July 17

We once again teamed up with Nita and Phil this morning, and headed for the Visitor’s Center of the park, where we found our first moose, waiting to have his picture taken with us!

We haven't found a real moose yet, but we are on the lookout!

Adults:

We once again teamed up with Nita and Phil this morning, and headed for the Visitor’s Center of the park, where we found our first moose, waiting to have his picture taken with us! We have yet to see a real moose, but we are still on the lookout.

There is a lot to see and do here in the park, from the coastal drives to back packing into the interior of the park, boat tours through the many bays and inlets, animal and insect habitats, and when you are done with all of that, there are the restaurants to explore and sample.

Today, we opted to take the coastal drive north, our first stop was to the look out just north of town, then to Lobster Cove where we saw the first of many small fishing villages and the lighthouse. The lighthouse is one of the larger ones we have seen so far. It sits majestically up on a rocky cliff, with the keepers house attached, and even an enclosed walkway from the house to the lighthouse. There were trails going every which way from the light to overlooks to the ocean and beaches below. The house is open as a museum, furnished in the period of the late 1800’s. We spent a couple of hours there, between the museum and the trails.

On the road once again, we continued north, stopping at the lookouts so Phil and John could take hundreds of pictures. At St Pauls, we found a little Mom and Pop café where we decided to risk lunch. It’s the best meal we have had, including the higher priced places we have been. After lunch we went on to Cow Head (the only explanation we could get from a lady who had lived there all her life was that from the air, it looks like a cow’s head). We were looking for the lighthouse, but it was a 2km hike there and back, so we opted to tour the cemetery instead. Turns out that Nita and Phil like old cemeteries as much as we do!

We also stopped at the SS Effie wreck site. The Effie crashed against the rocks in 1919, and parts of it are still on the shore. This is the first spot we have seen anything that resembles a tide pool. Also at this site we saw the most amazing rocks, all of them round, in every color of the rainbow. Because they were round, it was very difficult to walk on, they just rolled under my feet. They were so pretty though.

Here is a picture of what is left of the ship after 100 years:

Rocks and more of the ship.

By this time it was getting late, so we headed back to the campground. Don’twant to get caught out after dark because of the elusive moose, which we haven’t seen yet.