Have you read “Wine Country Jamboree?” You might want to look at that first. In the morning walk down the Willamette into downtown where I enjoy a lovely Sunday breakfast at the Broken Yolk Café before heading out of town. The place is open daily from 7:00am 3:00pm and, as the name might imply, serves […]
Have you read Farewell Newfoundland? You should read that before continuing here. So now I’m home. But alas, we still have a few things to discuss. First, the good: I cannot say it enough, the people of St. John’s Newfoundland are some of the friendliest, most polite and just generally the nicest people you will […]
Have you read Finding Religion and Virgins? It’s what happened the day before. On my final day here I head down the hill to spend some quality time exploring the shops of St. John’s. There are some truly quirky places here. Knickknacks, clothing, outdoor outfitters (aah, snow boots that haven’t disintegrated), coffee shops (many) and […]
Have you read Museums, Speakeasies and Screeech-Ins yet? You can find it here. I wake up a bit late today with a note from my bartender excusing me from any conversation before my coffee. After stopping at one of the many independent coffee shops in downtown St. John’s, I climb up the hill to the […]
Have you read Quidi Vidi Vici? You might want to check it out. I wake up today to more freezing rain, mixed with snow, mixed with wind, mixed with blustery cold temperatures. The only thing it isn’t mixed with is sunshine (and also some rum). It seems like a great day to go to a […]
The plan for today is to head on over to Quidi Vidi, a tiny fishing village in St. John’s. Quidi Vidi Village (pronounced Kiddy Viddy) was used after World War II for the construction of a United States’ Air Force Base. Nowadays the village is a quiet community, where you can walk from one end […]
Don’t forget, this series starts with “Oh Canada.” You might want to check it out. Today I wake up (very late) to freezing rain being pounded against windows at 100km per hour. For the Americans, that’s 60 miles per hour. I was out quite late last night and it turns out I picked the right […]
To get there I’m told to head east and just keep walking uphill. While there is a beautiful hiking trail leading up to Signal Hill, I’m warned not to attempt it during the winter as it surely means death. While not one to head warnings of danger easily (if the sign says, “Welcome, come in!” there’s normally a little less adventure than if it says, “Danger, keep out!”), I had been cautioned by a few people so I decide to not die in St. John’s on my first full day here.
I land in Toronto with nearly ninety minutes to get through immigration and customs, re-check my luggage and get to my gate. I get in the very long line that says, “U.S. Citizens.” They have two windows open and about 100 people waiting in line. After standing in line for about 15 minutes, they close one of those windows. Beginning to get a bit nervous about making my connection, I try to get the attention of the lady telling people which window to go to (uh, again, there’s only one window open). I’ve watched her sourly shout at people, not once saying hello or cracking what could possibly be construed as a smile.
We have a winner for our first vote on Drop Me Anywhere, and let me just say, you people have a sense of humor. Without further ado (feelin’ a bit Shakespearean), our winner is St. John’s, New Foundland! What? Where? It’s somewhere up in Canada. Let me explain how we got here. When voting opened […]