Newfoundland - Saturday

On Saturday we left the Temple early and picked up my brother at his hotel and drove to the airport to catch a flight to St. John's, Newfoundland.  We flew Porter Airlines.  Porter doesn't charge for baggage and they serve meals.

At the St. John's airport Diane and Don Jr. were there to pick up Donald.  They went to Don Jr.'s place and Bob and I went to the Sheraton where we had a very nice room with a view of the harbour and out to sea and also of Signal Hill.

 The Harbour and Out to Sea

Signal Hill

We walked to Zapata's restaurant for supper (Mexican).

Downtown St. John's certainly has a variety of buildings.  The architecture includes modern, historical, wooden and brick all mixed together.  There are many houses downtown and they are built right out to the sidewalk.

 Garage Doors and Carports are out to the Sidewalk

  The Back of the Marriott Hotel

 Supreme Court - Trial Division (above back of the building, below front of building)

 Murray Premises Hotel

One for Jacqueline

There were many murals on fences and buildings.  The following is an example, but there were others that were better.  Too bad we didn't get pictures.

End of a Great Week

On Wednesday morning Bob and I went back to work at the Temple.  Julie, Jeremy, Nathan, Kennedy, Jackson and Orson also attended the Temple that morning.

Later Jeremy and Julie and family and Nathan and some of his boys went to Lawrence Beach to go surfing.  Bob and I did not join them after the Temple.  In the evening Nathan, Tara, Jeremy, Julie, Bob and I went out for Nathan's birthday supper at Vines.  His birthday was Tuesday and we had been to their house for cake the evening before.

Thursday we all went to Peggy's Cove.  It was a beautiful day and there were hundreds of visitors who joined us there.

Friday was Jeremy and Julie's last day in Dartmouth.  We had waffles and bacon for breakfast at Nathan's and then Bob and I went to pick up my brother, Donald.  We all visited and had a barbeque and weiner roast at out house.  We said goodbye to Jeremy, Julie, Kennedy, Jackson, and Mickey and we dropped off Donald at the hotel and we went to the temple.  Jeremy and family left to return to Calgary while we were at the temple. 

Pictou and Halifax Harbour

Monday evening  after our deep sea fishing we caught the 6:15 p.m. ferry back to Nova Scotia.  We made a stop at Pictou and toured the replica of the Hector.

Here is a picture of the inside of the boat.  Imagine being with 199 other people down here.  The crossing took three months.  Eighteen people died on the way.

Mickey Checking Out the Water in the Harbour

After stopping at the Pizza Market in Pictou we drove back to Dartmouth.  We had had beautiful weather the whole time we were away but it was raining in Dartmouth when we returned.  It poured rain until 5:00 a.m. but cleared up in the morning.

Tuesday morning we drove to Alderney Landing and caught a ferry for downtown Halifax where we took a tour on the Harbour Hopper.  It was a boat that could travel on land or water - originally used by the U.S. in Vietnam when they needed to get troops off their ships.  It took us around the citadel, by the graveyard, by the English Garden, down Spring Garden Street and other places and then spent a half hour cruising the harbour. 

The Green Boat is the Harbour Hopper

Two Cruise Ships In the Harbour

We wandered along the boardwalk and visited Nova Scotia Glassworks and Amos Pewter.

A Yacht Moored in the Harbour

A Quick Visit to P.E.I

Jeremy, Julie, Kennedy, Jackson and Mickey arrived late on  Saturday evening.  Jackson was coming off the Canadian Water-skiing Championships where he placed 2nd in the Slalom.

On Sunday after church Jeremy and family, Liam, Bob and I hustled to Caribou to catch the ferry to P.E.I.

 
We went to Charlottetown and had supper at Peake's Quay.  The next morning after Mickey and the boys swam in the hotel pool we drove to Cavendish and toured Avonlea, the place which inspired the setting in Anne of Green Gables.

We toured the house, the haunted woods and lover's lane.

From Cavendish we went to Rusticoville and went deep-sea fishing.

We first fished for mackeral.  I didn't fish, but everyone else was just hauling the fish in as fast as they could get the rod into the water and out.  When the first school was fished out we moved to another place for more.

Jeremy caught the biggest mackeral.

After catching the mackerel we moved further out on the St. Lawrence Basin to fish for cod.  Everyone caught at least one, but Liam got the biggest.

As we were moving toward the cod fishing area we saw a school of porpoises chasing some tuna.  This was the most exiting part of the whole fishing trip.  Jeremy made a video showing the porpoises.

 

Another Saturday

Last Saturday evening we went to a birthday celebration for the President of the Halifax Temple.  It was a beautiful day and we sat out on the deck for a barbeque.

Keaton invited us to supper on Sunday evening.

Monday we drove to Pictou and spent several hours in the Hector Archives.  We came home that evening in the pouring rain.  We had to drive slower than usual and the old Honda kept hydro planing.  We saw two cars that had been in accidents along the way home - one in the ditch and one that was in a collision.

Yesterday and today have been beautiful.  We are hoping this weather continues for the next couple of weeks but . . .

Every couple of weeks different flowers in the area bloom.  A couple of weeks ago it was lilies and some of them were very beautiful.  However, I think they must have been day lilies because they didn't last.  Here is a picture of one that was in our flower bed.

 I  don't know what the next flower is.

Natal Days

This past week-end was a long week-end to celebrate Natal Days in Nova Scotia.  Actually it is billed as Alexander Keith's Natal Days.  Alexander Keith was a three time mayor of Halifax, but he also founded a brewery which is now under control of Labatt which may explain where the funding comes from and hence the name.  Natal is not pronounced like the place in the Crowsnest Pass, but like the word having to do with birth.  It is celebrating the birth of Halifax and of Nova Scotia.  (P.E.I. also has Natal Day to celebrate the birth of that province.)

Saturday it poured rain and many of the Natal Days events were cancelled.  However, Sunday was a beautiful day.  Bob watched the fireworks from Halifax that night.  He said they were very spectacular but it was a short display.  Steve Page was entertaining that evening.  When I first heard he was coming I wanted to go and watch, but when I found out it was Sunday at the Beer Gardens I gave it up.

Monday morning was the 105th running of the Dartmouth Natal Days Race.  We were at the race at 7:45 a.m. to watch Nathan and Orson in the 6 mile race.  There were over 1,000 participants in the race.

Starting Gate

(notice the kilt on the man holding the starting gun)

The official results are not out yet, but Nathan and Orson were somewhere in the middle.

In the afternoon Nathan brought over a ladder and helped his dad clear out the eaves trough that was plugged and had plants growing in it.

In the evening we went with Nathan, Orson, Liam and Keaton to watch the Dartmouth fireworks at Banook Lake.  Apparently they were not as spectacular as the Halifax ones, but it was a longer display.  We parked at Superstore and spent more time trying to get out of the lot than we did watching the fireworks.