Travels WithJohn and Janice

Travel blog

Every trip we've shared since 2011—filter by where we went, when we traveled, or what we explored.

Showing 3 of 236 posts

Atlantic salmon working their way up the fish ladders at the Salmonid Interpretation Center, Grand Falls-WindsorCanada
8 min read2012

Dateline July 17, 2012, Trinity and Gros Morne National Park

Out of St. John's heading west on the Trans-Canada Highway. Brigus first, the birthplace of Captain Bob Bartlett, the great Newfoundland Arctic mariner shipwrecked at least twelve times, with the 1860 Tunnel that John Hoskins cut through solid rock by hand. Then Trinity, a working heritage community where the Rising Tide Theatre's New Founde Lande Pageant walks you through the village telling Newfoundland history in song and story. Atlantic salmon climbing the ladders at Grand Falls-Windsor. Then Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland's UNESCO geology, where 500-million-year-old ocean floor was thrust up into mountains, and a boat trip down Western Brook Pond, a freshwater fjord with pitcher plants in the bogs and Pissing Mare Falls plunging from the plateau above. Then the ferry back to Nova Scotia.

#canada#newfoundland#brigus
Read story
The view down to St. John's harbor from Signal HillCanada
5 min read2012

Dateline July 14, 2012, St. John's, Cape Spear, Signal Hill, and the Screech-In

Standing at Cape Spear, the easternmost point of mainland North America, with your back to the sea, the entire continent is behind you. Face the sea and the next stop is Ireland. The oldest surviving lighthouse in Newfoundland sits here, kept by the Cantwell family for over 150 years. Then up to Signal Hill and Cabot Tower, where Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless signal in 1901, the receiving end of the same circuit we had just seen the Cape Breton transmitting side of a few days before. The harbor below, the WWII gun batteries, the views of St. John's. Then George Street in the evening for a pub or two, and a partial entry into the Royal Order of Screechers, John kissing the cod, Janice and John both passing on the rum.

#canada#newfoundland#st-johns
Read story
A Northern Gannet soaring along the cliffs at Cape Saint Mary's Ecological ReserveCanada
3 min read2012

Dateline July 12, 2012, Arriving in Newfoundland and Cape Saint Mary's

The overnight ferry from North Sydney to Argentia, Newfoundland. A huge ship, ten decks, cabin with two bunk beds and an easy crossing. From Argentia, a 90-minute drive south to Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve at the southwest tip of the Avalon Peninsula, one of the most accessible great seabird colonies in North America. We arrived in dense fog, almost gave up, and got pointed out the mile-long path to the colony by a ranger who promised the fog would lift at the end. He was right. 70,000 birds in the air and on the cliffs: Northern Gannets, Black-Legged Kittiwakes, and Common Murres. The lighthouse finally came into view on the way back.

#canada#newfoundland#argentia
Read story