Thanksgiving Day At The Ocean

So thanksgiving day we both decided to actually check out the Atlantic Ocean, seeing as how we've lived here for just over a month and have only looked at it from afar. We both ended up getting drenched by the waves and walked home in our freezing cold clothes. But it was definitly a fun time.

We found a trail not far from our house that walks down the cliffs and then to a nice beach (Torbay Beach). The trails actually quite nice also, lots of grass and birds. I guess the trail goes all the way around the bay but after we both high-fived the ocean we were pretty over doing that kind of a hike.

Keenan did lots of filming, though if you guys will ever see it no one will ever know. Actually we don't have a editing program anymore, so we have all the footage still from trip. We just can't do anything with it at the moment. But once we do, there will be many epic movies on this site. So don't give up hope on us yet!

I like this picture a lot. It's weird because I'm looking at the Atlantic Ocean from North America this time, not Europe and Africa. It feels like your on the edge of the world though. And it never fully sets in that we live on a giant island. I don't know why more people havn't ever come here. It's incredible!

And heres the moment just seconds before Keenan gets completely soaked by the oncoming wave. But don't worry, as you can see we caught that moment on tape. You wouldn't believe how cold it actually is. We also found a dead pellican among other shells and fish bones.

Work At The Irving

So I got a job working a the closest Irving. I find it a lot easier than Suspenders, but I also find that there isn't that much of a challenge. Though my boss wants to get me doing more office work as a "shift leader". I live five doors down from the store which is nice. I get along pretty well with most of my co-workers. And the job is definitly nice for meeting new people. I think once I get a vehicle at some point I'd like to work in the city.

Keenan's Birthday

So Keenan's birthday was on the sixteenth of September. I ran and got some balloons and coffee before he woke up. This is his surprised morning face, and all the balloons.

He had his favourite cake, storebought of course. And we tryed a case of this beer here they call "Black Horse" which is only brewed here in Newfoundland. And it's surprisingly quite a tasty beer. The cake was tasty too of course.

Later on we took a taxi to the "Avalon Mall" which is St. John's main mall. It's actually quite a fair size and has a bunch of good stores. A suprise comparing it to the Pine Center Mall in Prince George. If I lived closer I wouldn't mind working in one of those places. Overall I think he had a pretty good one.

Our Loft In Torbay Newfoundland

Here is our living room area. With a simple chair and lamp this space is complete. Or, thats all we could afford at the time. Though the loft itself is nice enough as it is without anything really. Hardwood floors, two bedrooms, washer and dryer(now anyways) two walk in closets and two skylights.

Here's our bathroom. We've got a pretty neat tree shower curtain which you can see in the mirrors reflection. For some reason though I find our water smells salty. Though our landlord says it's sulphur from the well.

Here is the master bedroom. We only have an airmattress for now so it's pretty simple looking. The window looks out into the yard and the surrounding area filled with trees and lots and lots of birds.

This is how the bathroom, and both bedrooms lock. With an old skeleten key. Though we only have one key for all three rooms. Also we can lock doors from the outside. Which is kind of weird. The house is pretty old though.

mom

pictures of loft on facebook. i love you.

Newfoundland

So we took the bus from Deer Lake and finaly made it to St. Johns Newfoundland. The buses in Newfoundland all stop at the Irving Gas Stations and pick people up there and then they pay on the bus once it gets back on the road again. You don't have to mark your luggage or book ahead of time. The bus comes everyday at the same time.

Here's the area were going to try to live in. We have an appointment tonight to check out a loft in one of them. On the second floor with sky lights and hard wood flooring. We really hope we get it because trying to find a place to rent here is no easy task. Most places to rent are over a grand a month.

Also most stores have help wanted signs in the front windows. So it shouldn't be to hard to find work here, tonight we'll print off resumes so that tomorrow we can hopefully get jobs. There's a lot we need to do now that were finally here.

It also feels weird being so close the ocean and so far from British Columbia. Though at the same time it's all exciting and new. We got a deal tonight on our hotel room. They only had two hundred dollar rooms left, and when we went to leave one of the hosts saw all the stuff we've been carrying around and gave us a one of the two hundred dollar rooms for just over one hundred.

Homeless

So we left the van behind in Deer Lake to be towed to St. Johns a few weeks from now. We took what we could carry and drag our things from place to place. Here were waiting for the bus from Deer Lake to St. Johns, in the rain of course. Not a sunny day here yet.

Troubles in Deer Lake

So thirty kilometers from Deer Lake was the last bit of life out of the van. We had it towed back to Deer Lake, where in two weeks it will be towed to St. Johns once we settle down (if we do). It was sad to see it being towed, but even more sad to leave it behind. One grows quite attatched to their vehicles, especially the ones you can live in..

Nova Scotia

So we arrived in Nova Scotia and suddenly, the skies cleared, the sun shone, birds chirped. When suddenly, we ran into Mr. Earl. Hurricane Earl. All the power was down which meant we couldn't get any more gas, not that we could really keep the van on the road anyways the wind was blowing so hard. So we stopped and found a campsite. In the campsite everyone was walking around in shorts and t-shirts drinking beer while kids in bathing suits swam in the puddles made by Earl. Even though the wind was howling and the rain coming down in sheets, everyone seemed to be having a good time.

We stayed in Northern Sydney at the closest park to the ferry. And then the morning of the ferry we got there on time, got in line and then waited about two hours if not longer for the ferry to finaly start boarding. Once on board and on the go we got called to the office to be told that the van was leaking gas under the deck. But that wasn't the least of our worries.

Lots of ducks were attracted to the cement from the sea. Actually theres a lot of birds here that we've never seen before, and were almost positive we seen a stork a few days ago. We havn't seen any puffins yet, only eaten puffin poop (Yogurt covered raisons).

Here's the ferry that we took to Port Aux Basques. It was about six hours to get there and I was sea sick for about all of them. Which was weird seeing as how I lived on the Black Sea for two weeks through storms and all, and then one measly ride to Port Aux Basques and I can't look out a window or stand up without feeling queezy.

Waiting For Hurricane Earl

So tonight there's supposed to be a hurricane hitting the maritimes. The worst of it is supposed to hit from eight tonight until two in the morning. So far, all we've had is a nice warm breeze. But here's a picture of where we'll be waiting it out anyways. Nice little camping site.

I guess the worst of it is supposed to hit Newfoundland. We never thought we would finaly arrive and there would be a hurricane. It's only a class two so it shouldn't be too too bad anyways. We had steak, caeser salad and chef salad for dinner.

Here's a picture of Keenan flying into the van.

Gunther's Shop

So we stopped in at the Volkswagen dealership today and they told us about Gunther. He printed us out a map and all the directions and wished us good luck. We got lost a few times trying to find the place (story of the trip) We arrived to a lot filled with Volkswagen everything.

Here's our rearview mirrors new mystical dreamcatcher that we found for two bucks. In the background though you can see the shop. They have so many Volkswagen parts that they even fill up the other Volkswagen's on the lot up to the roof with them.

Here you can see just some of the old Volkswagen's on the lot. Also you can see in the vans all of the spare parts. They even had some diesel cars. They sound like little tracters.

Here's there most recent project. This van was super nice with a brand new paintjob and everything up on the hoist. I didn't ask about the year or make but it definitily looks a lot like our van. I would say it's a seventy something.

So the verdict on the van is that to fix the misfiring and compression problems, we would pretty much have to rebuild the motor and order in the very rare fuel pump. So they took everything apart anyways and checked to see if there was anything they could do to make it run at least a bit better but it's pretty much hooped. So they put it back together for free and said to just take it easy the rest of the way.

And here is the first and probobly only Volkswagen truck I've ever seen. It was a little standard and looked like something probobly from the eighties. It actually had the similar looking front end as the old 86' Scirocco.

New Brunswick

So were in Fredrickton, New Brunswick for the night. New Brunswick is beautiful. We havn't seen the ocean yet but were getting close. Were having a bit of trouble with the van so we're going to make a trip to the Volkswagen dealership tomorrow. Yay! Other than that were actually making pretty good time.

Poutine Dans Quebec

So of course we stopped and had some good old fashioned poutine in Quebec. It was fantastic. They had the real cheese curds and everything. I found it's not as filling as the poutine in British Columbia, you can actually eat that and feel like you've had just enough. Not eat that and feel like your going to have a heart attack.

Gas Stations In Quebec Sell..

Giant Beers!! Seriously though, every gas station you hit has beer of all sizes, even ones bigger than this. We bought one just because we couldn't believe the size of it. Were going to try and save it for Keenan's upcoming birthday.

I mean look at the size of this bad boy. Thats roughly three regular size beers in one. And why do they sell them at gas stations? Are they promoting drinking and driving? And for a case of twenty four, its about twenty five bucks. That's like a buck a beer!!

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Music Playlist at MixPod.com

Quebec Road Signs

So we've been brushing up on our french. All of the signs in Quebec are dans francais! Actually Keenan learned to say "Anglais" french for English. Went to a gas station and the lady started talking to him in french, and he points to himself and goes, "anglais".. and she pointed to herself and said "francais". It was pretty funny..

And in Quebec not only do they have the maximum speed limit but the minimum speed limit. What would you call the ticket you get for going to slow? A turtle ticket?! And in the van when it overheats Im sure we were in the red zone for that ticket a few times.

We didn't take any pictures of Montreal. We drove through it in the middle of the night so there would be next to no traffic. But even then, your on overpass over overpass over overpass over highway, with planes taking off overhead and lights flashing from buildings into the smog. It was insane.

Waiting For The Van To Cool Down..

So one of our recent past times is waiting for the van to cool down. In which we pass the time reading or playing guitar. Or just doing nothing really. We usually go about an hour at a time driving and then a half hour to hour waiting for the van to cool down. It's been super humid and hot so the heat is unbearable. Here is Keenan playing some tunes for the other people in Quebec pumping gas, or waiting for their vehicles to cool down.

Here is me dying in the heat waiting to get back onto the road. Quebec was tricky to get through. Montreal is probobly the biggest city in Canada I've ever been in. It's overpass over overpass over highways, while planes are taking off overhead and flashing lights light up the smog.

And here's how clean we keep the van on the road. And for those of you worried that we drink and drive if you spot the beer, don't worry were saving that for Keenan's upcoming birthday. And the size of that beer will go in another blog.

The Traczyk Family

This was taken right before we left Geulph, Ontario and headed back onto the old dusty trail. Though Sandra left early for work and isn't in the picture. :(. From left to right, Keenan's Uncle Jeff, Cousin Dylan, Uncle Andrew, Cousin Colton, me, Grandpa Ed, Grandma Joan & of course Keenan.

It took a while for our photographer to get the shot of the whole family. So we had a few takes before actually getting Keenan's family all together. But we did it! We had such a great time in Guelph. Thanks again to everyone for an awesome time.

The Hut.

Here's where we stayed last night. A little hut on Keenan's Uncle's property. Its awesome, it's hooked up with tv and movies and what not. We watched Adventureland.

This is Ivan! He's Andrew's seven month old puppy, and he's HUGE! He wanted to jump on the bed all night but we were consistant in kicking him off. He's a great dog though.

And, here's the monster Ivan didn't save us from. This is a huge spider we found when we first walked in hanging on the roof. Keenan ended up squishing it with a dvd..