Day 212: Sunday evening

Had a nice steak dinner and a relaxing glass of wine!

Day 211: Vacation pics

Spent some time today going through some of the photos taken on our vacation.  There are so many of them!

Day 210: Screech

Yes...we did the touristy thing and bought a bottle of Newfoundland Screech rum.  After tasting it however, we realized that there's no comparison with the 'good stuff' we currently have at home!

Day 209: Fruit

After flying home today from Newfoundland, we visited the grocery store and bought a tonne of fruit!  We didn't eat too much fruit while we were on vacation and we were now craving it!

Day 208: On the way home

Spent most of the day driving back from Rocky Harbour to St. John's.  Took about 8hrs, including stops along the way.  There are many moose warning signs on the island, and rightly so.  We experienced about 5 different moose sightings over the last 10 days. 

Day 207: Green Gardens hiking trail

We spent 5hrs hiking today on the Green Gardens trail.  The trail descended to the coast, where we enjoyed the views and saw the fins of far-away whales.

Day 206: Western Brook Pond boat tour

Took a boat tour on Western Brook Pond this morning....through the towering, majestic fjords.  Very cool!

Day 205: Wildlife encounter

We drove up the coast today, stopping at various points and taking in the sights.  We spotted this fox at one place, and when he saw our car, he ran up to it and sat down...staring at us.  Obviously (and sadly) someone must have - at one point in time - given this fox some food, and now he was looking for a handout.  I did get some neat pics out of this encounter though!  And all I had to do was roll down the window of the car and point my camera out!
Note:  When I return home from vacation and have access to my regular photo editing software, I will try and clone out that white daisy that is right on top of the fox's head!  I find it too distracting in this image.

Day 204: Tablelands Trail

We did the 'Tablelands' trail today in Gros Morne National Park.  The guide book said it should take an hour to complete, but with all the photography that we were doing....we were out there for 3hrs!  (Enjoying every minute of it!).  The rocks here are thought to originate from the earth's mantle, which was forced up during a plate collision several hundred million years ago! 

Day 203: On the road again

Spent most of the day driving from Gander to Gros Morne National Park today.  Only saw a tiny bit of the park as we drove through it to our cabin in Rocky Harbour...but what we did see was pretty spectacular! 

Day 202: Icebergs!

Drove up to Twillingate today and explored the northern coast of central Newfoundland.  We weren't expecting to see many icebergs this late in the year - but were thrilled when we spotted this one, so close (relatively) to the coast.

Day 201: Birds in the fog

Spent a few hours at Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve today....photographing the thousands of nesting gannets (and other smaller birds) on "Bird Rock".  It was such an awesome sight (to say nothing of the sound and smell!).  As is common in this area, there was heavy fog....so even though our visibility was somewhat limited, the fog did add a certain ambience to our shots!

Day 200: Avalon Peninsula

After visiting Signal Hill in St. John's this morning, we drove along the Avalon Peninsula coast and headed towards St. Bride's.  The Avalon Peninsula was named as one of the top coastal destinations by National Geographic Traveler last year...and I can now see why. 

Day 199: A great start!

On our first day in Newfoundland, we went on a "Puffin and Whale" watch boat tour.  It was both terrifying (haha) and exhilarating being out in the open sea with the choppy waves rocking the boat as much as they did.  Saw quite a few whales as well as puffins, which was so cool!

Day 198: All set

This is the weight of my luggage.  We are just about all packed up and ready to go on vacation!

Day 197: New camera gear

Picked up a new BlackRapid strap for the heavy lens I will be lugging around on our upcoming vacation.

Day 196: Birthday celebration

Had a small early birthday celebration for my niece this evening.

Day 195: More backyard flowers

A snapdragon flower for today.

Day 194: Hosta

Our backyard hosta plants are in full bloom!

Day 193: Fried rice

Stir-frying some tofu and veggies for our fried rice dinner.

Day 192: Birthday surprise

My niece has a birthday coming up and here is part of her gift.

Day 191: Bugs everywhere

Spent some time 'hunting' for bugs at the park today - it's amazing what you will find when you really look!

Day 190: Grillin'

Enjoyed some steak and grilled veggies for dinner today.

Day 189: All my bags are packed

Well....the bags aren't packed just yet.  But picked up some new luggage for our upcoming vacation.

Day 188: Blueberries

Only a few left so I had to hurry and get the shot before they were all gone!

Day 187: Lines and shadows

This is the top of our garage.  I liked the shadows that were cast by the evening light. 

Day 186: Montreal Souvenir

The only souvenirs that we buy when we go on trips are Christmas ornaments to hang on the tree.  If we cannot find an ornament with the name of the place we are visiting printed on it, then we will often just buy a simple keychain...and hang that on the Christmas tree...usually with the date written on it.  It's nice to look back at all the different places we have visited over the years, as we decorate the tree. 

Day 185: Backyard colour

The colourful little flowers that we planted in the backyard are doing well!

Day 184: The dragonfly

Our visit to the park today turned into 'dragonfly central'!  They were everywhere! 

Day 183: More Montreal

Only had a few hours before we had to drive back home, so we visited Mount Royal, which overlooks the city, seen here in this panorama shot.  On our drive out, we passed by St. Joseph's Oratory - a spectacular-looking Basilica.  Unfortunately, we did not have time to visit this place...so it's on our 'to-do' list for our next visit to Montreal!

Day 182: Happy Canada Day!

Our only full day in Montreal was packed with fun activities!  Visited the stunning Notre-Dame Basilica in the morning, and then spent the afternoon at the botanical gardens.  Ended the day with a great fireworks show! 

Day 181: Bienvenue a Montreal!

For the Canada Day long weekend, we drove up to Montreal and fully enjoyed this beautiful city.  Spent some time in the historic 'Old Montreal' part of town, pictured here.  In the evening, we caught some of the Montreal Jazz Festival's free outdoor concerts - which were fantastic!