Although we were told that the size of the moose population in NL is so huge it’s a problem, we still had to spot our first moose.  Chicken though, found one that would give him a ride.

Wooohooo! Just kidding!

As we got closer to Twillingate, we started spotting icebergs, they were much easier to find than the moose!

Small icebergs near Twillingate

And another one!

The grass was growing, the icebergs were slowly melting, this girl was in paradise!

Of course, Twillingate has its own lighthouse

The lighthouse is still working today!

The town of Twillingate is located on Twillingate island, in Notre Dame bay.  The town’s population is about 2,448 people, according to Wikipedia.  People here used to fish for a living, but after the collapse of the cod fisheries, they are now relying on tourism as the main source of revenues.  We had a great time at a dinner theater called “All around the circle” in Crow Head’s community center.  The 6 performers cooked dinner for about 150 people and after serving us, went on the stage and performed a mix of comedy, vaudeville and songs for our great pleasure

The day after we arrived, we drove down the island, to see what we could see.  Each turn in the road brought a new vista.  We could not imagine a more picturesque area.

Sea birds having a conference on a rock

We drove to a place called Herring Neck, and the road dead-ended in this guy’s driveway.  After talking to him for a little while, I just had to ask permission to take a picture of the view he has from his driveway…

That's what he see every day!

Along the way, Chicken found himself the perfect little house

The people of the village had access to this "cellar" built underground to keep the temperature cool

Even a pile of garbage looked picturesque in these surroundings

Moose antlers and other refuse

We saw a lot of little fishing shacks with piers along the way

And old boats that looked abandoned

This place is a photographer's dream!

Even whale skeletons!

Tnis is one huge skeleton!

And some of the most amazing wild flowers, like these wild iris growing near a little pond.

Nature is such a talented gardener!

And these gorgeous pink ones, growing in a field.

I wish I knew their names!

I climbed a trail up a small mountain in Pikes Arm and the view took my breath away (the climb did too by the way)

View from the top of the hill

View from the other side of the mountain

Back in Twillingate, we went to the beach to wait for the sunset

Town of Twillingate

A perfect end to a perfect day!

And of course, seen along the way…

Huh... only in Canada!

I called the number provided to find out where and when I could go visit and see Newfoundland knitters.  Maureen answered and together, we planned the day.  First Bear and I would go take the ferry in Farewell, to go to Change Islands.  Then we would meet with her and she would have called the island knitters so they could come and knit with me for a few hours in the afternoon.  After that, we would go to Maureen’s house for tea.  It all sounded like a good idea.  We mentioned our plans to the other in the group and David and Lana decided to tag along.

While waiting for the ferry in Farewell, Chicken got caught in the lobster trap!

Oh nooooooo!

Being a knitter is an official job in NL

Knitters wanted! How cool is that?

Finally, the ferry arrived and we prepared to drive onboard

Ferry to Change Islands and Fogo Island

Change Islands has a lot more than knitters going for it, it is a gorgeous place!

View of the town on Change Islands

Change Islands consists of two islands separated by a tickle (narrow strait in Newfoundland English).  The Islands are located in Notre-Dame Bay on the North East coast of Newfoundland..  The south island contains marshes and bogs and is where most of the residents live,  the north island is barren and contains most of the public buildings.

I met with Maureen (no good pics) and she introduced me to the knitters

From left to right, Edith, Margaret and Sadie

We spent a few hours talking, sharing knitting tips and laughing while having tea.  They mostly knit for the american market.  They knit reproduction of items dating from the civil war for re-enactments.  They also knit socks, hats and mittens which are sold throughout NL, even in grocery stores.  Most of their yarn is from Briggs & Little in New Brunswick although they had a small quantity of yarn from PEI.  All of it is pure wool.  They were curious about what kind of fibers we used in Florida to knit.  Needless to say, I had a wonderful time.

Bear walked around and took pictures, David and Lana went to visit the only museum in the island.  They were raving about the museum, saying it was one of the best, if not the best one they had ever visited.  The owner of the museum even played accordion for them.

After knitter’s time, we went in search of the NL pony herd that lives on the island.  We’d hear that they just added three new babies to the herd.  Unfortunately, we were not able to find them, but we did find this one near a barn.

We had supper at the Burgundy Squid Cafe.  They serve sandwiches and fish cakes.  We had soup and fish cakes.  Everything was home made including the bread (yummm delicious!).

Does not look like much, but the food was delicious

All that food was served by the owner/cook who spoke with the typical accent of the island.  Priceless!  When I needed ice for my water, she went in her freezer and broke off a piece of ice from an ice block a friend had brought her.  He’d broken it from an iceberg that was floating off shore!  I ended up with an iceberg in my glass!

25,000 year old ice in my glass of water! Chicken is in awe!

After supper, we went to Maureen’s house and sat on her porch while having tea and admiring the view of the tickle.

Tickle view from Maureen's house

Maureen is an university teacher in Ottawa and her husband Bill is an engineer.  They spend their summers in NL in this house, from June to late August and they live for the rest of the year in Ontario.  From their house, each night, they have a spectacular view of the sunset over the ocean, since it faces west.  What a life!

Maureen hopped in the car with us to go see the iceberg floating off shore.  Although it was quite far, we were very excited because that was the first iceberg we saw and it was huge! The size of a small island!

Our first iceberg

It was time to say goodbye and make our way back to the ferry.  We took Maureen back to town where her friends were waiting for her at the pub to have a beer

On the way back, we spotted a big beaver dam

You should have seen the size of this dam!

As always, I am amazed at the variety of wild flowers growing by the side of the roads.  Here they make you feel like you are in a Monet painting.

I love wild flowers!

Back at the ferry port, Bear and David had a good time talking.

The odd couple

The water was so clear, I was able to photograph tiny star fish walking on rocks.

Can you see them?

Alas! the day was over and it was time to get off the ferry and drive back to the campground.

Going home...

Today, this shore is St. John’s seaside playground.

Typical pebble beach of the Killick coast

Sea fog still clinging to the back of the cliffs

Coastline, with 2 waterfalls in the distance

Fishing boat in the town of Flatrock

Cliffs meeting the sea, how inspriring!

We just drove around and took pictures, it was a nice sunny afternoon

Chicken did not want to miss this one!

Cape Spear welcome plaque photographed at sunrise

Because of that fact, it’s also is the site of the first sunrise in North America!  We woke up at 4:30 AM and drove to Cape Spear to be the first ones to see the sun rise that day (July 18, 2011).  We had a blast!

David and Bear arriving in Cape Spear to watch the sun rise. See the moon in the background?

A little past 5:18 AM, there it was... what we'd been waiting for.. the first sunrise!

The weather was  perfect that day, we just enjoyed the show.  The lighthouse was very pretty glowing in the morning’s first lights.  It is restored to its 1839 appearance and shows how  a lighthouse keeper and his family would have lived in mid-nineteenth century.

Oldest surviving lighthouse in Newfoundland and Labrador

During WWII, the Cape Spear battery was constructed by Canada for the defense of Newfoundland, even though at that time,  Newfoundland was still not a part of Canada. (It became a Canadian province in 1949).   Allied forces used the bunkers to protect against U-boat attack, a very real threat in the North Atlantic. A German U-boat did fire two torpedoes into St. John’s Harbour in 1942, but no serious damage resulted. Most of the military site was destroyed after the war, but the tunnels and gun emplacements have been stablized, plaques erected, and walkways constructed to help interpret the history of the site.  The huge gun barrels are all that remains of Cape Spear’s war time armament.  They were knowns as disappearing guns because they could be lowered behind the concrete parapet for loading and maintenance.  In 1896 they were installed in Fort Mott on the Delaware River.  In 1941 the American government transferred them to Cape Spear as part of the wartime arm supply agreement.  After WWII, the carriages were dismantled and taken away from the site.

Remains of the WWII cannons

Did you know that whales don’t wake up before sun rise?  That’s what we deduced that day, because not one of them showed up before the sun was up.  After sunrise though, they were ready for breakfast!

Humpback whale feeding around Cape Spear

I even captured a whale tale for you!!!

Waves crashing where a flock of birds were resting just a moment before

A few things struck me about St John’s.  It has an old-fashioned character, with very few modern buildings.  Most of the residential buildings are sided with “clapboard”, brick houses are rare and far between.

Clapboard houses in St John's

The two main churches (Anglican and Catholic) are strikingly beautiful.

The food is great, the people are even greater!  You get a sense of joy from the residents of St John’s.  They love their city and it shows.    While we were hiding from the rain under a canopy at the entrance of a museum, one of the worker came out, having finished her working shift, it was rainy and cold and she had no umbrella or coat, she looked at us smiling, and said… “Oh! Newfoundland, you don’t live here for the money or the weather, but the people are FABULOUS!”  That sums it up!

My only regret is that we  missed the organ concert and the afternoon tea served in the crypt at the Anglican church. By the time we learned about it, it was over.  On the other hand, we had a great time at the Yellowbelly brewery.  The beer was great, the seafood chowder even better.

Big pieces of seafood in the chowder!

Then we went to Signal Hill, where we had a great view of the Port of St. John’s and the capital city.

Port of St John's

The final battle of the Seven Years war was fought there in 1762.  This is the battle when the French  finally surrendered to the British under the command of Lt. Colonel William Amherst.

Chicken arriving at Signal hill

We had fun watching the St John’s Tattoo, where soldiers, wearing the military uniforms circa 1795, gave a military concert  by the fifes and drums and demonstrated the musket, drills and battle formations of the time.  They even fired some cannons!

St John's Tattoo performed on Signal Hill

Firing muskets!

Don't you know it! Chicken had to get in the middle of the Tattoo and make friends with two soldiers, who strangely look like.. girls?

We go North in the summer to escape the heat of Florida.  Escape the heat we did….

Cold bear watching the Tattoo!

Our gang, frozen, preparing to watch the show. It was 45F that day... in mid-July!

We warmed up at the  Duke of Duckworth with a hot and delicious “Fish’n Chips” and a good beer!

Entering the pub

And finally, we had tea at “The Rooms”, a fantastic museum where we saw collections of artifacts, pictures, sculptures and artwork from Newfoundland and Labrador. From the museum’s café, we had a different view of St John’s, in this picture you can see the Anglican Cathedral on the right.

View of St John's from "The Rooms"

A few facts:

1901:  Signal Hill was the site of the reception of the first transatlantic radio signal.  The Morse code signal originated in Cornwall UK.

1919:  St. John’s was the starting point for the first non-stop transatlantic aircraft flight, piloted by Alcock and Brown in a modified Vickers Vimy IV bomber.  They flew to Connemara Ireland.

Second world war:  The harbour supported the Royal Navy and Royal Canadian Navy ships engaged in anti-submarine warfare.  It was also the site of Fort Pepperell, an American Army Air Force base.

Better look up when you're in St. John's

Although we were scheduled to leave at 22:45, we arrived at the ferry port early, at 15:30 in order to get in line.

Bear and our coach, in line to take the ferry

We mainly stayed in our coach, watching TV, knitting or reading a book while waiting for the ferry.  But!  our gang also met and talked for a while!

Ron, Curtis, Sandy, Evelyn, Bear, Gladys, Lana, unknown truck driver, and Terry

There were very few people there at that time, but as the day went by, more and more people arrived.  At one point, we were really wondering how they were going to put all these vehicles on one boat!

An hour later, there were already quite a few more vehicles in line...

There were some interesting vehicles in line:

Vintage police car, said to have been used in the Andy Griffith show

Then, around 19:30, our ferry arrived!

Our ferry arriving to port

Our friend David made a video:  Boarding the ferry from Sydney NS to Argentia NL while embarking on the ferry and parking his motorhome.  We can clearly see our coach and bear coming out of it.  It’s cool and better than words and pictures to give you an idea of how it feels to embark on a ferry.  Despite our apprehension, this ferry was very spacious and we had no problem at all parking.  I drove the car on, and I was parked on another garage level.

Our cabins were basic but comfortable, there was entertainment and reasonably good food.  The whole experience felt like a mini-cruise.  16 hours later, we arrived in Newfoundland!

The “lobster-lovers” in our group decided it would be a good idea to have a lobster dinner.  The campground owner highly recommended a lobster market near Peggy’s Cove, a 20 minutes ride from the campground.  While Chicken waited by the water, admiring the view, the “lobster-lovers” made their choice.

Chicken waiting for the "Lobster-lovers" to make their choice.

How big is big enough?  Does size really matter?  …. Seems to, because the sheer size of this lobster saved his life…  None of the “lobster-lovers” thought they could eat that much lobster in one sitting.

Big enough?

So, the owner of the shop presented other choices.

The smallest one, although he looked quite feisty,  was nicknamed “Wimpy” because of his size.  He was a pound and a half lobster and became Bear’s dinner.  The others ordered 2 pounders.   We brought them back to the campground where the owner graciously cooked and cracked them for us.  (When I say us, I don’t include myself, I ate delicious Nova Scotia scallops that night).

We visited Halifax harbour where we saw some interesting and beautiful ships.

Do you recognize that one?

Beautiful sailing ship

We  savoured an ice cream at Cow’s.  Bad for the waist, but good for the soul.

Prize winning ice cream

Surprise!  Surprise!  Halifax had been yarnbombed!

Look at the bottom of the light pole...

Of course, the perpetrator had left her card…

The next day, our traveling friends had bought tickets for the Halifax Tattoo, but since we had seen it the last time we were here, we’d elected not to go.  Bear had promised me a surprise instead.  I tried my best to get him to tell me what it was, but he holds secrets better than Fort Knox, so I had to wait.

We took the car and made our way to Dartmouth.  Do you know that they have parking for fiddles in Dartmouth?  If you don’t believe me… just look:

Only in Canada!

Anyway, to get back to my “surprise” story.  All of you know I am knitting right?  I’m quite passionate about it and I love taking classes.  There are some people I really admire in the “knitting” business and I try to take classes from as many of them as possible, both to perfect my knowledge and advance my knitting skills, and also because it’s  just  cool to  be around one of them for a while. (Ok I’m a knitting groupie…there… I said it.. )

One of these people I’d always dreamed of taking a class from,  is Lucy Neatby.  She is originally from Scotland and used to be a Navigational Officer in the  Merchant Marine.  She took up knitting after having children, because, as she said, at least with her knitting she had a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day.  Needless to say, she became a very skilled, knowledgeable knitter.  Her designs are always very clever.  She also made instructional DVDs that are the best on the market.

So, when he took me to Dartmouth that morning, I thought he’d found out at which yarn shop Lucy Neatby likes to go hang out and that maybe I would be able to catch a glimpse of her… just maybe.. if she was in town and not teaching somewhere in the US or in Canada.

Imagine my surprise when my dear hubby took me to a residential area instead of a commercial area…  I was really confused and didn’t know what to think…

Then he parked the car in front of a cute little house, and went knocking at the door…   And Lucy Neatby came and opened the door… and at that moment, I lost all brain function!  I was star-struck .   There I was, at Lucy Neatby’s house where she graciously invited us for tea.  I HAD  AFTERNOON TEA AT LUCY NEATBY’S HOUSE!!!!!!  We also visited her basement studio and I purchased a few things…  like yarn, patterns,  you know…..  Anyway, this is me and Lucy

Lucy and me (and Chicken of course, he always has to get in the pictures!!)

As it turns out, my dear hubby had been conspiring with Lucy, by email, since last October in order to surprise me like this.  That’s a lot of “good-hubby points” in the bank for him…  What a sweetheart!  I will never forget it!

Of course, we had to leave Lucy’s house and go back to the coach to prepare to leave for Sydney.

McLobster anyone?

This area of Québec is composed of small fishing villages along the coast, with the Appalachian mountains as a backdrop.  The scenery is spectacular, winding roads, up and down  very steep hills, it sometimes felt like driving on a roller coaster.  Typical of this area, each village has its own church.  Since most of them were built during the 19th century, they all have about the same architecture, pointy steeple reaching for the sky over a steep roof.  99% of them are Catholic churches.  Often built from stone, sometimes from brick, they are always quite handsome.  Depending on how wealthy people were in the village, the interiors can be either richly decorated or very humble.

Notre-Dame-des Neiges de Trois-Pistoles built from 1882 to 1887. Typical of 19th century architecture

Inside Notre-Dame-des-Neiges

We spent our first night in Trois-Pistoles and were treated to a spectacular sunset, without having to move from the campground.  Our day was spent touring the area, especially visiting the Basque Cheese Factory and the fish markets

Sunset in Trois-Pistoles

Our second stop was in Ste-Anne-des-Monts.  We were camping right at the edge of the beach.  What a view from our front window!

View from our windshield while parked at the campground

We spent a little time at l’Exploramer, an activity complex forcusing on the marine environment.  Yours truly found enough courage to touch and hold sea creatures; like sea cucumbers, lobsters, star fish and sea urchin.  Those who really know me, will understand how atypical this was for me. I don’t even swim in the sea for fear of having contact with fishes!

Yup, that's my hands holding this sea urchin!

We saw some very interesting fish and crustaceans, including this 7 year old blue lobster!

Ever seen a blue lobster?

Some of the fish had a face only a mother could love.  They are so well camouflaged, it’s hard to see that there are actually 3 fishes in this picture.

Can you see the three fishes?

From there, we moved on to the Percé area.  We stayed at Indian Head campground, aptly named because of this  giant natural rock formation visible from it that looks exactly like an Indian head.

Indian head rock

Again, we had a very nice view from our front windshield!

We took a boat tour to Ile Bonaventure, to see the bird sanctuary.   Chicken played Humpty Dumpty on Ron’s head while waiting for the boat

Chicken doing his stunt in front of a surprised Sandy.

Of course, he insisted on driving the boat to go see his friends the sea birds!

Chicken drove the tour boat, assisted by the Captain

250,000 birds nest on this island, including the second largest and most accessible colony of “fous de bassan” (Northern Gannets) who share their island with other pelagic birds like the “Petit Pingouin”.

Northen Gannets and Small Pinguins nesting on Bonaventure Island

Birds flying around their nest site on Bonaventure Island

A grey seal near Bonaventure Island.

The name Percé means “pierced” in french and comes from the giant pierced rock (Rocher Percé) we can see close to shore.

Rocher Percé

Chicken made friend with a giant Gannet

After his experience piloting a boat, Chicken found a boat he wanted us to buy him.    It was appropriately named “Baby Bear”,  but we decided against it.  Frustrated, Chicken went back in my bag.

The boat Chicken really wanted to have

We spent the next day sightseeing. The road presented us with gorgeous scenes.

Scenes from the road in Gaspésie

Finally we went searching for jasper and agates on  Coin-du-Banc beach and then found the “Auberge Coin-du-Banc” where we savored the most delicious gourmet meal we’d had so far.  It was time to move on again….

Our first stop was in Louisiana, where I visited with my friend Cheryl for 2 days. I was so absorbed playing with her weaving and spinning toys, that I totally forgot to take pictures. I was just having way too much fun! Needless to say, I would love to go back.  I had a wonderful time!

We also took a day to go to New Orleans. We, of course, went to Café du Monde for some “beignets” and Chicken ate his share!

Chicken really appreciated the beignets

We walked around and enjoyed the French Quarter, the weather was nice and cool, a perfect day for a walk.

From Louisiana, we left to go visit with our friends Jerry and Suzie Bush, who, we thought at first, were in Franklin TN. About 100 miles from Franklin TN, we realized that in fact, they were in Franklin NC! What a detour! 283 miles and a broken tow-bar later, we made it to the right Franklin!

Jerry and Suzie Bush

That was an eventful day! We stayed 3 days with Suzie and Jerry, they were so much fun! Their dogs however, did not really like Chicken!

This Chicken tastes awful! Yeurk!!

After taking delivery of our new tow-bar, we made our way to Montreal.  It was good to see my family again.  The weather was pretty nasty at first but improved tremendously as the days went by.  We ended up having nice breezy, mid 70′s sunny days most of the time

We visited my  mom every week.  She loves going to the music concerts organized by the nursing home for entertainment.  We enjoyed ourselves too!

Mom wearing her mandatory sunglasses (so she looks like a star!), listening to the music concert at the nursing home.

After our friends Curtis, Gladys, Terry and Evelyn joined us, we spent one day sightseeing in Montreal.  We re-visited Notre-Dame Basilica.  Gorgeous carved dark walnut features,  gold leafed details and wonderful sculpted statues never cease to amaze. It was built in 1824-1829.  The architect is James O’Donnell, an Irish protestant living in New York.  He moved to Montreal to oversee the construction,  converted to Catholicism, and died a few months after the church’s inauguration.  The inspiration for the interior decor comes from the “Sainte-Chapelle” in Paris.  The style is Rococo.   The work to decorate the inside was completed in 1880.  The church’s organ features 7000 tubes and 4 keyboards.

It is hard to capture the beauty of Notre-Dame Basilica.

Wooden statues of prophets

View of a part of Montreal and its bridges. In the foreground, Pont Jacques-Cartier.

Bear chasing birds on the grounds of the Olympic Stadium

The 1976 Olympic pool

Of course, Montreal is also about visiting with my kids and my grandson

My grandson Mathew and Chicken at a soccer match in Montréal

We also spent 24 hours in Quebec city (pronounce kaebek).  We stayed at the Chateau Frontenac, the famous hotel built on top of Cap Diamand in the late 1800′s, overlooking the St. Lawrence river. The name Quebec means “were the river narrows” .  Samuel the Champlain found the location ideal as a strategic point.  Since the river narrows to only half a mile wide at that point, he thought that whoever would control this location, would in fact, control the St. Lawrence river.  He founded Quebec in 1608, and at first, it was a fur trading post.  The fortifications of Quebec are still intact today.

Chateaul Frontenac, and at the bottom of the hill, the "Basse ville" featuring houses built in the 1600's.

Chicken thought he could help the maid dust the rooms at Chateau Frontenac!

Doug, Chicken, Curtis, Gladys, Terry and Evelyn on "Les Terrasses Dufferin" in Québec.

Terry and Evelyn enjoying breakfast in old Québec

Picture of the Montmorency falls taken from a cruise ship. They are higher than Niagara falls, but definetely not as spectacular.

Bear enjoying a little rest in our room at Chateau Frontenac

We are leaving Monday for the second leg of our trip.  We will visit the Bas Saint-Laurent area, the Gaspésie and then head for the Maritimes.

2 weeks is enough to acclimate to an area, and by now, we have our favorite meat shop, hardware store and grocery store, along with a few favorite restaurants. For home-style cooking, try Yesteryears in East Berlin.  They also have the mother-of-all-breakfast-buffet on Saturday mornings.  I highly recommend their Ham and Bean soup, you won’t regret it.  Not far from East Berlin, in Abbotstown, the Hoffbrauhaus serves authentic German cuisine, one of Bear’s favorite.

Yesteryear's Ham and Beans soup, yummmmmy!

A 1700's house in East Berlin.

Of course, the fact that we are just a few minutes from the “Mecca” of all fiber shop  was not lost on me…  “The Mannings” started about 60 years ago as a weaving school,  but since Carol and Ron Woolcox bought the business in the 1980′s, they added  knitting, crochet  and spinning to the list of the shop’s offerings.

Carol Woolcox, owner of "The Mannings" and Chicken... of course...

Carol is a knitter and a crocheter at heart, although she says about weaving “there is something about throwing a shuttle back and forth and beating the threads in place that is satisfying”.  They offer and incredible array of tools, books, patterns, kits and equipment for the fiber addict.

In need of yarns? patterns? tools?... if you need it, they have it!

Just a few of their weaving looms!

The whole set-up is gorgeous, like a typical Pennsylvania farm.

The grounds even include this old-style barn, painted "Sang de boeuf"(beef blood) color.

Check out their class schedule… wow!  It does not hurt either that Carol and Ron are RVers and we ended up having a good time chatting about traveling and motorhomes.  Their dream is to retire one day and travel full-time in their motorhome. Of course I did hurt my wallet (well… bear’s wallet huhummmm) while there (it’s hard not to) and I signed up for a “Beginning weaving class” in October, so we’ll be back in this area soon.

Our day in York didn’t go so well, it turns out that parking in York is really not for the faint of heart.  Bring a lot of change for the parking meters if you come here, that’s probably your only option, they do have parking lots, but most of them are for monthly permit holders.  Since we were short on change, we did not see much of York.

We were a bit smarter when we went to Gettysburg and brought a bunch of quarters with us.  I love downtown  Gettysburg , the square offers historical buildings, museums, shops, restaurant and bistros, everything for a good time. Of course, there is a rich history here, and you can go visit the battlefields and the museums, but we did that 2 years ago, so we just enjoyed a nice day in town and a delicious meal this time.

Downtown Gettysburg

Bear getting some pointers from Abe Lincoln himself. (Bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln called "Return Visit" by J. Seward Johnson Jr.)

The Wills House. Now a museum, Abraham Lincoln slept there on November 18 and 19, 1863, the nights before his immortal Gettysburg Address.

Since I am into weaving these days… I really enjoyed finding the American Crafts shop which displayed fine examples of handweaving, lots of good stuff for inspiration!

Handwoven blankets for sale at the American Crafts Shop.

We also took time to do a bit of maintenance on the coach, and I finished a project I had been working on FOREVER!  It took me nearly a year to complete the afghan I had promised to knit for my aunt Thérèse!    Whewwww…. it was about time!

My aunt's afghan, finished and drying on a picnic table.