Out with the old…..

Yesterday, July 29th, was our 3rd year together anniversary. Thats right-3 years ago yesterday we went on a date to see a band at the Black Cat and that started it all. Since we’re married now I guess we have to do away with that. However, being as nostalgic as I am, I couldn’t just throw a date away, so I proclaimed it “Lea and Jay Day”. On our day yesterday we went on a +10 mile hike up to the top of Signal Hill in St. John’s. The weather was really, really great-75 and sunny! That hill is quite steep, we were definitely feeling it when we got up there! It was worth it I must say because the views were unbelievable. You could see the whole city and surrounding areas, out into the Atlantic Ocean and up and down the coastline.

On the way down the hill, pretty much at the halfway mark, we were very very happy to find a Mr. Whippy truck-soft serve ice cream. Yay! One of the best cones I’ve ever had….or maybe the most needed anyway. We got back to the hotel, after a somewhat disappointing lunch at the YellowBelly Brewery (big shock….we ate there last year and it was fantastic. This year another story….Greasy seafood chowder…YUCK!) and soaked in the jacuzzi tub for over an hour (we’re no spring chickens now and the big hike inspired some very noticeable aches and pains). Fantastic day altogether. We’ll have to celebrate it every year!

Ant in a tea cup!

So…its our first day in Newfoundland. We got in very late last night, or rather, very early this morning -1 a.m. On our arrival, the weather was upper sixties, foggy and a bit of drizzle. It felt fantastic!-especially after the recent weather in D.C. We grabbed a taxi into St. John’s-to the Murray Premises Hotel-where we will be staying this week. The taxi driver told us on the way that they’ve been having a bit of a problem on the waterfront, where our hotel is located, with leaking sewage pipes! As we drove up we saw all of the construction-diggers as far as the eye could see! He said the smell of sewage had been awful, but hopefully they would be able to repair the leaks soon. Needless to say, we were really worried about what kind of a smell would greet us when we stepped out of the cab, not to mention how much horrible construction noise we would be hearing early in the morning. Knock on wood, it has been fine so far. I don’t really smell any particularly noxious odours and the noise is really quite muted.

We stayed at this hotel last year, and it is as luxurious as I remember. The “full body” shower was awesome for washing away all the travel grime this morning. Once we managed to wake up this morning, we went for a stroll about the city. The weather was 70 degrees and breezy. We stopped for lunch at Greensleeves pub and sat outside on their deck for  pints of Stella Artois  and dry rub hot chicken wings and fries. Fantastic!

All of the pub owners were stocking up to get ready for the George Street Festival, which will be starting on Thursday. Here are a few of the nearby pubs of George Street.

After some time, we resumed our wanders and realized that the city of St. Johns, is very like Cork Ireland in that it can make a person feel just like an ant in a tea cup-no matter which way you turn, it is up hill!

Off to Newfoundland Again!

Jay and I are very excited that we are going to be leaving on Monday July 27th -bound for  St. John’s Newfoundland and the George Street Music festival. We went for the first time last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. For six days each year, they close George street off to traffic and hold the festival. There is a big main stage in the middle of the street where featured bands play until about 11:30 pm. However, the party doesn’t end there. George Street is a fairly short street-about 3 blocks-but it is jammed packed with pubs and bars of all sorts-literally about 45! To aid festival goers in being able to quickly get liquid refreshments, “speed bars” are set  up outside all of the pubs. I mean you wouldn’t want to have to walk all the way inside a bar to refresh your cocktail…would you?  Once the main stage activities end, bands in most of the bars start playing. The fun goes on until daybreak!  One of the really interesting things that Jay and I noticed last year was that it wasn’t just the young folks there as we would have expected. It seemed that everyone in the town turned out, young kids through grandparents. A very cool, community celebration.

We not only loved the festival but fell in love with Newfoundland as well. The people are very friendly, fun and exceedingly kind. We had to be careful not to even pause anywhere near the edge of the sidewalk because traffic would literally stop and wait to see if we wanted to cross the street. What a big difference from a city like DC where traffic would happily run you over rather than pause for one moment. The landscape is gorgeous

and the climate, at least in August, is much more to our liking-even with a bit of wind and rain!

We had a ball last year-went whale watching,

went on a haunted tour of the city,

listened to great bands,

ate awesome pizza in the wee hours of the morning

and really were able to relax.

Who knows what we’ll get up to this year! We will be twittering again, so if you’re interested-please follow our tweets!

Happy Independence Day!

So …We were very sedate on the 4th of July this year. John came over to enjoy some mini corn dogs and burgers with Jay, Gimlet and me and then we chilled by the fire pit along with Mel and Dave. We didn’t actually go see any fireworks, but the rice krispie sparkler cake as seen above was quite a big attraction. We did have one unknown guest as pictured below. It kind of looked like a butterfly/moth  but not quite…..kind of a hummingbird….but not really ….hmmmmm……. If anyone can I.D. this fellow, please let us know!