Marcum Memories

July 26: Happy anniversary to Dean and Sarah, 15 years and 3 kiddos!! Everything to be proud of and to thank God for their amazing witness, in their faith and in their tireless devotion to family! Congratulations. Also, to wish happy birthday to Alan's brother, Larry. Today was a travel day and we drove 198 miles to Rocky Harbour which is located on the west coast of Newfoundland in the heart of Gros Morne National Park. Rocky Harbour is the largest community in Gros Morne National Park. Alan tried to dodge the rain we woke up to but got drenched hooking up the Jeep and it rained most of the way. This evening the group went out to dinner at Ocean View Hotel's bar and attended a concert performed by the local band Anchors Aweigh . Thankfully the rain stopped. 

July 25: It was a lovely day and the weather certainly helped. Because of the windshield mishap, Alan stayed behind in order to get the star-shaped crack in the windshield repaired. I joined our group on a bus tour of the Codroy Valley and Alice, one of the owners of the campground, was our tour guide. She grew up in the Valley and has an amazing knowledge of all things Codroy Valley. We drove from the campground and were given the highlights of the area until Precious Blood Roman Catholic Church, which is an historic site. It was built in 1912 by shipbuilders from wood sourced from the area in which the church was built. It is beautifully built and is kept in marvelous condition. We also visited the home of Minnie White who was the First Lady of the Accordian . Her home, My Dear Minnie, is now a museum which pays tribute to Minnie's musical legacy and features themed rooms displaying treasures from the past. The museum's name comes from the letters Minnie's husband would w...

July 24: Today is ferry day! We traveled from North Sydney, NS, to Newfoundland & Labrador where we will be spending the next 9 days. The furbabies had a boring 6 hour ride because they had to stay in the RV while we were upstairs. They did fine and were excited to see us when we returned to drive off the ferry. The weather was really good, clear skies and warm air. Lunch wasn't exciting, sandwiches from the café. Unfortunately, on the way to the campground, a passing truck kicked up a rock which hit our RV windshield and we have a star shaped crack high above the driver. Arghhh... We are settled in for the night and have a bus tour bright and early in the morning. 

July 23: Today is a "free" day and we chose to search out another lighthouse and do a little shopping. We found Low Point Lighthouse in New Victoria, NS, about 30 minutes from the campground. Right now there are two Fantasy RV tours in this RV park and two members of the group who arrived today were with us on our Alaska trip. After we returned from shopping and sightseeing, we all enjoyed a meal together and it was truly lovely to catch up. We had our driver's meeting at 6:30 pm and afterwards all the "puppies" and the "mommies" went to a large open space close to the water. Off came the leashes and, oh, my, did they have fun. So did the "mommies" enjoy watching them play and chase one another. It has decided to rain this evening and we hope it is gone by the morning. We go to Newfoundland tomorrow on a 6 hour ferry ride.

July 22: We slept well last night and were glad of that because we needed a quick start due to a long travel day ahead. We actually left before 9 am and that was nice for a change. The drive was uneventful and mostly on 4-lane divided highways which allows maximum speeds of 110 km/h which translates to a little over 68 mph. After arriving at Arm of Gold RV Camping and settling in, Sunny and I went on our usual investigatory walk of the park. The park is really green and the sites are spacious. We spent a quiet evening after enjoying a dinner salad.

July 21: The group had a guided bus tour of Halifax including the Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax Public Gardens, Halifax Citadel National Historic Site and Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. The Fairview Cemetery is notable because many of the unidentified dead from the Titanic disaster are buried here. There are still many headstones with just a number and a death date - April 15, 1912, the date the Titanic went down. Since the Hollywood movie came out, there has been much interest in the cemetery. Next was the Public Gardens. The transformation of two adjoining gardens, a swampy piece of wasteland and a lovely bequest from an estate, began with the formation of The Nova Scotia Horticultural Society in 1836, under the advocacy of Joseph Howe, a politician and journalist. The NSHS’s aim was to advance the art of horticulture and the science of botany through the cultivation of new varieties of plants and cultural practices. We then went on a guided tour of the Halifax Citadel locate...