Saturday July 29, 2017

We wake up and enjoy our continental breakfast at the BNB. Last night at the restaurant, we had met the other people staying here. They are from Florida but are moving and spending 6 months in Canada and then moving to Rhode Island. They say that they do not like the political climate in Florida and ask if Utah is a conservative state. I say it is but that I do not like to discuss politics with people. This mostly squashes the direction of the conversation except for the “we do not like people that will not accept that we are causing global warming”. I am not here to discuss the issues of our world and keep quiet. The rest of the conversation is mostly about traveling and the area we are in. We excuse ourselves so we can pack and get ready to go. The day had started out sunny but as I load the RAV, a few raindrops start to fall.

Don’t Say It

We drive along the Cabot Trail and notice there are no construction workers today as it is Saturday. We stop at the Bog Trail and get out to do the short boardwalk loop. I was going to say something about bogs and New Jersey but a certain party I am with senses this and stops me before I get started. The hike is nice and we learn a few more things. We get to see some pitcher plants which would be man eaters if the human species were the size of bugs. Like the more famous Venus Flytrap, the pitcher plants are carnivorous, getting their nutrients from insects rather than the poor boggy soil. When we get back to the parking lot, two cars pull up. A guy gets out of one and says he is surprised that they are not working on the roads as there is only a 3 month window here in which to do the work. A lady from the other car says, this is Canada and we are socialists which means no overtime which means no work on Saturday. Pretty funny. 

Our Hike du Jour

We move on down the road to the popular Skyline Trail. The parking lot is not too full and amazingly the sun is coming back out. This is good news as this hike is about the views which would be obscured with the low clouds we started with earlier. As we walk down the trail, we run into our friends from Boston who we met yesterday at the restaurant and campground. Funny how this seems to happen to us from time to time. We chat for a while and part ways again, as we come to the scenic part of the trail.

Skyline Carol

The park has built a boardwalk of steps going down the spine of the mountain here. The views of the Cabot Trail Road below, the surrounding cliffs and steep terrain, as well as the coastline are phenomenal. We sit on a bench and take it all in and take some pictures as well. Then it is time to climb the 300 or more steps back to the top. Once there, we continue on the loop trail. The views are still nice and then we turn back inland towards the Trail Head. We meet a very nice couple from Edmonton and we end up talking to them for over a half hour. During the course of the conversation, they say they have a hard time lately keeping up with the goings on in their country. This is because our politics in America is like a soap opera drama. Who is saying what about who, Russians, etc. We are being noticed for the lack of respect our leaders of both parties are showing the world. A sad commentary. Enough about that.

We finish our hike and start our drive to North Sydney. We haven”t gone very far when Carol starts letting out some blood curdling screams. I am lucky it doesn’t cause me to swerve off the road. Apparently, a bee flew in her open window and stung her on the leg. I pull over so she can attend to the bee sting and I can calm down. I am not sure how these things happen to her. We get back on the road. We are taking the 11:45 PM Ferry to Newfoundland. It is about a two hour drive and we listen to a Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child. We have experimented since we left Utah with listening to books on CD that I put on my MP3 player. We have listened to four books so far and are really enjoying it on the longer drives. Before we know it we reach North Sydney and attend to some errands. These include getting gas, buying groceries, visiting the ATM, and best of all, dinner.

Dessert=Smiles

We have a 20 minute wait for our table at the Black Spoon Bistro. I had scoped this out on trip advisor and the menu looked great. We got seated and then had the difficult task of choosing an entrée. Every item on the menu sounded good and interesting. We started with an appetizer of Spring Rolls with a maple curry glaze. So good. The entrees we chose were Bacon Wrapped Scallops Carbonara for Charlie and Coconut Curry Chicken for Carol. Both are amazing. Carol wants dessert as she has eyed a salted caramel cake with butter cream frosting. I opt for the peppered strawberries in Benedictine on pound cake with ice cream. We have been doing well with watching our calorie intake each day but tonight we definitely lost the battle.

Waiting to Board the Ferry

Totally satisfied, we head over to the Ferry. It is around 8:15 and we get our boarding passes and park in the assigned lane. We inquire about a reserved seat for Carol but there is still none available. When we booked the night ferry, all the cabins were taken. Next they have a reserved seating area with reclining chairs but only one was left. We have been calling per their instructions to try and get a second one for Carol.

Let’s Sleep

They tell us to try the purser’s desk after we set sail. The Ferry starts boarding at around 9:30 and we drive onto the boat just about 10 o’clock. We go up to level 8 and find Carol a seat. I then go to the pursers desk and lucky us, some reserved seats have opened up. They have two that are next to each other but separated by an aisle. I take them and go back to give Carol the good news. These work out great as they are in the back of the room in front of the outside window with a ledge we can put our feet on and stretch fully out. We do not even wait for the ship to set sail before we put in our ear plugs, eye masks on, pillows tucked behind our heads, and sleeping pills taken. Hopefully it will be a good night’s sleep.

Expenses                                                                                                                                        Gas 47.31 CAD                                                                                                                          Black Spoon Bistro Dinner 84.4 CAD                                                                                      Ferry to Newfoundland 220 CAD                                                                                            6.0 Miles Hiked