Hello World!

Welcome Aboard! originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Welcome to our new shared blog... Right now it's just Mary and I blogging here but maybe, possibly, we can convince Andrea to also start blogging.. (about her rowing.. maybe?...hint, hint).

Anyways, all our old posts are here so look around and I'll try to get a page set up soon for our trip posts that has proper links... soon

Washing DC... for a day

Rally for Sanity/Fear, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Mary, my sister, came east for a meeting and had a four day window to visit me.
We took the opportunity to hop on a bus down to Washington DC to attend Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.

Early in the Morining - Rally for Sanity/Fear, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

The bus trip, organized by the good people at the Torontoist and sponsored by Bud Lite, was a 36 hour whirlwind trip. The coverage by the Torontoist is here. 
The rally was crazy.. so many people.. so many stars (I saw Cat Stevens perform Peace Train!)
But the best part, oddly enough, was visiting the Smithsonian National Museum of the Native American. That weekend they had Día de los Muertos celebrations, exhibits and activities. It was a lot of fun.

Nuit Blanche

Nuit Blanche -Gladstone Hotel, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

I must admit I found this years Nuit Blanche a little underwhelming.

I don't know if it was the poor use of space or the weariness of traveling across town to get to most of the main exhibits.
Still it is nice to see the streets filled with so many people wandering about at 1 am appreciating art and the city.

Nuit Blanche - Later That Night At The Drive-In - Daniel Lanois, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Cottage Weekend

Cottage Weekend, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

I didn't travel much this summer (actually I have only been out of the country for a day and a half this year!) so it was really lovely to be invited to my pal Katie's family's cottage on the Ottawa River (Quebec side).
It was a wonderful, relaxing girls weekend away.

Birthday Macarons

My pal Ayalah has her birthday in the summer which was the perfect timing for a picnic!
Because she has a serious sweet tooth and also loves France I made her some macarons.

I picked up the cutest book (I heart macarons) at a cooking store in St. Johns and was itching to use it.
I made yellow with chocolate ganache filling and a cinnamon with cardamon milk tea filling. TASTY!

Trinity and back to St. John's - Newfoundland

Trinity, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

We took a slightly more lazy route back to St. John's. We headed across the bulk of the island and spent a night at a B&B before heading to Trinity for a day and a half.
Trinity was awesome. We stayed in a little cabin that Mary and I imagined what vacationing was probably like in the 50's.. really cute!

Trinity Cabins - Vintage Awesomeness, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Trinity Cabins - Vintage Awesomeness, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

It was really quiet in Trinity (we couldn't find a place to eat that was open) but we walked around the town taking in all the lovely buildings. The Shipping News was filmed in Trinity and nearby a whole fake fishing village was recreated for the filming of Remote Passage for the CBC. Mary and I, after finally finding somewhere to eat decided to check out the Maritime Museum in Bonavista.

Root cellar capital of the world?, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

On the way there I forced Mary to drive through Elliston, the root cellar captital of the world, which seemed a little unfriendly. Also we didn't see a lot of root cellars.

Bonavista - Harbour, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Bonavista was great though. While signing into the museum we noticed that another group of yukoners were in the museum (they had gone to the same conference as Mary and were really nice). So after a little hunting we found them and ended the evening with a lovely lobster and toutons with molasses (my favorite  newfie food .. hard bread and salt cod - I recommend you pass on them).

Bonavista - Maritime Museum, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Back to St. John's for the last bit of shopping and wandering around (the Rooms! Viking demonstrations! Joe Fresh!).
Conclusion:
Newfoundland - highly recommended.

Western Brook Pond - Newfoundland

Newfoundland - Western Brook Pond, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

The last day in Gros Morne National Park we went for a hike to Western Brook Pond. Another of the guided walks It was really cool to learn so much about the area.
The geography was really influenced by glaciation (it was carved out by glaciers and then, when they receeded the land rebounded cutting off the pond from the ocean). Also - the part I found really cool was the rippling of the bedrock which caused alternating bogs (pictured above) and limestone ridges which are forrested (below)
The guides from the park were really into showing off different parts of the bog and forrest, even to the extent of reaching into the bog to pull out peat. We also spotted an arctic hare and pitcher plants (the provincial flower). Very cool.

Newfoundland - Western Brook Pond, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

An acidic lake fed by the bog.

Newfoundland - Western Brook Pond, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Lime stone ridges.

Newfoundland - Western Brook Pond, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

The ultimate destination - Western Brook Pond.