Just Back From A Month in Canadian Maritimes

[John Layton]

Up and down the west coast of Newfoundland (Gros Morne, L'Anse Aux Meadows, Terra Nova to the east, and Sandbanks), Nova Scotia (Cabot Trail/Cape Breton Highlands), and New Brunswick (Bay of Fundy), with just a bit of Maine (Acadia) thrown in.

Twenty nights in a tent, ten nights in various other lodgings including a yurt, a dog-friendly room on two overnight ferry crossings, two nights with family, four nights with friends in Gros Morne (Norris Point), and one night in a cheap hotel room.

All of the above was wonderful (well, maybe not that cheap hotel room!)...but I must say - Newfoundland is a magical place! Will definitely go back...

With wife and doggie...so no time (or room) for LF...but my two Fuji Voigtlander 667's (wide and normal) performed flawlessly as usual, and I'll be processing films this week and will do my best to post some results. Otherwise, my wife's new iPhone 14 Pro did an amazing job all around for both of us - including a great video of a very close encounter with a bull moose! Will post some work from the iPhone also.

Gotta go...but will post more soon. Good to be back - but truth be told...I could live in a tent and be happy forever.

[BrianShaw]

Welcome back; sounds like a good trip. Looking forward to seeing some pictures, especially of that moose!

[Jim Andrada]

In September, 1968 a friend and I did about the same trip - we wanted to get across to Labrador but the ferry closed for the season the week before we got there. We took the car ferry back from Argentia to Nova Scotia - an overnighter on a 400 foot icebreaker. The chief engineer was kind enough to take us through the engine room and showed us the (IIRC) 3000 or so HP electric pumps that moves water back and forth from the heeling tanks through what looked like a 4 foot or more diameter piping system. We also stopped at Gander Airport where all the US - Europe flights used to stop to refuel. Most of the roads were dirt or gravel but we were driving my great "off road" vehicle - a new screaming red 1967 Porsche 911. Nobody we ran into had ever seen one and we had a lot of "fun" with the ferry crews trying to figure out where to attach the tie-downs.

We wanted to take pictures of bears at Terra Nova and the ranger told us how to get to the garbage dump where we didn't succeed in finding bears, but did find a bunch of local families bringing the kid to watch the bears they hoped to see. All of the women and kids were sort of together around a small fire and all the guys were standing around a pickup truck drinking something pretty potent. They invited us to help them empty the bottles and in no time at all we were drunk enough to see the non-existent bears. Didn't get any photos, though. Funny how that works even though we were "armed" with a Rollei 35 (still have it) and a Bronica.

So as it got dark, there we were, drunk out of our minds and with our typical forethought and planning we had totally forgotten to find a place to spend the night. No problem - one of our new found drinking buddies knew a neighbor who'd taken advantage of a government program aimed at increasing tourism and built a couple of guest rooms and volunteered to lead us there and introduce us. Great trip!!! Pre AirBnB

Three years later the 911 was stolen - spent half the insurance money on a BMW 2002 (neat car) and the other half bought my 5 x 7 Kardan Bi and a Symmar lens and 4 x 5 back and a Linhof tripod. Still use the 5 x 7 and tripod (well sort of - just spent 10 months in the hospital and will hopefully be using it again when I recover a bit more.)

[John Layton]

Good for you for braving the dirt and gravel with your 911!

I have designs to get back up there (also to Cape Breton's Cabot Trail) with my 944 - so many great roads...with miles and miles driven without encountering anybody else - such a refreshing change! Our last stop was two nights in Acadia N.P. - nice to get back there, but oh...was Bar Harbor ever a Zoo! (being midweek after Labor Day notwithstanding).

At any rate...I just processed a dozen rolls of TMY-120 from our trip - with four to go - and have some great results that I look forward to printing and sharing here sometime soon.

[Jim Andrada]

Yes, we did the Cabot Trail in the Porsche as well. I had heard that there was 40 miles of paved road in Labrador and when you got to the end it was really the end - no more road between you and the North Pole. Our total objective was to take a photo at the end of the road. So we fell short for a bit of a lack of checking the ferry schedules before starting the trip. But almost nobody in the Maritimes had seen a 911 yet, so we had a lot of fun talking with folks who just wanted to see the car Had one guy swing a quick U-turn off the Trans Canada "Highway" to look at it. We took the ferry from Nova Scotia and one of the passengers we'd been talking to asked if we could give him a lift for 100 miles or so, so we accommodated him - it was kind of neat to see him climb into the space behind the seats on top of our luggage but he was amused as much as we were. I'm 6' 2" and my friend was 6' 3" so neither of us wanted to change places with him - he hadn't seen the car when he asked for the lift.

Had someone else who really wanted to see the car - a Maine State Trooper. We both lived in the Boston area so we were heading South on the Maine Turnpike on the last night of our vacations and we were at the point of wanting to get home. So here we are, driving along the Turnpike at 2 AM when we were stopped and given a warning - after which the Trooper asked about the car and we had a nice chat and he admitted that the only reason he'd stopped us was because he wanted to see the car and we WERE, after all, "slightly exceeding the limit".

How "slightly"? Well a few years ago I got called for jury duty and the judge asked all prospective jurors if anyone had ever had a speeding ticket. It was interesting to see everybody squirm about admitting to it, but I raised my hand rather enthusiastically so the judge asked me how fast I had been driving. I told him the truth - 65MPH. He was puzzled and asked why I had gotten a speeding ticket for 65MPH - so I told him that it had been 65MPH OVER the speed limit. He kind of rocked back in his chair and told the court reporter that we were now off the record, then asked what the "H" I had been driving and I told him. He grinned and told me I was dismissed. Fun cars. But honestly I liked my Porsche 356 better. I used to do ice racing in it in NH with the local Porsche Club - street tires only, no studs. Different story. No more Porsches in the family, but my wife is still driving a BMW Z3M that we bought new 22 years ago. 3.2L straight six with a bunch of Dinan "go faster" mods. She tried to have the Valet Parking folks at a local hospital park the car - nobody knew what to do with a stick shift.

Lots of memories triggered by this thread. Wonder if I could get a Dinan supercharger for my power wheelchair. Bahhhhh!