Well, yesterday didn’t go as planned… in the very best of ways.
We still had another day in St. Anthony’s. The town had a couple of cool sights to see, but not four days worth. We had already spent a few days with little to do, and although there were a couple of things planned, it certainly wasn’t going to fill the day. We were all to meet at a boat dock to get on what looked like a very small boat to go whale watching. Steve and I had gone early to grab a Tim Horton’s breakfast and to find some Dramamine ‘just in case.’ Well, Sunday in Newfoundland is like the old days… almost everything is closed, including the only pharmacy in town. I also checked in the two markets. No luck. So, we head to the boat without. When we arrived, we were all told that there was ‘weather’ in the Atlantic, and the swells were too high to go out. Trip cancelled. Steve and I, and some friends, were not interested in the next stop, which was a museum. We were talking about the big storm that is coming in and would hit the next day when we are all supposed to make the 5+ hour drive back to Rocky Harbour. We are talking more than a half inch of rain and wind gusts almost hitting 40 mph! Not fun at all in an RV.
So… us three couples, along with another couple who overheard us, decided to leave St. Anthony and make the drive to Rocky Harbour a day early. This is called a ‘deviation’ from the tour. If you remember, Steve and I have already been deviants when we left the group to camp on the cliffs in Bonavista. You even have to sign a form stating as much. Anyway, we all packed up very quickly and hit the road. Steve and I were in front of our little caravan. Our job was to scout for potholes, frost heaves, and rough bridges and brake in time that we all go through them safely. It was a pretty drive along the coast again. It was a bit windy, but not like it’s supposed to get today.
Once we arrived in Rocky Harbour and got set up, we all headed into town for dinner. Like St. Anthony’s, many places were closed, but we did find a bar called The Anchor Pub. It was right on the water and we were treated to a pretty sunset. We found out that there would be a ‘kitchen party’ later in the evening. Great! We were in! We started ordering drinks, and I was thrilled to find an IPA on tap that I really liked called Squeezebox. Kelly and I drank those, Steve likes a double IPA called Calm Tom, and the others drank Icebergs. The extra couple that joined us each had a drink, ate dinner with us, then left. Then, the kitchen party started! There was a guy singing and playing guitar along with electronic backup, and then he invited people to come up and sing if they wanted, recite a poem, or tell a story or joke. All of that happened, too. Then he handed out tambourines and my beloved ugly stick, and the party really got started. He would play songs and we would all dance around and play our instruments. It was so fun!
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| View from the Anchor Pub |
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| Kevin and his first of many buckets of Iceberg |
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| Steve, Kevin, and Kenny dancing |
At the end of the evening, they did a Screech In. Kelly and I decided we wanted to do it again so jumped up there. Turns out you were supposed to sign up ahead of time and pay $10, but the guy doing it let us join anyway (we paid the $10 later.) This ceremony was really fun… we had to say all these crazy things, sing a bit of song, drink a shot of Screech rum, then kiss a REAL dead fish. We were actually each given a ziplock bag with a dead mackerel or herring… LOL. It did not smell great. But, we did all the stuff and now we are official Newfoundlanders. TWICE!
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| I, Pam Carlson, being only three-quarters in my right mind, do swear upon me soul to uphold the charter of Honorary Newfoundlander: to drink screech regularly every Sunday for a fartnignt, and to honor and respect me codfodders and me codmudders til the day I dies. So help me Lard. |
We all didn’t get back to the RVs until after midnight. We are very happy that today that we are snug in Rocky Harbour while the rest of the gang makes that stormy drive today. I’m guessing we had more fun than they did last night!