2: 25 July 2018 St. John's To Cupids

St. John's Row Houses - Always Colorful

Pouch Cove Hike

Looking For Whale Spouts

Still Looking For Whale Spouts

Kids Actually Swimming In Newfoundland

Town Of Brigis

Maria Testing The Waters Of The North Atlantic

Brigis Harbor

Anglican Church In Brigis

First View Of Cupids Harbor

25 July 2018

St. Johns to Cupids, NL

After dinner last night in Quidi Vidi, Maria noticed a small waterfront cottage with the name “Valley View”. …….There was no valley anywhere in view.

Headed north out of St. Johns this morning to hike a trail just past Pouch Cove.  We know little about these trails except for the fact they’re there.  Turns out we came upon stupendous coastal views from towering shore cliffs.   Made me dizzy to get anywhere near the precipice.  Sat down for a spell during the hike to try to see whales and sure enough, far out, we could see ghostly spouts appearing and fading after a few seconds.  Too far to see any more detail,  but we watched for a good spell anyway.

From there took a half  a day’s lazy ride along small roads to Cupids since we’re slowly heading  to the western side of Newfoundland. Ended up having a  big argument with the lady inside our Chrysler 300 GPS.  Yesterday we took some  diversions on our  way to Cape Spear for  views and she complained bitterly – “RECALCULATING!  RECALCULATING!”  She got more and more annoyed as the  drive  wore on and by the time we got back to St. John’s she was clearly pissed.   Today she turned the tables on us  by attempting over and over to divert us off our planned route, yelling at us to turn this way and that when it made no sense.  We struck back by muting  her.   Her counter attack was to reduce all the information on the screen to an arrow and a road.  No other info.  Maria and I are plotting tomorrow’s response, but we also are considering making nice since she’ll be with us the whole trip.

Between Pouch Cove and Cupids, we passed miles of wilderness and large, probably cold lakes -  there are thousands here  But after a while we came across one with a small beach and kids swimming while their mom’s relaxed on the beach.  We immediately pulled over to test the water since I assumed all Newfoundland water was just too cold to swim in.  Obviously the ocean is too cold  but this lake was around 72 which would work for us.  One of the mom’s told me it was warm enough to swim by July. 

Stopped for lunch at Tiny’s Restaurant in Conception  Bay.  At the table next to us a local was telling his lady friends that he just got  back from Massachusetts so I interrupted to ask him where in Mass he visited.   Turns out he’d gone to  Salem to visit the Witch Museum and was disappointed.  Since I think the  entire Halloween part of Salem is a disappointment, I told him  he  should have  asked us first.

Picked up another camera data card at a drug store where the lady checking out in front of me was discussing the ingredients she needed to make a Key Lime Pie.    Key Lime Pie in Newfoundland?    That caught my attention.  Then I heard her mention she got  the recipe  in Georgia so I had to join the conversation, bragging that Maria and I had  been married in Georgia 51 years ago.   I jump into these conversations easily since its obvious to Maria and me that Newfies are extremely friendly.

 

Before ending up in Cupids, we visited the small nearby town of  Brigus.  This place was brutally charming with a stunning harbor.     Most residential architecture in Newfoundland is actually kind of monotonous but this town was unusual in that respect.  Very nice small tidy homes, except for someone who was building a huge orgasm on a hill overlooking the town. 

Walked the town for about an hour and headed over Cupid.