....and with outward the tide the wind does blow...

St John's. St. John's Newfoundland. What a place. Have you been here? Have you seen this place? Picture this: Driving until you feel like you've driven as far as you can go - into the dusk and past - with the fog looming overhead - about to give up when you see the glow of a city ahead. There it is. A city that feels like a town. That has more bars and unique restaurants then any place in NL. Where houses are all attached and painted bright and brilliant colors - as if to state that regardless of the constant gloomy weather, the folks remain pleasant as ever, and happy to be in St John's.

Tonight I went to the first Thai restaurant in St.John's. It was spicy - but good. Their speciality? Boasting a variety of 70 different types of beers of course (and blaring a fantastic assortment of 50's classics) - "Largest beer menu in Newfoundland" says our waitress. - Faxe www.faxe.com, A Danish beer boasting 10% stregnth - extra fort - tastes as you think it would, was my choice of the evening. A random trip in search of the $40 million ticket was in the works - sporting a plastic cowboy hat, a bottle of dish detergent, and a random game of skill. Somehow we ended up at harbour haunt. - What a riot.

Speaking of... Labrador was a riot – it’s right crazy there, right, right crazy.
The kids drive for 7 hours to go to Chiticoutimi Quebec to go shopping and think it’s no big deal – They drive up to 3 hours to go to a Walmart – or do the hour long flight. When we arrived the first thing Andy and I did was climb Smoky Mountain and take in the view - and what a view it was. Once on top we got to take in the first true winter breeze and random snowflakes that decided to join us.

One place we drove to, Fermount - was a town where pretty much everything is in a megastructure - 2500 residents, the school, daycare, health facilities, the mall, restaurants, strippers, the rec plex, groceries - you name it, it was there. Fermount (check it out) On the way back I decided to take the van (our van - which we believed was trying to be a truck) up a mountain to take in the view - and wow - what a view and youch what a drive (driv'er like a rental). Met some very random kids on top of the mountain - out for a hike... yup...

Happy Valley - Goose Bay was quite... was something. Very barren feeling. My pal Chris and I went for a drive out to North West River and it's neighbouring "ShaShaShe" an inuit reserve. quie beautiful and daunting. In NW River we drove to the river and was at awe with the beach. It was a road - They used the beach as a road and there were driveways that spilled onto it. Needless to say - Rent A Van's latest HV/GB edition - went off roading. Drive it like a rental.. it was awesome.

My first impressions of Labrador (for the second time) - flying overhead - was that it seemed totally untouched. Of course as soon as I mentioned it to Andy, along came the sporadic clear cuts and logging roads - but still, it was wide open and seemed so clean - percisely cut rivers - sparkling lakes - waterfalls - and endless trees. It was nice to not drop 3500 feet this time upon entry so that made my stay a bit more at ease. The picture – picture endless evergreens with rolling jagged rocky hills and tufts – sporadic rivers and many lakes. Barren marshlands and desolate desert like barrens. A town that always makes you think - why here? Who stopped the hike and said - "here, this is where we're settin up shop?" And the isolation can be felt whenever you talk to any of the kids in the local high schools. Although they didn't seem to care. Where we see a 20 - 30 minute drive as a road trip - they see a whole day adventure. One thing that struck me was one of the kids I got to meet telling me about how the latest craze in the town was the purchase of Gucci bags. What are you going to do with a Gucci bag in Wabush - I don't know - but they kick down a few hunderd bones for a change purse and off they go.... it's "burnt".

The Northern Lights didn't dance for us while we were there - but oh how we looked... and looked... and looked. The flight to Deer Lake on the Island was something special. Andy, Aaron (both feeling no pain at all) and I on a Dash 8 death plane that was filled with 30 high school fellas on a hockey trip to St John's. Quite special.

From Deer Lake, Andy and I drove into Grose Morne National Park. wow. We drove in after dark and I caught a glimpse of a highway stalking moose as I drove north and Andy saw a Caribou. During our stay in the park we saw tonnes of signs of critters - but nothing until late Saturday - where we found 4 bears chillin' and snackin'. Sunday was windy! We drove to the tabletop mountains and went to play in the wind. I have never ever been in a situation where i could hold onto something (a sign in my case) and wait for a strong gust - when it came i kicked my legs up and they stayed - it was hilarious - and terrifying.. so I got back into Sylvia (our SUV) from there we were heading west - Port Aux Basques.

Port Aux Basques Newfoundland. Good Lord. What a gem. Our pal Bruce had all 15 of us over for a very beautiful meal and many many beers. After our supper we all headed to Lukey's Boat for our annual visit. As soon as we got in I somehow convinced honey that we knew how to operate everything karaoke and from there it got a little messy.

From Port Aux Basques we somehow landed a 1.4 million dollar house in Corner Brook - Complete with a Jacuzzi Outdorrs - 3 floors - 5 bedrooms and a snowmobile. Of course all of those things in combination with 6 over excited kids lead to a bit of trouble however no limbs were lost, that we know of. Onward from Corner Brook to Grand Falls - Windsor, and awesome night in Gander and then that brings us pretty much to St John's...

A whole lot of globalness is happening -
Rosa Parks passed away
Good Old Wal-Mart Launches Environmental Drive To Cut Energy Use, Waste - good work guys...
My pal Kate keeps getting into major and minor accidents - with her self and rental vehicles...
The sun has not come out for a significant amount of time for 2 weeks
My easter lily has bloomed in my office
I am moving out of the farmhouse
A farmer here in NL found purple carrots in his garden
A volcano is erupting in the Galapagos Islands
Nelson Mandela is now a comic strip character
and Steven Elliot's Poker Report is now online

Have a wonderful evening - and with A Wink or a Nod I'll catch ya'll on the flip side
LnH - S