Tag: maps

Day 3: Lobster Cove, Coastal Trail, and Shallow Bay

July 12, 2013
Newfoundland2013

Day 3 started out as a dark cloudy day threatening rain, but by noon the skies had cleared and it turned into a great day. We headed for a couple of the trails. The first stop was Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse, just north of Rocky Harbour. There is a lighthouse that was built in 1897.

As you can see from the sky, it was a perfect day.

The views out to the Gulf of the St Lawrence are amazing.

Looking back towards Rocky Harbour.

These pine cones were growing straight up.

The girls up at the base of the lighthouse.

Angela on her way down.

Lots of wildflowers.

Walking down to another viewpoint.

The next stop was the Coastal Trail. The mouth of the Bakers Brook.

Along the Coastal Trail.

This is coastal Tuckamore. Tuckamore looks like thick bush or forest.

But once you get inside, it like going into Narnia.

The girls in the Tuckamore.

Angela with her stick.

The Coastal Trail was pretty empty, we passed a few people.

Angela holding up a lobster trap that had washed up on shore.

Heading back.

Windswept tree branches.

The next stop was Shallow Bay up near Cow Head. On the right you can see an old guy out swimming.

There were sand dunes at the left end of the beach. Most of the shoreline is rock, but this was a pretty long stretch of beach.

Looking toward the dunes area.

On the way back we stopped at Broom Point. It is a fishing exhibit.

The Mudge Family donated the fish store and cabin to the park. They fished here from spring to fall from the 1940’s to early 70’s. It was three brothers and their families that lived in the single cabin.

Inside the fish store they has old lobster traps, boats, and nets that were all handmade by the Mudge families. The park guy showed us how to prepare a cod for salting with a stuffed cod with velcro parts.

Gillian trying out a rocking chair made of an old barrel.

The fish store (like a barn for fishing).

The girls trying to find marshmallow sticks.

Some floats for marking the traps.

At the end of the day we had a fire back at the cottage.

We are staying at Bottom Brook Cottages, here is the brook right next to the cottage.

The end of another day in Newfoundland. Going…

…going….

…gone.

Our drive today was fairly short, spending more time out of the car than in. A. Rocky Harbour B. Lobster Cove Head C. Cow Head

Day 2: Gros Morne

July 11, 2013
Newfoundland2013

We headed into Gros Morne National Park today. We have a cottage booked in Rocky Harbour.

This was our first stop at one of the lookouts.

Our ride, a Grand Caravan.

Angela catching a ride with Susan.

Our cottage wasn’t quite ready, so we dropped off our food in the fridge and headed to the Visitor Centre.

Gillian with a couple of her buddies.

Angela scratching the bears nose.

A short drive from there was Norris Point.

We’re hoping to do a sea kayak tour later in the week.

So far there hasn’t been a lot of people which has been nice.

Claudia on her post.

Girls on the beach.

Norris Point, it was cloudy most of the day, but the rain held out until later in the evening.

Some jellyfish in the water.

Claudia at the end of the pier.

We did the aquarium tour at the Bonne Bay Marine Station. The Marine Station is marine ecology research and teaching facility run by Memorial University of Newfoundland in St.John’s. The tour guides are students from the university. Our guide was studying marine biology who was originally from Whitby, ON. Here she is showing the girls a giant hermit crab.

Gillian holding the hermit crab.

Here she is showing us how to tell the difference between male and female snow crabs. This was a female, they have a bigger abdomen coverings.

A male snow crab.

Everyone touching a sea star.

These are the tanks they have at the aquarium.

They had a bunch of different lobsters. This was an orange lobster.

Including a rare blue lobster. The odds of catching a blue lobster is 1 in 2 million.

Another lobster, she said it was an albino, but it seems to have some colour.

There was also a touch tank that had different creatures in it.

A sea anemone caught a fish.

Gillian picking up a spider crab.

Claudia with a sea star.

This is the view across the road from the cottage.

Claudia picking up rocks.

Gillian checking out the view.

When Claudia was down at the water she discovered there was sea glass.

Next thing you knew, we were all down there looking.

Some of my early finds, lots of blue sea glass, but the others didn’t seem as polished. We left a lot behind as they needed more time.

The tide was going out while we were down there.

Angela showing something?

It was good start to our Gros Morne adventure.

Our drive today. A. Deer Lake B. Rocky Harbour C. Norris Point

Day 1: I’se the B’y…

July 10, 2013
Newfoundland2013

We began our epic (?) vacation today heading for The Rock. It was an early start, heading to Pearson for our 6:30 am flight. Here are the girls in the Maple Leaf Lounge.

We flew to St John’s via a connection in Halifax.

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Then it was a long drive to Deer Lake for the night. The girls in the back of the van after leaving Clarenville for a lunch break.

An interactive Google Map of our drive on Day 1. A. St John’s B. Deer Lake

NADP Spring Meeting

April 26, 2013
ios WordPressWork Posts

I was down in Madison, Wisconsin this past week for work.

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I flew out of Toronto Monday morning with a connection through Chicago. I didn’t experience any delays due to the air traffic controllers being on furlough, I did experience a 90 minute delay due to a broken latch on the cargo door. The meeting hotel is right across from the state capitol.

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The Solidarity Singers Have been protesting daily at the Capitol against Governor Walker. He was the one who passed into law the measure to strip most public union workers of many of their bargaining powers, while forcing them to pay more for their benefits. It led to massive protests back in 2011.

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Looking down State Street.

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This the third Wisconsin Capitol, it was completed in 1917.

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Chalk protest.

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The capitol building at night with a full moon.

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I flew back Thursday, but not before more delays, my flight left Madison on time. When I landed in Chicago my connection to Toronto was already delayed two hours, in the end it was almost three hours late taking off. I came back on American Airlines.

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Rattray Marsh Clean-up 2013

April 13, 2013
ios WordPressRainwater

Today was the annual clean-up at the Rattray Marsh. There were a lot of volunteers helping out.

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Angela and Claudia’s Pathfinder group were one of the volunteer groups.

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This was definitely a rubber boots activity.

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Each year we have been doing this, there seems to be less and less garbage, or other people are getting there earlier.

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The 281st Mississauga Pathfinders (at least those who came out).

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A dreary day in southern Ontario.

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Chloe had a great time on her walk. She was pretty tired when she got home.

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The Rattray Marsh in Mississauga.

Chicago

April 8, 2013
Chicago2013

Susan and I are off to Chicago for 5 days in May. We will be celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary. I cashed in some Aeroplan points and we fly Pearson to O’Hare. We’ll be staying downtown in the Magnificent Mile area. We are planning on taking the Chicago Architectural Foundation boat tour and we have tickets for the Cardinals vs. Cubs afternoon game.

Shanna’s Trip Blog

March 15, 2013
Rainwater

Shanna, David and Jesse headed off on their trip to Vietnam yesterday.

Shanna is going to be updating her trip on a WordPress.com blog. You can follow their adventures at http://cochrane3.wordpress.com.

Geraldton, ON

February 22, 2013
Work Posts

I was up in Geraldton, Ontario this past week installing a new monitoring site. The site is half way between Geraldton and Longlac. Flew into Thunder Bay and then a 3.5 hour drive from there.

There was a lot of snow in town, they received a good dumping of snow just before we got there.

Everywhere you go in town, people get out of their cars and leave them running. Not just to run into the local store, but when they go in for dinner or the grocery store.

On the Wednesday, it was -26°C and -38°C with the windchill, but Thursday was a balmy -13°C with the windchill.

On Thursday evening we went to the Geraldton Curling Club to watch the Northern Ontario Senior Men’s Provincial Curling Championship. There were eight teams from around Northern Ontario playing for the right to play in the Canadian Senior Men’s Championship to be held in PEI in March. Among those playing was Al Hackner, a mainstay at the Labatt Brier during the 80’s and into the 90’s. He won 2 Brier’s and a World Championship.

On Friday we headed back to Thunder Bay to catch our flight back to Toronto. There is a giant snowman in Beardmore, ON. It stands at 35ft.

My colleague had never been to the Terry Fox Monument, so I made him stop to see a piece of Canadiana.

It was another challenge getting home, we boarded our flight, and before I had boarded they had already made an announcement that there was a ground closure at Pearson Airport due to snow in Toronto. They only had one runway open and with a backlog of flights, they delayed us. We spent one hour sitting on the plane, before they de-planed us and waited for another hour before we boarded again and were able to take-off.

Flat Valley, SK

January 26, 2013
Work Posts

I had a short trip out to Flat Valley Saskatchewan to mark out a new site. This site has a lot of deciduous trees, so it would be easier to mark it and move around in the winter. It was a flight into Saskatoon and then a three and a half hour drive north west. Latitude wise it is further north than Edmonton.

The night we arrived there was 10-15cm of snow added to the already foot of snow on the ground, the only good thing is the snow is so dry, it is easy to move around. It was also easier when following the many deer trails. As we walked in there was one laying in the bush that jumped up and took off.

The forecast was for cloudy and overcast, but the closest city that the forecast was based on was 65km away. The sun was in and out throughout most of the day.

Our site is on the edge of a 150 acre forest.

We are in the middle of farming country, mainly hay and grain.

North of the site it is wide open fields.

Was able to change my flight when I checked in to a direct flight to Toronto, rather than my connection through Calgary. It was suppose to get me home 3.5 hours earlier. When we got to Toronto we were delayed and circled 25 minutes due to the snow. Then there were mechanical problems with the plane so our baggage was delayed and then had the usual friday afternoon taxi line followed by another hour in traffic on the 401. Probably should have declined the direct flight.

Newfoundland 2013

January 21, 2013
Newfoundland2013

We have booked our summer vacation to Newfoundland. We are flying to St. John’s (cashed in my Aeroplan miles) and renting a van to tour the island. We are heading to the west side to stay in Gros Morne National Park, then making our way back to the east with a stop in Herring Neck, up near the New World Islands, and then a couple of days in St. John’s.