour and still be within the park, and that's what we did :).

The Tablelands was across the ocean from our campsite, which meant we had to go up, over and around to get there. What makes this area special is that this is one of three or four areas in the world where, by some magic of geology, part of the Earth's mantle has been pushed up and is exposed. Normally it's many km's beneath the ground. We have learned that this area is so similar to what the surface of Mars is like that some space programs test their Rovers on this land! We did an easy walk/hike through the Tablelands and ended at an area with clean run off which we put our feet and legs in.

From there, we returned back to our camp area and joined a mid afternoon cruise of the Fjords in Western Brook Pond. These are the iconic fjords where you see people raising their arms in a V after a long hike. The fjords were humbling and glorious, in every way. The boat tour itself was entertaining, although a little too full meaning people were fighting for seating. There are lots of photos because every foot we passed, it was a different view. Also .... Dylan got to captain the ship.

We finished the cruise and headed back toward camp where we stopped at a restaurant called Earle's in Rocky Harbour. Jeff and I each ordered a moose burger - the first moose we saw on our trip just happened to be on our dinner plate ;).

Today we set off to catch our midnight sailing from Port-aux-Basques

Today was our first full day in Gros Morne park and it certainly didn't disappoint!!

Jeff met up with a firefighter that he knows from his annual charity ride for fallen firefighters and they did a training ride together in the *very* mountainous area. They covered 78km and over 1500m of climbing in the first part of the day in what's called the "Bonne Bay loop'. The ride went super well, and it was neat because they got to start their day with a water taxi ride with their rides :).

Dylan and I joined a kayak tour to go tandem kayaking just off of Norris Point in the park. Norris point is a beautiful little village within the park that is home to maybe 100 people. Our tour guide explained to us the history behind transitioning super small fishing villages into larger areas to benefit from greater government support. Norris Point was one of these areas that became larger based on people being asked to consider relocating. When they did decide to relocate, they would lift their home during low tide and float it to their new location during high tide, and would be compensated by the NL government. This allowed the government to centralize and provide continued services to a larger community, rather than spreading resources too thin.

Little history there ;)

Our tour was leisurely (to say the least) but enjoyable nonetheless.

After the tour, D and I came back to camp and then started the coastal route from our campground to another spot along the coast. The route was used historically to connect small fishing villages. More history :).

We then rejoined Jeff and his buddy and his wife in Norris Point for a coffee and chat. They brought us a lovely cake, special from Stephenville. OMG. I could write for years about this cake. Suffice to say, we figured out how to bring home the leftovers because it would have been a travesty to throw out what we didn't eat. It was a millefeuille cake, but light. And amazing.

Tomorrow will bring more great adventures! Till then :)

We left Terra Nova this morning to head towards Gros Morne National Park. This was one of the big draws for us this trip, even though we know that we won't get to see even a fraction of it because it's HUUUGE and there is so much to do.

The travel along the Trans Canada Hwy was decent enough, although not many places to stop and we started to get a bit hangry.

The drive to get to Gros Morne from Deer River featured a thirty minute construction delay (at the end of a long day, when you just want to get to your site to set up, a delay makes the day LONG). Once we passed the traffic delay - the views from the highway were incredible. Stunningly beautiful.

We have an excellent site at Green Point and will be adventuring tomorrow, so more fun updates later! Sorry for the bug smears on the photos!

After leaving Pippy Park in St. John's, we made our way to Terra Nova National Park, near the Bonavista peninsula. Along the way, we stopped to get some beers for the tent site at the D***o Brewing Company. Jeff picked up a green d***o hoodie and has already received cheeky comments on it ;).

I have to say, this leg of the trip wasn't my finest as copilot. I'm still a nervous driver/passenger, and when the rain came out, the weight of the trailer and the possibility of moose coming out of the bush - I was a nervous wreck for most of it. Despite that, we arrived at camp in relatively good spirits.

The visitor centre at Terra Nova is one of the best national park visitors centres I have ever seen. They had touch tanks, kids activities and was well laid out and engaging.

We got to our camp at Newman Sound, and set up the full tent because the forecast was calling for rain over the next few days. We are happy we did because we had a place to chill when we didn't want to sit outside.

We took out our bikes and did some exploring in the park, and then some of the campground kiddos came by our site to pick up Dylan to play a game of torch tag. That night, we watched a good portion of Rudy that we had downloaded (we intend to finish the rest tonight).

This morning, we woke up and went on a family hike on one of their easier trails. It started raining quite heavily but we kept going and everyone did a great job. After getting back to the tent, we knew it would continue to rain so we decided to drive back toward the Bonavista peninsula and do some exploring. On our way, we stopped at a cute little brewery in Port Rexton, which had an extensive menu of GF beers on draught (and the most amazing sourdough grilled cheeses).

We took the quick way to Elliston to meet the puffins, and then headed on to Dungeon Provincial Park just outside Bonavista. Elliston is one of the largest land access puffin grounds in North America, and is interestingly also home to the most root cellars in the world. They were literally everywhere! The puffins were fun to watch, and certainly a new experience for all of us. Dungeon PP is a UNESCO geological site due to the interesting sea caves in the shape of a heart that have been worn out through erosion.

From there, we took the coastal road back, although this road was in significant disrepair so made for some close encounters with suspension wrecking potholes.

Tomorrow we push off for a longer stay at Gross Morne.

Since arriving on Newfoundland, we've been busy touring around.

First, we hit up Bulls Bay, then Petty Harbour (home of Allan Doyle), Cape Spear, St. John's and Quidi Vidi. We've enjoyed playing tourist in these areas.

Bulls Bay was an unexpected nice harbour on the first stop off of the TransCanada Highway. What we noticed on our drive is that the scenery in Newfoundland is very unique - rugged, beautiful, unspoiled. I particularly love the random lakes/ponds in fields surrounded by grass, trees and rocks that just kind of appear.

Petty Harbour was very quaint and beautiful, but way too busy on a Saturday pulling a trailer to be able to stop. Window pictures will have to do (for now - we've agreed that we are coming back for longer next time).

At Cape Spear, we explored the oldest lighthouse in Newfoundland, paired with the Easternmost tip of Canada. This area also served as a WWII battery so we got to explore some military history as well. We finished with a picnic before heading to our campsite.

We are staying at Pippy Park campground. It's urban camping which allows us to stay about 5km from downtown St. John's. The traffic is a bit loud, but it's nice enough and has made for very convenient touring in the area.

After setting up camp, we drove into town and walked around, followed by dinner at the Yellow Belly pub.

The next day, we all went for a bike ride in the morning, did some laundry, and then headed into Quidi Vidi for a late lunch/beer by the sea. From there, we headed to Signal Hill and then the Terry Fox monument to commemorate where he started his Marathon of Hope.

Tonight, we got screeched in at The Newfoundland Embassy. It was amazingly entertaining, they accommodated for Dylan and we all left smiling and laughing. I was praised for not only knowing what mummering was, but having participated in the past :).

Tomorrow we head toward Terra Nova National Park, with hopes of hitting up some sights along the way.

Yesterday, we slept in at Ingonish Beach and then Jeff and I took turns doing some speed walking in the area - Jeff brought his weighted vest to do ruck walks and I was just happy to get out for a bit. The campground at Ingonish was very nice - but one piece that I would change would be the washroom lights. People were using the washrooms all night, which is fine, but they weren't turning off the lights, making for interrupted sleep.

After I got myself lost a bit, got back to camp, showered and pulled out just after 11. We drove to North Sydney, Nova Scotia to catch our ferry to NFLD. We enjoyed a lovely lunch and pre-boarding ice cream.

When it was time to check in to the ferry, I had a moment of panic. I received an email saying we needed photo IDs, or for kids who have no photo ID, two pieces of non-photo ID. We didn't have that for little dude and I was worried we would be denied boarding. Thankfully, they let us on.

This was our first major ferry voyage, so first major ship. It was beautiful and had everything we needed. We found a quiet common area with reclining seats and were ready to settle in. We did get onto the waitlist for a room when we got on the ship (despite weekly calls, we couldn't secure one) and were called to accept an accessible room within twenty minutes. It certainly made for a more pleasant crossing for all of us, allowing us to land with moods and spirits on tact.

While on the ship, we enjoyed a nice dinner, sunset strolls, showers and breakfast. Very luxurious to have your own bathroom for the first time in a week!! We were also pleasantly surprised with the cost of on-board meals. Considering we are hostage on the ship, they could have charged substantially more than they did.

We have now landed in Argentia and moving on with our trip. Bye for now!

In the meantime - a huge shout out to the Marine Atlantic crew who made this experience quite excellent. All smiles and support all the way!

On Wednesday, we made it to Canso, Nova Scotia. With thanks to some wonderful friends for finding this gem, we had ocean front camping where we got to wake up to the sounds of seals frolicking in a nearby rock outcrop. Aside from the great site, it was really, really nice to meet up with good friends. We chatted and laughed all night long.

During some beach exploration, Dylan found me a beautiful heart-shaped rock souvenir :)

From Canso, we headed toward Ingonish Beach on Cape Breton. We had intended to go to the Canso Space Port to check it out, but it was a late start to the morning and we would rather have spent the time swimming in the ocean than looking at a concrete pad in an empty field.

We got onto Cape Breton, stopped to update our groceries and get some lunch and then entered the Cabot trail. Our trusty steed got us up and over Cape Smokey mountain and we were able to get our site at Ingonish set up quickly so that we could spend over an hour swimming in the ocean. Jeff was wayyy more brave than I - the waves and undertow were strong and I was worried about being swept out to sea. He was body surfing the waves, where Dylan and I stayed about waist/chest deep which was plenty.

Last night we had a nice dinner at camp and then got to enjoy a campfire to the sounds of fiddle music from our nearby camping neighbors. We stayed up chatting with D about life and then went to bed. Today is the big day we catch the ferry to NFLD!!!

Yesterday, we took our time getting to Alma on the Bay of Fundy. We had fun rocking to some old school tunes and checking out the rebuilt Covered Bridge factory shop (which isn't the same).

We had an ocean front site in Fundy National Park in the Cannontown sector - legit the site ( # 25) with the best view in that entire campground, and it was only booked a week ago.

We got in just before 7pm, so not enough time to explore, but we did have our hearts set on a bowl of seafood chowder at the Boathouse restaurant in Alma, which took their last seating around 7:30. We quickly backed in, set up our tent and awning in record time (sub ten minutes) and then u hooked and drove into town to get a table before last orders.

The seafood chowder was excellent, and then we hit up the Holy Whale for some seltzers back at camp. During dinner, it poured. And it wasn't showing signs of letting up. We went back to camp, for me to realize I left the chairs out of our awning, so they were absolutely soaked.

We scrambled into the tent and threw on a downloaded movie of "Rudy". It was a low key night and it rained until about 6am. We woke up and the bay was super foggy, which made for some nice photos. We are meeting up with friends on the south east shores of Nova Scotia tonight and we want to get there early enough to actually do something, so we are on the road again.

Cheers for now!