Thursday, 26 June 2014

A Belly Full of Lobster


I have a belly full of lobster.

I’ve considered more eloquent ways of starting this post, but none of them are quite as satisfying as the ….


And then I woke up. That is as far as I got thinking about how to tell the story of our first few days in Newfoundland before the belly full of lobster coma overcame me, promptly ending the blog writing for the night. So here I go again:

Driving off the ferry on Tuesday morning, all of us were excited to be back in Newfoundland. Leia was so excited, that she started to provide commentary on every “unique” thing she saw. “Look at that house, girls!” she exclaimed, passing a robin egg blue house that was perfectly ordinary. “Look! There’s a man walking on the road!” Her enthusiasm begged to be mocked. I proceed to point out all of the obvious things we drove by for the next ten minutes. Marley even joined in. Fun was had by all … I think. Leia’s back was turned to me so as to avoid letting me see her laugh (or cry?) at my teasing. Newfoundland was going to be a riot.
 
Moose #2, east of Gander.
The first we saw in New Brunswick, but couldn't pull around for a picture.
The drive to St. John’s is magnificent. I have driven across almost all of this country, multiple times, and I think the scenery here is the most striking and diverse. It is almost magical. The topography varies considerably, and can be reminiscent of northern Ontario or Quebec, the highlands of Cape Breton, the rolling hills of New Brunswick, the wide skies of the Prairies, and even the lowlands of British Columbia. Although I’ve never been, I’m told it also resembles Scotland. The only thing missing here are tall peaks, but I’d trade those for continuous ocean views any day. If I had to recommend one stretch of highway for people to drive in this country, I’d be torn between the Icefields Parkway and the drive from Port Aux Basques to St. John’s. (honourable mention: the drive from Victoria to Tofino).

The girls at Cape Spear. They can't help but pose.
We arrived to Cathy and Guy’s house in time to head straight out. All day, the weather had been beautiful – sunny and blue skies. Last time Leia and I were in St. John’s the same thing happened. The city welcomed us with nice weather. But, tired from our travels and with Leia pregnant at the time with Marley, we decided to have an easy night and left sight seeing for another day. The remainder of our time was spent in a blanket of fog so thick that Signal Hill and Cape Spear were pointless. With beautiful weather, we knew better this time and headed straight into downtown. As we were walking to our dinner destination, we were treated to a spectacular view of St. John’s harbour.

The iceberg in St. John's harbour on our first night.
We had dinner with some locals on night two (more to come on that later) who are bay folk turned city folk (three categories of people live here: bay folk, city folk, and “from away”) who are not so impressed by icebergs. I guess it makes sense when you’re left not with their majestic beauty, but their tendency to cool the coastal temperatures. They suggested a difference of up to 10 degrees when an iceberg is in the bay, cooling the waters and the air. For us, however, the icebergs were something to behold. After dinner, they were glowing on the ocean. We headed up to Signal Hill, which was incredibly windy, and were treated to an ocean that seemed to be full of icebergs. We counted five.

Another iceberg in St. John's harbour on day two.
The next morning, with clear(ish) weather, we decided to head straight to Cape Spear. It is the furthest east one can go in Canada. In the last year, our girls have driven to the Western and Eastern shores. Quite an accomplishment, I think. They’ve stood with friends on the beaches of Stanley Park in Vancouver less than a year ago, and walked the eastern shores of Cape Spear yesterday. I don’t know that they fully appreciate it yet, but Leia and I do. We might just have to go to PEI for a few hours so Marley and Evelyn can say that they’ve been. I’ll have to figure out how to get us to the territories next!

Cathy and the girls at Signal Hill.
Overlooking St. John's at Signal Hill.

Jordan was cold at the Cape
After Cape Spear, and lunch at a great little coffee shop on Water Street, we headed to Middle Cove. It just so happens that the capelin are rolling. I’ll post more about this later, but to participate in this event, which only happens for a few days, made us feel very privileged.




Marley had fun here, but was weird out when the guy immediately
behind her decided to have some fun and poke his head through after her turn.


Jordan showing off dinner.
And, as you know, we ended the day with lobster. There are few ways to eat lobster – and last night was the best way possible. I have a colleague here that I’ve worked with over the years, and discovered that Cathy also knew him. So, out of the blue, I sent Daryl an email indicating that we’d be in town. He promptly invited us over for a lobster feast. To me, this is the best way to enjoy trips like this. Daryl and his wife Gail were extremely gracious hosts – even buying crafts for the girls to do, from which Gail kindly let Marley pick whatever she wanted to take home (and, if you know Marley, she had a little bag of goodies by night’s end).  Daryl had invited their friends Rick and Donna and their kids over as well, as Rick is a bayman and knows lobster. It made for a wonderful night of laughter, conversation, and food. Turns out Rick and I had probably met at the conference that brought me to Newfoundland initially in 2008, and he knew a bunch of the folks I went to Eastern with, including my Pentecostal history professor, Dr. Milley.

Cracking tails.


This post cannot do justice to the hospitality or the delicious food that left all of us driving home full of gratitude. This place may have a reputation for being windy, cold, and grey (and, at the moment, all are true), but there is so much warmth in the people, that it hardly matters. I do really love Newfoundland!


(Lots of lobster doesn’t hurt either.)

Our family impromptu band photo shoot at Cape Spear

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