'Round the Bay and back

On the weekend I took a day trip with Greg and Nikita to visit a number of communities in the Northwest Avalon region, that is after we made a quick trip South to visit Witless Bay.

Unfortunately, or visit to Witless Bay was less successful than desired. The friend we were hoping to visit hadn't yet returned from a trip to town. After a exploration of the property we ended up leaving, actually just as the owner was heading out from St. John's.

The next destination was 'Trinity,' though this was somewhat confused because we didn't have map in the car. Two of us thought that going to 'Trinity' meant leaving the Avalon and heading out past Clarenville, while the third person thought that it meant turning off towards Harbour Grace.

Once we had basically sorted out that we weren't going to the town of Trinity, but a town on Trinity bay our navigational confusion was lessened. At about the time were managed to clarify the supposed destination we happened to be approaching the picturesque town of Dildo.

Not surprisingly, there was unanimous agreement that we take a side trip down to Dildo. As we approached the town we stopped to take pictures of all kinds of signs with the name of the town on them. The highway sign that simply read 'Dildo' with an arrow below was one of the more amusing of these signs. Another particularly good sign was one for a local gift shop. Aside from the name of the business, the sign also had an image of a wooden statue of a man dressed in fishing garb with a sign that had the words 'Captain Dildo.'

Though it might be a sign of our collective sophomoric sense of humour, each of these instances of the name 'Dildo' caused us to laugh and generally behave as though we were 10 and hearing about matters sexual for the first time.

After a quick trip through town, with a stop at the Captain Dildo statue, we returned to the main road and continued on our trip. Within a few minutes we reached the metropolis of Islington.

Almost as soon as we arrived in town Nikita pointed out her grandmother's house (which was the day's destination). We pulled into the driveway and went up to meet her uncle, who was working in the garage.

Soon afterwards we made our way into the house and were introduced to Nikita's grandparents. After a few minutes of pleasantries Greg and I headed out to explore the region. Fortunately, before we left Nikita's grandmother was kind enough to warn us about the perils of driving around in the town. This was great. Most people wouldn't have been so concerned about our ability to get lost, something that is inherently difficult when there is only one road.

Anyway, we were soon back on the road and heading North. We eventually made it through all three of the 'Heart's' towns (Delight, Desire, and Content) before driving back through town and then out the other side.

Soon after we again departed town we noticed a warehouse like building on the edge of town. As we didn't really have any particular plans we decided to get out and see if we could figure out what it was. My initial thought was that cages outside suggested that it might be a mink cage factory, but that was just because there were a bunch of cages outside.

Anyway, aside from the cages and metal mesh, there weren't really that many clues as to what the building was used for. At one point Greg decided to go around the building in one direction while I decided to go in the other direction. As I was heading back to the front of the building I heard a scream and some barking. Immediately I ran to the front of the building, which is where the noise was coming from. It soon became clear that the building wasn't abandoned, as we had suspected, but that it was occupied by a guard dog.

Fortunately the large yellowish dog, though loud and aggressive, was contained in a cage, thus preventing it from attacking Greg. Nonetheless, this gave us enough of a fright that we decided that the rest of the exploration could wait for another day.

Once back in town we stopped at the two stores and asked the workers what the building was used for. The employees in the second store were able to confirm that it was a mink cage factory, and that there was a mink farm just a little further up the street.

We then returned to pick up Nikita and started to make our way back to the Trans Canada Highway. As we were leaving town we rolled down our windows to help us find the mink farm. As inferred, it really did give off quite a smell, and that smell wasn't opulence and beauty.

Anyway, soon enough we were back on the highway and heading back towards town. It shouldn't have been so surprising, but traveling by highway was really much faster than the back roads route that we took to Islington.

Soon enough we were in Goobies, Newfoundland's most famous re-fueling station. As was expected of us, we stopped at the Irving restaurant for dinner. As usual, this was a pleasure, though the service was a little slower than we might have desired. A little bit more surprising was that the coffee, unlike the coffee served in many Newfoundland diners, was good.

Once we finished dinner we made our way across the parking lot to the the world famous Goobies moose. This moose is a life size statue of a moose made from some kind of metal frame and covered in an unidentifiable non-metallic material. Of course, as it is obligatory when it Goobies, we tried to climb the moose. It seems that age has not really changed my Goobies related activities.

Soon enough we were back on the road and heading down the final stretch of road before St. John's. As we entered town we remembered that earlier in the day we had discussed a possible trip to Fort Amherst. As none of us had any other plans we decided to just head straight over to the abandoned WWII site.

Like all of the other similar WWII ruins in the area, this one causes me to feel something that I haven't quite figured out. Seeing them now, with no ceilings and rusting hulks that used to be guns, makes it hard for me to imagine them as they must have been in when they were operation encampments.

From the former WWII site we made our way to the local chain bookstore. After an extended period of browsing and and several impulse-buy close calls we check out. I was then dropped off back at home, where I had started the journey about 10 hours earlier.