To The Rock!

All systems are now 'go' for my trip to The Rock.
WooHOO!

Newfoundland has always been one of the places I'd like to go but never found the right way to get there. It's a long way from Ontario!
Drive?
Fly?
Rent a car?
Where to go?
What to see?
Arghhhh?
Too many decisions.

I know I want to see puffins, and iceberg (or several), get screeched in and kiss the fish. I'd like to attend some kind of musical event, a kitchen party or pub night and I'd love to have some real fresh seafood.

In the Toronto Star a month or so ago there was an ad for travel to Newfoundland. They were advertising two types of tour companies and one of them caught my eye.

CapeRace. (www.caperace.com)  for those who might be interested to find out the real scoop.
An 'eco-cultural' tour.
Okay, so what's that exactly?

It's a personalized, sort of formatted, tour that is self directed with places, people and things to see as well as an unlimited mileage vehicle that's included in the price. Also provided are 3 homes to stay in along the way. There is hiking, biking, sightseeing and tours in any order I want, when I want. This is going to be a blast. This tour answers all the questions I have. I have decided to fly to St. John's, as it's a very long drive! 3 + hours by air is much easier I think.

I received my tour book yesterday, via Purolator, wrapped in fishnet with a fish identification tag with my name and date of departure on it. Okay, that was way cool and I think it is just the first taste of the interesting things I'm going to experience on this adventure.

I fly out on June 14th and return on the 23rd. Just chock this up to another adventure to finish the year. I'm so looking forward to it. It's such a different life there and I want to meet the people and enjoy their hospitality as I have in other parts of the country.

When I come back there will be one more week at L'Ann's End then it's back to work. I've been doing chores every day at the cottage and there is an endless list of things to make prettier or just fix. My gardens are looking fabulous and the recent rain we had is making a big difference to it's growth. My roses will start to bloom shortly, though they are a little shorter than they should be due to the very dry spring.

My newest toy is an e-bike, actually and e-scooter! I was finding that driving the beloved Equinox the 2 kms from the cottage to The Man's place was not the best thing for the gas mileage and the trips into town (1 km) were dumb too. So, I researched and found that a new dealer of E-bikes opened up so off I went to test drive. After a few glitches I am very happy with my Key Lime Green Gio 60 watt e-scooter. It has lots of storage capacity, easy to ride, and is quite fun to ride too. The battery has lots of capacity and one day I put 60 km on it before the battery indicator dropped to half. Neat! It tops out at 35km/h which is just fine thank you and it can go on the rail trail here and the bike lanes too. It reminds me of my days on my moped, nicknamed The Orange Bomb, for obvious reasons. This is a great addition to my transportation needs. Okay, and it's a fun toy too.

That's the news so far. I've been toiling away at challenging things like, reading books, watching the Diamond Jubilee (yes, I did get up at 4:45 AM today to watch the Service of Thanksgiving) and hanging out with The Man. Eastlink Cable has been installed at L'Ann's End and now there are 58 channels to surf. The antenna did noble service for 13 years but with the change to a digital signal, and the supposed converter box that didn't work to bring in a signal, I relented and have cable at the cottage. Ho hum.

26 Days until I complete my Leave of Absence.
What a ride it's been.
Cheers all!