Day 9, Thursday

Westarted our trek west today, covering 301 miles and eventually arriving at Terra Nova National Park campground at 8 PM.  Along the way we toured the Bonavista Peninsula which is the first finger to the west and north of the Avalon Peninsula where we have spent the previous nights.

We had lunch in the fishing village of Trinity, which is the most upscale village we've visited.  There were expensive sailboats (Beneteau) in the harbour, the homes were colorfully painted homes were bigger and clearly had a 19th century New England architectural style , a chocolate shop, and there is even a summer theatre.  We had lunch in an old but modernized restaurant right on the harbour; I had seafood chowder and pan fried cod, Joni abandoned our seafood diet and had a hot roast beef.

Leaving Trinity we headed for the tiny hamlet of Elliston, known world wid (their claim, not mine) for it's root cellars,..

...and its PUFFINS!

  

Not a real Puffin, just an Adirondack chair.

Not a Puffin, a Puffin watcher.

Theres's a path that takes you to a Puffin nesting area...this was just AMAZING and well worth the detour.  We were much closer to the Puffins here than we were on the boat cruise y

sterday.  We were able to just sit on some rocks and observe the cute little birds for nearly lost an hour.  If seeing these adorable little creatures doesn't make you a bird lover, nothing will.

The rest of the day was anticlimactic.  We drove to the northern most point of this peninsula and checked out the lighthouse.  The town of Bonavista was much more reminiscent of Michigan's upper peninsula; many homes in need of repair...but the scenery was spectacular, no trees, very hilly, and very rocky with almost 360 degree views of the Atlantic and the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Leaving Bonavista we retraced some of our route, driving the final 120 km to our campground, arriving around 8 pm which gave us just enough light to prepare our Iceberg beer,  humus, chips, hot dogs, and chocolates from Trinity dinner.