Tour du Nord II: St. John's Newfoundland Feb 17-22

[LordWinslow]

Quote: Originally Posted by squid

The flight from UK to Gander is shorter than the trip to JFK.
A good excuse to join in midway...

http://gc.kls2.com/cgi-bin/gcmap?PATH=JFK-SNN

Could be possible. I rather go when I can take the car though...

GW

[NoNo]

Woohoo! I bought Franz and Mary's snows, so I'm good to go!

[yellowmininy]

Hey, Nono- I've got some tires with your name on them! Well, actually, they say 'Blizzak'.

[NinerCat]

Quote: Originally Posted by yellowmininy

Quote:
Originally Posted by NoNo

....

4) I've tried to ignore it, I've counted to 10, I've done all I could but I can't take it anymore.... And it's "wussing" not "woosing". There, now I feel better.


Whew, thanks, that misspelling of 'wuss' has been bugging me forever!

Phew! And I was wondering what "woosing" was!

Thanks for the translation, NoNo!

[NoNo]

I'm a smart one, I am. So last night I finally got around to putting my Hudson Bay pictures on my smugmug site. My next mission is to geocode them. Smugmug has teamed with Google maps and you can select a picture and find the location and tie the two together so that you get a neat interactive map that shows all the places you've been. I quickly tried two pictures this morning and it's pretty cool. The only problem is that it's not as intelligent as regular Google maps, so if you type "Rouses Point, NY" instead of jumping to the center of town, it'll say "not found". You have to have an actual street address, or just drag the map around and select the point manually. You can also enter a lat/long, and since I took a few pictures of Peter's nav, I can put those in easily. Should be fun (and time-consuming) to go through all of my pictures and see where I've travelled.

[DUCTTAPE]

Ok, in honor of:

• NoNo getting her snows
• Jewish New Year
• 10 people voting yeah and 7 people voting nay

Looks like it's NEWFOUNDLAND.

Now, let the planning begin! Let's pick things to do, places to see, consolations for iBlue, exact times and meeting places, motels to bunk at and restaurants to eat at and, of course, who is going to be in charge of the t-shirts and vests this year!

I think we need:

MINIster of publicity
MINIster of planning and route propsals (I recommend Ross for this one)
MINIster of libations and food locations (for some reason, John Seco comes to mind!)
MINIster of getting Baker and CodFather not to Baker this one (again, John?)
a keeper of the lists, who's going, who's Bakering

Anything else?

David

[NoNo]

Wait, you don't want Baker to baker this? Because if you want someone in charge of handling him and keeping him at bay, then I'd be up for that. Since I'm the first to respond, I'll take the easiest task, list-keeping. I will also start working my aunt and uncle over to see what kind of goodies they can sponsor us with this year. Any wants/suggestions?

[LordWinslow]

As of now I am out, as I am not sure if I can make it back for this due to work.

GW

[NinerCat]

Quote: Originally Posted by NoNo

I'm a smart one, I am. So last night I finally got around to putting my Hudson Bay pictures on my smugmug site. My next mission is to geocode them. Smugmug has teamed with Google maps and you can select a picture and find the location and tie the two together so that you get a neat interactive map that shows all the places you've been. I quickly tried two pictures this morning and it's pretty cool. The only problem is that it's not as intelligent as regular Google maps, so if you type "Rouses Point, NY" instead of jumping to the center of town, it'll say "not found". You have to have an actual street address, or just drag the map around and select the point manually. You can also enter a lat/long, and since I took a few pictures of Peter's nav, I can put those in easily. Should be fun (and time-consuming) to go through all of my pictures and see where I've travelled.

I haven't even gotten it together to bulk upload mine to ArcticMINI.com .... (Although, I finally found my piece of paper that has the password on it the other day. Hmmm, wonder if I can remember where I put that.... Ha!)

So, geocoding mine is going to take a while! Ha!


So, Newfy is the plan, huhm? Dang, I just might have to work this in for a second year in a row .... Better start greasing the skids with the boss now....

[MinorRoadsKill]

Quote: Originally Posted by DUCTTAPE

Looks like it's NEWFOUNDLAND.

MINIster of planning and route propsals (I recommend Ross for this one)

What? No hanging chads?

It seems I've already been doin' the scheming and 'propsals', and I see no reason to stop, so I'll accept the job.

Which brings me to the first order of business:

What do people think of the potential itenerary (and the alternatives discussed)?

Ross
P.S. I just returned to Canada from a lovely trip to NC and SC. Charleston, the Great Smoky Mountains NP and the Blue Ridge Parkway were all excellent. Too bad the rains made us cut and run back sooner than planned - 16 hours of driving in the rain, only letting up once we reached the Toronto 'burbs.

[LePew]

Ross,

Here's my two cents. I'm not that interested in Bay of Fundy sightseeing or New Brunswick. This is a trip to Newfoundland. Sunday's itinerary seems a little light -- but maybe that's a good thing? Also, what does "ferry to outports" mean?


P.S. The Blue Ridge Parkway rocks!
P.P.S. Will you have a MINI to drive this year?

[NoNo]

Funny, because the Bay of Fundy is a must-see for me. Just like last year, different strokes for different folks

[squid]

Cabot trail is a must see in some lifetime.



It is so almost on the way.

[MinorRoadsKill]

Quote: Originally Posted by LePew

Ross,

I'm not that interested in Bay of Fundy sightseeing or New Brunswick. This is a trip to Newfoundland.

The Bay of Fundy, Cabot Trail, PEI and other attractions along the way, I figure that the only way to enjoy them is to allow for an alternative itinerary, where people take an extra day at the beginning or the end of the trip, if they want. [NB for NoNo: this would mean booking off either all of the preceeding Thursday, or the following Wednesday] For instance, in the posted potential itinerary, the Tuesday 16.5 hour drive could optionally be split up into two 10-hour days, allowing for people to take in the Cabot Trail and spend a night in Fundy National Park. That way, people who aren't interested can skip it.

Quote: Originally Posted by LePew

Sunday's itinerary seems a little light -- but maybe that's a good thing?

The idea is to provide for a 'day off', as we did in Radisson last year. We as a group need to decide if we want this again. As a demonstration in the potential itinerary, I split the 'day off' into two half days, half going to visiting an outport on the Saturday, the other half to be spent doing anything we want in St. John's.

There are lots of possibilities for the day off. We could say hello to the sun at dawn as it rises over Cape Spear (easternmost point in North America). Or tour the Avalon Peninsula looking for caribou. If we did a whole day off in St. John's, we could fly the short jump to St. Pierre, although we'd have to stay the night because of Air France's schedule. (St. Pierre et Miquelon is a small overseas but genuine département of France, just like Hawai'i is a US state)

Quote: Originally Posted by LePew

Also, what does "ferry to outports" mean?

This is just a sample idea. Ducttape for one would like to be on a ferry during the day, and being a bit of a ferry fan, I know it beats being on one during the night. We can do this one of two ways: take the big NS-NL ferry during the daytime instead of overnight (in place of our break day in Saint John's), or take one of the shorter ferries to visit an outport (as a half day).

But to explain more fully, an outport is a Newfoundland fishing village, unconnected to the road system. Outports were numerous until the Trans-Canada Highway was built in the 50s, swiftly followed by the switch from salt cod to fish plants in the 60s. Now, there are only a few dozen outports left, mostly on nearby islands and a handful remain with ferry connections, the traditional means of travel in Newfoundland.

As it happens, I've been to a picturesque outport about 45 minutes offshore by auto ferry, called Little Bay Islands. It's possible to put the MINIs on the local ferry, then drive around the tiny (but hilly) island, spend a little time checking out the town and/or its residents, walk up the overlooking hills, etc. and then get back on another ferry that takes us back to the mainland a little further along our route.

Quote: Originally Posted by LePew

P.S. Will you have a MINI to drive this year?

I won't have one to drive this year, unless I win a lottery worth $30K or more before February. I am planning a trip that will take me through Vegas in January, so you never know.

[NoNo]

I don't like this whole "taking an extra day off" business, but then again, I didn't really enjoy the 16 hour drive to make it back on Tuesday this year, either. And when am I going to be up there again? I'd better make the most of it now. But I also vote to keep our break day. It really does give you a chance to regroup before heading home, plus everyone can split up and do their own thing and see what they want to see. That was a key part of this year's trip. Plus a really long ferry ride during the day would get a bit boring after the first hour or so. And does anyone here get queasy? I'll be ok, but if anyone tends to get sea-sick, a ride at night might be better since they can just sleep through it. Just a thought. Driving around a hilly outport sounds kind of fun, though, so I'd definitely be up for that. Excellent work with the planning thus far; good luck in Vegas. Do the rides on the Stratosphere at night. Fun stuff.