Yes b'y. We are going on a road trip. We are driving to Newfoundland by the way of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia (all things New). The ultimate goal is to attend a Smith family reunion on the weekend of July 22nd but there will be plenty of other stops. Although we have been in NFLD together 6 times before, this is our first attempt at driving there and it will probably be our last. We are driving for 2 reasons. One is that we haven't been in the Maritimes for a long a while, at least 25 years, probably more. Two is that when we arrive by ferry in Placentia we will be driving straight to the airport to take on 2 more visitors for our stay in NFLD, actually 3 more people. We won't be doing the drive to Newfoundland again because economically (and time wise) it doesn't make sense. We are taking the overnight and long ferry ride there (14 hours) and we will be travelling west for over two weeks to end up taking the short ferry (6 hours) from Port-Aux-Basques. Those 2 ferry rides, including a berth for the overnight sail, cost almost $900. When you include gas and time, flying there is probably a better option.

I mentioned going to the airport to pick up a couple of people. At noon on July 21st, Myrna's mother (Gertrude) and nephew Patrick will be arriving from Montreal and will be spending the next 14 days travelling with us throughout Newfoundland including a stint back 'home' in Grand Falls. For Gertrude, she will get to see her 4 sisters, 2 from away and 2 living in Grand Falls. For Patrick, it is his 'baptême de l'air' which means his first time flying. It is not him in the picture on the right as he is almost 30 years old but he's been busy for most of his adult life and travel was not a priority. Needless to say, he is looking forward to this trip as he has never been anywhere close to 'The Rock'. The 3rd person in the scheme of things is a last minute addition. Myrna's brother (Patrick's father), Stephen will be arriving at midnight and will be joining us for only 6 days of our trek. Stephen was born in Newfoundland but was only briefly there on business once in the last 50 years. He's also looking forward to the trip but has to cut it short because of work. He will be staying with us in St-John's for 4 nights and heading west to Trinity for 2 of our 3 nights there. He will then drive back to catch a Wednesday night flight back home while we continue our voyage in the 'homeland'. Fortunately, we had a 3 room apartment/hotel rented for the family reunion and we have a house in Trinity right on the shore so there should be enough room for everyone.

Speaking of accommodations, other than in Grand Falls where we will be staying with Myrna's cousins, we rented some quite amazing places to stay in Trinity Bight, Twillingate and Fogo Island. I won't get into the details, but as you follow our trip, you should see some nice pictures. You probably will not see pictures of icebergs. By the end of July most icebergs have melted away or are too far offshore to see them. There is a website: http://www.icebergfinder.com/ that tracks icebergs but other than the west coast, there are currently very few where we will be. On the other hand, the whales are supposed to be very active in July so we hope to spot some off shore or maybe on a whale watching expedition.

After two weeks of travelling as a foursome, Gertrude and Patrick will be heading back home on a flight from Deer Lake. We will then continue on to Port-Aux-Basques where we will catch the morning ferry to Sydney, Nova Scotia. After a night in Sydney, we will be heading down to Halifax for 3 nights and then head back home with a few stops in New Brunswick. We haven't really visited NB since 1978 so we will probably be staying in Saint John for a few days and touring locally. We should be back around August 14th only to repack and head off to New Hampshire for the Wyder Cup on August 18th to 21st.

Hope you enjoy our pictures and blog and get to know a little more about our provincial neighbours to the east.