What I Did on My Summer Vacation

The harbor at St. John's, Newfoundland 

In grade school and high school I liked the writing assignment my classmates loved to hate. “What I Did on My Summer Vacation” is still a personal favorite, so I must share with you my impressions of the six days my husband and I spent in and around St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada.

Words can’t convey the power of the wind, the sea’s majesty, or the Jello-legs tourists get from walking up and down hills, but bear with me.

Those hills, by the way, are half-a-billion years old.  Yeah, I was impressed, too. St. John’s harbor opens onto the Atlantic, and the sea informs everything. Think I’m exaggerating about the influence of the sea? Because gulls peck open plastic sacks of trash put out on collection day, St. John’s now requires residents to cover those sacks. The most popular covering is fish netting.  Why? It’s relatively inexpensive, widely available, and it works.  

St. John’s Harbor is a busy place with a rich history. During World War II, for example, a German submarine was captured at Cape Race, south of St. John’s. What was it doing? It probably was meant to enter and torpedo St. John’s Harbor, which supplied boats and sailors to protect convoys headed to Europe.

Lighthouses dot the island that is Newfoundland. I find every lighthouse beautiful but especially liked Newfoundland's oldest surviving one, which sits on Cape Spear and has been restored to the way it looked in 1839, when the lighthouse keeper, his wife, sons, and the assistant keeper lived there. 

Iceberg sightings aren’t unusual during early summer in St. John’s. I saw a distant one thanks to the binoculars of a fellow tourist at Cape Spear. I also spotted whales and puffins, thanks to the O’Brian’s whale-watching boat out of Bay Bulls.

My first-ever sighting of a whale brought tears to my eyes. It’s something I’d looked forward to for a long time. I’d looked forward to seeing puffins, too. Their orange beaks and small black-and-white bodies belie the fact they’re tough and are capable of soaring, skimming along the surface of the water, and diving. They’re so good at foraging for food, in fact, gulls steal from them.

Me and Hubs, looking for whales

Newfoundland currently is home to my Younger Daughter, so she served as a guide to me and my husband. Along the way, other guides included Jake Bragg, and his parents Lorraine and Rob, my writer friends Prudence MacLeod and Charis Maloy, and walking-tour guide Michael Boyle.

Quidi Vidi

Jake introduced us to the Quidi Vidi Brewery and its Iceberg Beer. That’s right, the beer is made with iceberg water. In Quidi Vidi, I was charmed by Linda’s Inn of Olde, which bills itself as a place for “Stories, Beer, and Wood-Burning Stoves.” Who can resist the promise of stories?

I haven’t told you about the fish and chips in Petty Harbor, the ferry in Portugal Cove, or Goulds. (Can you tell I have a thing for place names?) 

The sign of an excellent vacation destination is the burning desire to return. I’ll be back, Newfoundland!