Camping -- Oldmill RV Park

About one Friday a month Scott gets an EDO, or earned day off. We love it!

We'd been trying to convince our good friends the Coopers to give camping a try and July's EDO was the perfect opportunity. The weather was supposed to be fabulous so we thought we'd head back to La Manche. Unfortunately we waited until the night before to book a site and La Manche and everything else within a 2 hours drive was reserved. We got desperate, and against our better judgement, we finally secured 2 camping sites at an RV park 45 minutes out of town. 

To say the site was ugly would be an understatement. Compared to the rugged natural beauty that abounds in Newfoundland, this place was a complete hole. More like a gravel parking lot than a place to commune with nature. But, true to their word, the outhouses were the absolute best I have ever experienced.

We kicked off the campout with a delicious lunch interrupted by a heavy rainstorm. 

We positioned ourselves under the tent canopy and the open tailgate of the van. Thankfully, Newfoundland weather changes quickly and it was soon over.

Then it was time for homemade rootbeer!

Dry ice is so much fun!

Watching the little boys experience dry ice was great. It was not Scott's best brew because the root beer extract was nearly solid.... and expired 3 years ago. That just means we will have to try it again!

The biting flies were not nearly as bad as our trip to La Manche. Helen got two bites, and I think she was the only one in our family to get any. It's so creepy how the first thing you notice is blood trickling down! They aren't painful, but they itch badly. Joseph still has a scab from La Manche (a month and a half ago!) because he can't stop scratching it. Luckily, Helen left hers alone.

Scott made the most incredible dutch oven dinner of potatoes, cheese and bacon.

 He felt horrible all afternoon and night, and was great to still play master chef for us.

 

Our boys loved wandering around with their buddy Lincoln. There wasn't a ton of space to roam between campsites (There are three sites in this picture. Way too close to each other!) but the kids made do and enjoyed "hiding" from the parents. They also had fun playing at the big playground, and throwing rocks in a stream at the edge of the campground.

Helen spent most of her time in the pack n play. And loved it! Something about being outside just makes babies happy.

These two are really starting to enjoy being together. Scarlett is four months younger than Helen and they are destined to be BFF's. They mostly demonstrated their friendship by tackling each other, but were so much happier to be together than alone in the pack n play.

Photos compliments of the lovely Taralee.

When it came time for bed, we folded down the van seats, put the pack n play inside and put Helen to sleep in there. But she just stood up and watched us through the window. Both babies had a terrible time falling asleep because of all the noise our fellow campers were making. It was something of a foreshadow for the night ahead... 

Our next-door-neighbors began playing music really, really loudly at 2 am. The babies both woke up, and we all laid there listening to babies crying and Brad Paisley singing for an hour and a half. Eventually Scott pounded on their RV and explained it was time to turn the music off. Scott scared them to death, and I am a bit ashamed to admit how happy that made me! We all slept great after that. 

Relaxing with hot chocolate after a breakfast of sausage and homemade donuts.

The skies were clear on Saturday and we decided to find a good place to swim. Taralee and I interviewed as many fellow campers as we could and got the best tip from a grade-school girl on the playground. She said to follow the traintracks for 30 minutes and there we'd find a swimming hole. Although she seemed sure of herself, we decided against wandering off on her advice alone. 

We also stopped a railroad enthusiast who was examining the abandoned train tracks that dead-ended at the RV park. Although he didn't know of any swimming spots (neither did his friend, who he called on our behalf) I learned some interesting things about the rail system. Apparently the rails in NL are more narrow than mainland Canada, because it was cheaper to build them that way. Train cars would be sent from mainland Canada and then refitted with wheels the proper width once they got to NL. It wasn't ultimately very cost effective to do it this way, and it wasn't terribly safe either as the train cars constantly derailed on the narrow tracks. There were freight and passenger trains, and the the passenger trains were called the Newfie Bullet. It operated for 90 years, but because retrofitting cars to fit the tracks was so expensive and made them so unstable, the Newfoundland rail system was abandoned completely in 1988. All according to our new friend. 

Some Googling from our phones yielded an article in The Scope magazine about some local "secret" swimming holes. We decided to check one out back near home and we weren't disappointed! 

You park along the main road to Cape Spear, then hike off into the woods. At one point you wade through a stream, and then pass a rusted-out van. The swimming hole is on Punch Bowl Pond and the scene was picturesque.

      Photo compliments of the lovely Taralee.

We will definately go back!

   Photo compliments of the lovely Taralee.

Camping at La Manche

 After celebrating Canada day at a St. John's Branch BBQ (in record heat!), we drove straight to La Manche Provincial Park for our first family campout in Newfoundland.

At the BBQ this messy baby tried watermelon and loved it so much she bathed herself in it. Then she found a smashed jelly-donut in the grass and ate that too!

Then it was off to the lovely La Manche, about 30 minutes away. Since it was a Monday, we were just about the only campers there.

Helen happily watched us set up camp from her pack n play. It reminded me of when, at the exact same age, Ian sat in the same pack n play on his first family campout.

While Scott set up the tent, the boys added to their cap collection.

It was still hot that afternoon, so we followed a tiny trail from our site down to the lake. There was a nice little swimming area and the evening was beautiful. Helen sat with me in a shallow area and splashed and raked rocks toward herself for a good 30 minutes.

That night we grilled steaks and made homemade donuts (our best yet!). We set up Helen's pack n play in the van and then taught the boys Charades around the campfire. I won't ever forget Joseph acting out "backhoe" and "tree".

Around the time we put the boys to bed, it began to rain. I laid down in the van with Helen until it was dry enough outside to carry her to the tent, but that time never came! She and I ended up sleeping in the van all night, and even set off the car alarm when I leaned against the tailgate! At 7 the next morning the tent began to leak, so the boys gathered up their pillows and backpacks and dashed for the van. (And found Helen and I eating Oreo's for breakfast.) 

Scott collapsing the tent in the rain.

Even though we didn't get to see all La Manche had to offer, this trip was still packed full of special memories, and was my favorite Larson family campout EVER.

When we got home we started airing everything out. Doors are ideal for drying out sleeping bags!

It took two days of running two box fans constantly to get this tent to dry out in our basement. Then we had to mop up a whole forest-worth of dirt...

We are looking forward to lots more Newfoundland camping trips and hopefully a return trip to La Manche this summer. 

WHALES!

All the wildlife in Newfoundland was a big draw for us in moving here. Especially when we heard whales can be seen from the shore! So once the Capelin rolled in we started going out in search of whales as often as we could. 

Our first few trips were not successful, but at least one included a neat look-out point and a box of Timbits, so it was a success in it's own way. (Timbits are Tim Horton's donut holes -- Scott says if you haven't heard of Tim Horton's, you've never actually been to Canada). We don't actually like Tim Horton's, but we crave and consume them nonetheless!

This little lady can pack away 8 Timbits in a sitting. And she is not above swiping other people's drinks.

Not a bad view, eh?

Several times we heard about sightings of really active Humpbacks in a location we had been at only an hour earlier. This was one of those times.

But during the second week in July we hiked out Torbay Point and along with incredible views, we saw our first whale, and our first glimpse was of the tail! Humpback whales only lift their tail above water when they are taking a big breath and then diving down deep for a longer period of time. Seeing a tail right away was a thrill! We were told by fellow whale watchers that they were both Minke and Humpback whales. We thought it was so cool how when the whales are near the surface, the water around them turns a very light blue and their white markings are plain to see. 

Unfortunately we only have a couple cell phone pictures from that hike since our camera was acting up. And we don't have a single picture of a whale. Here are some pictures of the hike:

Traipsing down the boardwalk...

...and disappearing into the woods.

The wooden stairs had lines carved into them for traction. They looked like the letter X and the boys called them "expats."

Just past this spot we saw our first whale! 

Ian and I stood here while the whales played below us. Ian is showing how big the whales were. This picture doesn't show how steep and scary the ledge was. I've grown accustomed to holding tight to a child's hand on these hikes and repeating the refrain "if you start to slip, sit down!"

On these adventures Joseph is always pushed the brink of his hiking abilities. He is generally a happy hiker, but when he gets tired he'll say "When we get to that stickin' out bush right there, can you please carry me?"

Here they are standing on the edge of the peninsula. I'd like to say the picture makes it look worse than it was, but they really were probably only a couple feet from a sheer cliff. The memory of doing these hikes is always scarier than it is to actually experience it. 

After our first sighting we were hooked. The next week Scott joined us on his lunch break for a quick trip up to Cape Spear for a picnic. We were hopeful that we'd see some more whales but had to settled for catching glimpses and seeing a bunch of mist from their blowholes. 

The irises were in bloom. Newfoundland seems to have one cheery wildflower after another. 

Racing to the lighthouse. Though we'd been to Cape Spear twice before, we'd never gone up to the lighthouses. 

 Helen is always thrilled to have time with Daddy.

This fence was more picturesque than it was helpful. 

Spontaneous trips sometimes mean wearing a skirt to the windiest place on earth. But it was worth it for the chance to see a whale and some extra time with Daddy.

We were determined to see some whales really put on a show, and we'd heard fabulous things about the whale watching tours out of Bay Bulls, about a 30 minute drive from our house. So on Saturday the Coopers babysat all afternoon while we went to see the whales up close. We felt terrible leaving the boys out of it, and have vowed to go again next year and take them along. 

Only a couple minutes off shore we began hearing the telltale blowing sound and seeing misty sprays. Scott had a front row seat!

 See the mist? 

Beginning to dive...

 and the tail!

We couldn't believe how close this zodiac got to the whales. 

We were a bit let down by the whale tour in that we didn't have the close encounters that many of our friends had experienced. We got to see lots of tails, but that was because the whales wanted to get away from us and kept diving deep, and then staying under. But really, any chance to see a whale in the open sea is really special.

We learned a bunch of interesting facts about the Humpback whales: they put on 5 feet of blubber during their time around Newfoundland (June through October-ish). They return to the Caribbean to give birth and they do not eat again until they return to Newfoundland. They sleep with only half their brain at a time, for about 4 hours total per day. The half that is awake is keeping watch for their only predator, the Orca. Between 200 and 300 Orca live in these waters and they are known for attacking weak, young or elderly whales. A Humpback can break the back of an Orca with it's tail. Humpbacks grow to be 50 feet in length, weigh up to 50 tons and live about 50 years. 

Next up was Gull Island, with gulls, murres, and puffins!

Puffins are only 8" tall. They are ridiculously cute, especially when they attempt to fly. When they'd be in our boats' path, they'd drag their bellies along the surface of the water flopping up and down, and then eventually give up and dive down below to safety. Puffins can dive more than 200 feet under water!

 

Image from Wikipedia

The lumps on the hill are puffin burrows. They dig them for their young, and each tunnel has two chambers: a nursery, and a bathroom. The eggs are laid about a month before the Capelin arrive, so that when they hatch there will be plenty of food to eat. Baby puffins don't leave the burrow but are brought Capelin daily as they grow. When the puffins are a few months old, the Mom and Dad puffin leave enough fish for a few days and then take off into the open sea, where they will spend the rest of the year. When the baby runs out of food it leaves the borrow for the first time, falls off the cliff into the water, and makes it's way out into the ocean to fend for itself. Four years later it returns to the same island to mate. 

The island was covered in birds!

They are mostly Murres, a penguin look-a-like that lays an egg on the edge of the cliff. The egg has a flat bottom so it doesn't roll off. 

Image from Wikipedia

There were also some Kittiwakes, a type of sea gull. But unlike its' cousins who hang out in the McDonalds parking lot, the Kittiwake is pelagic, meaning it spends it's entire life out at sea, except for when it breeds and lays eggs on the cliff, in a nest made of seaweed.

The island seemed to be painted in beautiful patterns. The white is bird poop, and the scent is strong. Right about this point a bird pooped on my leg.  

It was a beautiful, hot (80 degree!) day, and the scenery was spectacular.

Especially when I faced this way...

It was a fun afternoon together. We've got a couple more months of whale season left and we hope to have lots more whales in our future!