In Newfoundland!

WELLLLL, We were EVERsoFORTUNATE to have been invited to the annual conference of the Canadian Standards Association recently that took place in St. John's Newfoundland. We, for one, had to check the map to see exactly where that is and were eversograteful to find that St. John's is on-planet. Remote, to be sure, but accessible if one has the a) patience and/or 2) resourses to transmit oneself to this amazing, almost magical place. St. John's history is inextricably joined to US history especially since WW II and as recent as Nine-Eleven. But History aside (and we don't really think History should EVer be TOO aside), St. John's and surrounding areas becon photogrphers and historians alike. We are giving you here the merest PEEK, the fainstest FLASH_IN_THE_PAN idea of the possible photographic opps that await if one is either a) or b) above.

To begin: the streets of St. John's are a cross between San Francisco and Argentina...hilly and colorful. We were not trying to be oh-so-photographically excellent here so much but rather to give a idea of the place. We believe you all would LOVE the place.

If one has the stamina and/or is in a drug-induced state of some sort, one can walk from the far end of the city and climb the nearly vertical assent to the heights of Signal Hill in St. John. Signal Hill is most remembered for the place where Marconi sent the first trans-atlantic message: "S". We search for the profoundness of that but continue to believe that the shear effort overtook the literacy of it all. Below is the vista from Signal Hill to St. John's. We were breathless.

And this is the ACTUAL signal location that originally was supposed to have FOUR towers but considering that the wind on top of this hill is roughly that of a junior tornado, the Newfoundland construction folks were lucky to get this much. We were nearly blown away by it all.

A solitary stone chair, here, that means absolutely nothing but we, for one, liked the picture especially since everything that isn't stone was blown away. (Did we mention the wind, hmm?)

And here is the ultimate Newfoundlander. This chap is named Rosko and he was everso huge and cuddly and willing to be 'shot'...try as we did, and we did, we could just not figure how to get him into our luggage.

To get a good idea of how fast-paced things are: even the flowers have a speed limit. We were ... amused.

When one travels by boat out of the city (and other than auto, that's about the way one DOES travel, the HOUSES_BUILT_INTO_ THE STONE_CLIFFS draw one's attention...at least, this one's, as we headed out on a boat tour for WHALES and PUFFINS. As it turned out, we saw rocks instead. No whales. No puffins. Rocks.

Here WE are at a local spot where crashing ocean meets grassy land. It's just ... well ... happening all the time there!

At the EASTERN-MOST point of North America there is a Lighthouse! Cape Spear is the name and it's a bastardization of the Spanish for "Hope"...Espero, we think, but we, for one, learned only Latin and Greek in case the Romans ever take over again. We were not surprised. But we did climb stairs in the back and front and all around and NEVER, EVER did we see a spot that wasn't EAST! We're pretty sure anyway.

There was something about Newfoundland and stairs...we can't quite recall...

And then, on a WONDERFUL tour with the NEWFOUNDLAND TOURS we came to Petite Bay wherein resides fishering people and a chap that happens to be a co-star with Russell Crowe in Robin Hood. Well, we, for one, kept our eyes looking for Russell but saw only scenes like this instead. We feel certain that if Russell were here, he would have been looking for us as well.

Tracy and Darrin Steele run the marvelous, fun, musical venture known as "Newfoundland Tours" and if you are EVER near enough to go jaunting with them we highly recommend that you do! Tracy and Darrin are excellent, expert tour guides. Darrin is an Irish dancer/singer and knows just about every historical and hysterical bit about Newfoundland there ever was. We for one would ALWAYS recommend touring with Darrin and his lovely partner Tracy!

The sun set eventually over the fair isle of Newfoundland. We cannot give you here all the pics and all the stories but we can tell you that if you are interested in interesting places and people: you MUST go to St. John's and see for yourselves. WE, someday, are going to RETURN!!