7/24/14 – Driving out of Pippy Park, we gassed up and restocked groceries before heading off to Signal Hill. A stop on the way was the Johnson Geo Center, a fascinating tour through the geologic peculiarities and history of Newfoundland and Labrador, including fossils, oil exploration and production, the Titanic story, with lots of specimens, a 2D/3D theater, and kid-friendly exhibits. The staff was comprised of experts in the respective fields and they lead informative interactive tours. Highly recommend this stop.

We proceeded up this very steep road to the top of Signal Hill to Cabot Tower, the location where Marconi sent his first transatlantic wireless telegraph transmission. It was crowded and parking was tight for our FL. Once there, the view was spectacular in all directions, overlooking the narrow entrance to the harbor, the whole city of St. John’s, and up the coast to Cape Spear, but extremely windy.

We drove back down through town to the TCH, heading west for our visit to the Bona Vista Peninsula. The winds were vicious, but we managed to make it to Clarendon for a planned overnight at the Walmart parking lot. Restocked a few essentials in the store. Wifi was the best yet, and right from our site in the boonies! Lulled to sleep by the rocking of the rig in the wind.

7/25/14 – Woke up to rain, coming down steady for an hour or two, then sporadically. Moving slowly, but by the time we were ready to roll the storm was over and sun was peeking through fog. We left Clarenville headed north on the 230 to Trinity, where we strolled around this picturesque little restored village, before heading back to the 230, then the 238 to Elliston. We set up camp at the Municipal Park, 15A service, but not much else but a view of the bay and the beach. We then walked about 15 minutes up the road to the ‘Puffin Trail’, a short walk out to the point overlooking a rock island, which is a puffin nesting ground. There were thousands of them, as well as nesting gulls and others. The puffins even landed on the heathery cliff top where WE were, sometimes only a few feet away. Remarkable little critters – when flying, their short wings flutter like a bat, while the gulls seem to effortlessly glide the currents. Not far off, another berg.

Elliston is also known as the root cellar capital of the world, as there are hundreds of them, many still in use, some approaching 200 years old. There are a couple near the puffin viewing site.

We returned to barbeque dinner and plan the rest of our stay in Newfoundland, since we need to call for ferry reservations ASAP.