Moose tracks and expensive gas

We saw our first moose a few days ago. The moose (I don’t know its gender) was swimming in a beautiful lake. The moose saw us looking at him or her and I know what he or she was thinking..... "waddya looking at – haven’t ya ever seen a moose swim? Get outta here and leave me alone…eh!" Remember the moose is also Canadian.

We drove in to St. John's, Newfoundland. I finally got there after all these months of talking about it. St. John’s (that is the way they spell the city with an apostrophe) is a town cradled in a harbor carved from granite. The town is surrounded by hills running down to the ocean. It has quaint little side streets and the scenery around the town is breathtaking. However, I guess I thought it was going to be a little San Francisco-type city and it wasn’t at all. We walked around and found a specialty market that sells homemade items as well as hard to get sundries. This store had a cool thing that caught my eye. It was a wall of chocolate. Yes, chocolates from all over the world right there in front of me. It was extremely hard to pass up but out time was limited in St. John’s.

We drove up to Signal Hill which was the reception point of the first transatlantic wireless signal by Guglielmo Marconi in 1901, as well as the site of harbor defenses for St. John's from the 18th century to the Second World War. The view was magnificent – much better than the city.

We then headed over to the Cape Spear Lighthouse. When we got off the bike and the first thing we saw were numerous whales blowing and slightly breaching out of the water. It was very cool. Every time one came up the crowd was cheering. At that point nobody was looking at the lighthouse or the bunkers located here.

The square shaped Cape Spear lighthouse has been restored to its original appearance and refurnished as a light keeper's residence to the period of 1839. This lighthouse is the oldest surviving lighthouse in Newfoundland and Labrador. There is also a newer - working, concrete lighthouse that is not open to the public. That lighthouse looks like your typical lighthouse. I believe it came in service in 1950’s. This area is the most easterly location in North America.
At Cape Spear we also saw these old WWII bunkers. Cape Spear was a direct convoy route from Europe to the North American continent. German submarines and raiders off the coast of the Island posed a considerable threat. A coastal defense battery, equipped with two 10" guns was constructed here to protect the entrance to St. John's Harbor. The gun emplacements were built at the tip of the Cape and connected by underground passages to magazine and equipment rooms. From 1941 to 1945, troops were stationed here, and barracks, mess halls and canteens were built. At the end of the war, most of the fortifications were demolished but the gun emplacements stand as a solemn reminder of that important period in military history.

Good news………..Emory has new brakes on his bike and other news……..I am really looking forward to the ferry ride since Christobal is in town. Ugh!!!!!!!!

Oh yeah and I forgot to tell you that gas is over $6.00 per gallon. Whew!!!