I’m back in New England as of this evening, at a secure non-disclosed location safe from the security goons of the DNC. Here are some highlights and statistics from the little airplane excursions.
Approximate route: Up to Quebec City, northeast up the St. Lawrence River to the northern tip of Newfoundland, down the west coast of Newfoundland to Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia then over to Prince Edward Island before returning via Bangor, Maine. About 3000 miles traveled during 20 hours of flight time.
Most Interesting Place: L’Anse aux Meadows in St. Anthony’s, Newfoundland, the first European settlement in the Americas circa 1000 AD. The Vikings came, they saw, they loved it, but they left because they didn’t have sufficient military power to hold out against the local Indian tribes.
Best Aerial Scenery: Whales (100+) in the St. Lawrence, icebergs on the east coast of Newfoundland, the mountains of Gros Morne National Park from 1000-2000′ above the waves on the west coast of Newfoundland.
Favorite Modern Art Observed: International Garden Festival at the Grand Metis (Reford) gardens near Mont Joli, Quebec (6000′ runway) on the Gaspe Peninsula. The range of ideas in this Extreme Gardening event was inspiring and included an Asphalt Garden by Se Busca, a team from Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Favorite book read: Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen. A woman gets rich after her casino-owning parents are killed in a Gulfstream that crashes while transporting a performing bear. Her biologist husband subsequently tosses her off the back of a cruise ship in an attempted murder but she survives by clutching a floating bale of marijuana. Not exactly thought-provoking but fun.
Favorite newspaper article read: “Woman’s whale phobia justified… [headline] Behemoth Slaps Boater in Head with Tail [subhead] Labrador woman with a lifelong whale phobia was badly injured after an unidentified whale slapped her with its tail on the maiden voyage of her husband’s new boat.” (from the National Post, subscription only; also see this CBC story). Runner up is this Guardian story about a French book about being lazy at work, “an elegantly written call to arms to the neo-slaves of middle management and the damned of the service industry, condemned to dress up as clowns all week and waste their lives in pointless meetings.”
Favorite radio show heard: Senior citizen’s call-in hour on CBC where a woman requested Dory Previn’s song “Twenty Mile Zone”.
I am sure I am speaking for others – post some photos somewhere! In particular I would love to see some of Gros Morne.
How far north did you get in Labrador ?
I’ve always wanted to go to Nain, but that is way up on the Labrador coast.
(I’ve been to Baffin, but I would like to see the Labrador coast eventually )
looking forward to your pics,
Stella Aquilina
Phil, didn’t you know that you’re not allowed to visit Cape Breton without mentioning how gorgeous the Cabot Trail is? Didn’t they give you the propaganda pamphlet?
Did you know that Capers are Newfies with their brains kicked-out?
Paul, ex-Caper
I just flew over the southern tip of Labrador, abeam northern Newfoundland. No photos of Gros Morne, sadly. Photos from the airplane never seem to capture anything about the experience of being in the airplane. Maybe if one took three panoramics and blew them up to 10′ wide and built a special room into which you could walk and be surrounded by the scenery.
Cabot Trail? Drove it in the fall of 2001 and it was quite beautiful, of course. Seems rather similar geologically to Gros Morne. Anyway this trip I just flew over the top of the Cabot Trail, about 700′ above the road, and didn’t land on Cape Breton. Cape Breton is oddly impoverished in airports. Cheticamp, for example, is nice and flat and has plenty of woodland that could be cut down to make a 3000′ or 4000′ runway and yet… no access by airplane. Maybe they are trying to discourage visitors.
[x] Upload all the other pix you’ve made.
Thx,
Alex
Philip,
I’ve really enjoyed reading about your adventures in Quebec, etc. I’m originally from Montreal (now in Toronto) and hope to make a similar trek next summer. I can’t wait to get to Newfoundland as I’ve heard so much about the friendly people and breathtaking environment.
And I agree that photos whould be a great addition !!!
Regards…
A quick google shows that there are airports at Port Hawksbury and Sydney. Cape Breton is impoverished period, so that might be why there are not more.
I agree that Cheticamp should create an airport but given the sparse population there, you could probably call ahead from the plane and just have them clear main street – it’s pretty straight.
Cape Breton’s relative impoverishment is not surprising, given that its historical two main industries (steel-making and coal mining) are now pretty much defunct. At one time a heavy water plant and an oil refinery were big on the island, both are no longer there.
There’s a Stora pulp and paper plant operating on the island which is probably its biggest single employer (aside from government, of course) but the main source of income for the population is likely tourism and the fishing industry.
Me too, I’m looking forward to the photos of your trip.
Paul