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Probably my favourite day thus far!
After yesterday's relaxation I was itching for excitement! We started by driving to Signal Hill and completing the North Head Trail. It was lots of stairs, rocky ledges, gravelly slopes and slippery rocks. The views were spectacular and the Blueberries plentiful. There were many people completing this hike at the same time as us, but despite seeing them all over, it never felt busy. The worst part about the hike was that what came down...must come up. The hike itself ended on a harbour street, more specifically someone's front deck of their house. Signs made it clear that we were allowed to continue on, though it really seemed weird walking inches from the home's front door. We then continued through steep, windy and narrow streets looking for the haphazard signs saying trail, as the map showed another trail that would connect us back to Signal Hill. Through steep climbs and pondering what on earth they do on the street when it snows we found the trail in what looked like someone's back yard. We made the steep climb to an amazing harbour view, then continued on to the gift shop area.
There was a learn to camp event being held by Parks Canada, which brought me back to my first summer at Parks, where I developed the Rideau Canal's Learn to Camp weekend. It's always nice to feel at home when you're so far away! Next we hit up the large #Canada150 sign and a asked a nice couple to take our photo with it. They came up short, merely taking a close up photo of Laurel, me and the ADA part of the sign. Luckily another couple came along and were able to remedy the situation. From that vantage point we still had to climb the top half of the hill and made our way back to the car. What started as a cold and windy 11 degree day, quickly became a hot and sweaty 12 degree day. I guess hiking hills and cliffs has its perks!
After a classic Canadian lunch at the slowest Tim Horton's of our trip (congrats Paradise) we were on route to Bay Bulls for a whale watching tour! Just on the tail end of whale season we lucked into seeing a couple minke whales and a handful of humpbacks. The whale lover in me was ecstatic. The seasick me was struggling. Next stop on the boat tour was an island COVERED in birds, aka my nightmare. I remember this island from visiting here as a child and it still smells as horrible. The puffins and murres and seagulls were cool, but I could have whale watched for hours more. The sun was out, I didn't puke, we saw whales. It was wonderful.
As it was our last full day in St. John's I knew I had to get Screeched in that evening. So we made our way back to the hotel and changed from our hiking attire to winter clothes... man it is cold here. We went to dinner at Fifth Ticket and I enjoyed more great Quidi Vidi beer on tap (they're really into bottles here, so draught is a nice change. I had pork Belly to start and a half order of mussel linguine. Laurel also let me try her steamed mussels. I'm really broadening my seafood horizons here! Big fan of mussels!
After dinner I headed to get Screeched in with 30 other tourists who didn't know what they were getting themselves into. I ate bologna, kissed a frozen cod, spoke newfanese and took my shot. It was everything I hoped for! Onto another George Street bar for live music and beer, then back to the residence for some shut eye before our 7+ hour trek to Gros Morne!
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