Road Trip TwoGether: Saturday 9/14/2013 A big day in Grand Codroy Valley

Gabrielle came like a thief in the night arriving at 1:30 AM and was gone by first light. It was quite a bag of wind but not much else. We had a few moderate showers but that was about it.

Joe's Café

Being creatures of habit, breakfast was back at Joe’s Café. Ann was the waitress, cook, bottle washer and all around great gal.

She said the other girls that worked there were out partying Friday night and didn’t make it in.

Ann at Joe's Café

After breakfast we decided to once again explore the back roads of Grand Codroy Valley. The communities here are not towns like we are used to. They have names like Searston, St,Andrews, Codroy, but the houses are spread out and not clustered as would be in a town. Even the different businesses are just a building out in the countryside by themselves. One of the communities is Loch Lomond. We headed up Loch Lomond Road and twisted along the mountain top. After a while we came to Loch Lomond Pond along the road.

Real Canadian Geese

Church of the Precious Blood
Roman Catholic

The last bloom

New home on an island

Then we went back to Grand Codroy Provincial Park where the river meets the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It was interesting watching how the flow of the river met the incoming tide and created quite a turbulent chop on the inlet. I’m not sure if a small boat can navigate through there or not.

After running around the countryside and back across Loch Lomond Road we ended up at Joe’s Café for coffee. Linda is what the folks down south call a sweet blood. If there is a gnat, mosquito or bee within 10 miles it will find her. We no more than got out of the van when a yellow jacket stung her on the arm. What can I say…When you’re sweet you’re sweet.

Ann told the locals in the café that we were out looking for moose. One gentleman said that someone had to stop on Loch Lomond Road that morning and wait until a moose made up its mind to get across. Then a lady said she saw a 12 point moose in a marsh at Loch Lomond this morning. We probably missed the moose by minutes! Shuckie-darn!

You’ll never guess where we went for lunch. Just down the road is a little place called Joe’s Café! (This place is next thing to a wilderness. Food is where you find it and Joe’s is pretty good.)

Up here they have a confection called an Apple Blossom. It appears to be a deep fried dumpling type of dessert and with the soft ice cream on top it was quite the treat.

I would be remiss if I didn’t sing the praises of Grand Codroy RV/Tent Camping Park. At one time this was a Provincial Park but was privatized in 1997. This has to be one of the finest campgrounds we have ever stayed at. The current owners Dennis and Alice and their handyman Philip keep the park meticulously maintained. We have been made to feel more than welcome by everyone we have met. Arlene has given us the lowdown on what to see and has directed us to some delicious eateries. Graciously helpful would be an understatement. I’m sure this will be a stop on our way back to the ferry when the time comes.

Alice and Arlene

Tonight we returned to the Silver Sands for supper. There was a bonus in it for us. Tonight is the mixed women’s dart tournament. (Four women; three women and a man; two women and two men make up a team.) This is a serious sport around these parts. They kindly allowed Linda and I to be spectators and allowed me to take pictures. It was a total party atmosphere. I don’t know anything about the game but there were a lot of cheers and high-fives so they must be pretty good. Actually, they are apparently in a league that competes on a county or provincial level. Like I said…This is a serious sport. We didn’t stay to find out which team won the tournament but what we saw looked like people having fun.