Should We Stay or Should We Go - Our Travel Journal

Our first full day in Newfoundland was spent exploring some of the iconic sights around St. John's. As the capital of Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John's is one of the oldest cities in North America. Colourful row houses, a busy harbour, dramatic coastal scenery, and a rich maritime history give the city a character all its own. It's often the first stop for visitors arriving in Newfoundland, and it didn't take us long to see why. With historic sites, rugged coastlines, and endless ocean views, it seemed like the perfect place to begin our adventure  The weather couldn't have been better. Sunshine, blue skies, and temperatures warm enough that jackets were optional. .  Signal Hill Photo by Erik McLean Unsplash Signal Hill is a National Historic Site that rises 167 metres above St. John's Harbour and the Atlantic Ocean. It offers some pretty spectacular views, but first you have to get to them. We decided to tackle the trail down to the rocks below. And whe...

After months of planning and looking forward to it, our Newfoundland adventure finally began. We flew into St. John's on an early morning flight, picked up our rental car, and headed to our Airbnb in Bay Bulls, which was about thirty minutes south of the city. W e were tired but excited to finally be there. Bay Bulls is a small fishing community on Newfoundland's northeast coast, about thirty minutes south of St. John's. Settled in the early 1600s, it has a long history tied to the sea. Fishing has been the lifeblood of the community for centuries, and although the industry has changed over the years, the harbour is still an active working one. Today, Bay Bulls is best known as the gateway to the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, home to North America's largest Atlantic puffin colony. It's also one of the best places in Newfoundland to take a boat tour in search of puffins, whales, and sea caves. For us, it turned out to be the perfect place to stay. It was close en...

  One of the biggest challenges of any trip is figuring out what to pack. For this trip, I knew it would be even trickier. After all, we were heading to Newfoundland in June. While many people think of June as summer, Newfoundland doesn't always get that memo. We were hoping to see icebergs, which meant cool temperatures were practically guaranteed. Add in a lot of hiking, sightseeing, and time spent outdoors, and I needed to pack items that could handle a wide range of conditions. To make things a little easier, I used the Sudoku Capsule Wardrobe method. If you're not familiar with it, the idea is to pack a small collection of clothing pieces that all work together. Three bottoms, three tops, three layers, all in neutral tones. In a grid each piece is layer out: first row is layer top bottom, second row is top bottom layer, and third row is bottom layer top.  This will provide 7 different combinations.  It's one of my favourite ways to pack for longer trips. I started...

Every trip has a beginning, and surprisingly, ours started at the theatre. Last year, my sister and I went to see Come From Away , the musical based on the true story of what happened in Gander, Newfoundland, during the events of September 11, 2001. When U.S. airspace was closed, dozens of international flights were diverted to Gander, a small town that suddenly found itself welcoming thousands of stranded passengers.  After the show, we went out for dinner and, naturally, we began talking about Newfoundland. I mentioned how much I love it there. I've been fortunate enough to visit several times over the years, and every trip has left me wanting to go back. There is just something about the place—the rugged coastline, the colourful communities, the history, and especially the people. My sister had only been to Newfoundland once before. It was a quick weekend trip to a town on the west side of the island, so she really hadn't had the chance to explore much of what Newfoundla...

  Happy Canada Day! It’s July 1st, the day Canadians celebrate our beautiful country.  It’s also the beginning of a new Ultimate Blog Challenge month. For those unfamiliar with it, the challenge is simple: write and publish a blog post every day for the month. Thirty-one days, thirty-one posts. I've participated before with varying degrees of success. Sometimes I've made it all the way through, and other times life has had different plans. Either way, I always enjoy the challenge because it encourages me to write more consistently and finally tell some of the stories that have been sitting in my head waiting for their turn. This month my posts will be focused on a specific part of Canada. A couple of weeks ago, I returned from a two-week trip to Newfoundland with my two sisters and my cousin. It was a trip filled with laughter, long drives, incredible scenery, and enough stories to keep me writing for quite a while. So throughout July, I'll be sharing my thoughts and a...