Newfoundland

The most anticipated part of our trip was the ferry ride from Sydney, Nova Scotia to Newfoundland.  Along with lots of cars, trucks, RVs, and semis we drove onto the ferry and made the 6 hour trip. The ferry was the size of a cruise ship but I imagine that the amenities are much nicer when cruising on a luxury ship.  We arrived (as expected) two hours ahead of time and as we lined up a man came over and said he was surprised to find another car from Texas.  He and his wife grew up in Newfoundland but his job has taken him to Corpus Christie, Texas.  They left Texas on a Tuesday and were in line for the ferry on Friday morning at 10:00 am.  They were tired but excited to be going home for a visit.
 
Our first major stop is at Rocky Harbour near Gros Morne National Park.  The weather the first several days was beautiful so we decided to plot our next days doing some hiking.  After a nice hike with some scenic views we decided to tackle a popular hike to the top of Gros Morne Mountain.  We started out with our backpacks and didn't exactly realize that this was going to be a strenuous hike. 

At one point I said that I was okay with not working our way up the mountain but my hiking buddy after some thought just kept walking.  This ended up being a 7 1/2 hour hike that wound up a rocky gully to the top and then across more rocks and down around the side of the mountain.  Going up wasn't bad but coming back I slipped several times which resulted in a bruised ankle and thigh.  Think maybe we are going to give up the more difficult hikes.

We are off to St. Anthony, Newfoundland tomorrow which is where the Vikings first came to North America many years before Columbus.  It will be the furthest north point of our travels.