It's done. Today I've been knitting on the little baby sweater,
(and the poncho, but that looks pretty much the same) and making tons and tons of phone calls to the Maritimes. Arrangements have been made, itineraries set, campgrounds booked and I have finally set the dates and plans for the Harlot Family Holiday. I really couldn't be more excited. I'll be blogging as usual this week, but then then we run out of Toronto at a thousand miles an hour on Saturday morning. Our itinerary looks like this:
Saturday: a flight from Toronto to St. Johns. Newfoundland. We spend three very cool days in the capitol, visiting Joe's family and friends, whale watching, touring, and desperately trying to avoid getting "screeched in". This is something of which I have a mortal fear, though I can't say why. While I don't eat fish, I'm not scared of them or anything, I think it's the screech. Knitting stops (what? You didn't think I'm just going for the family thing...did ya?) in St. Johns include Nonia, and Harpur's Knitting Centre.
Tuesday (10th August) we move into the rest of Newfoundland, especially the West Coast, where we'll visit the towns that Joe grew up in, like Pasadena and Corner Brook. I'm very excited about Gros Morne National Park, and Strawberry Hill. I don't know about knitting shops in the area, but it's enough to imagine sitting on a cliff overlooking the sea, knitting with the wind in my hair.
Saturday: A ferry ride from Port aux Basques, Newfoundland and Labrador to North Sydney, Nova Scotia. The crossing takes hours. Prime knitting hours. About six. This will be, by far and away the biggest boat I have ever been on, and it's crossing the biggest water I've ever been on. I'm completely flipped out about being on the ocean. Completely flipped out. When we get off the ferry, Joe's sister Kelly (who is a fine knitter) will meet us and bring our sea-sick little selves to her home in Cape Breton. We'll arrive just in time to celebrate Megan's birthday with the cousins, and I'll knit with my feet in the ocean. Late Sunday night Ken arrives with the bikes.
Monday (16th August) - another ferry, this time from Caribou, Nova Scotia to Wood Islands P.E.I. This one is shorter, only 75 minutes, but crosses The Northumberland Straight, a sometimes "Whale highway". Darned pretty. We park the Ken's car in Charlottetown and camp there.
Tuesday we ride our bikes to Borden.
Wednesday it's on to Cabot Beach.
Thursday, because we have three daughters, we'll ride on to Cavendish, home of Anne of Green Gables. This part of the trip is really for me. I'm pretending that I'm going for the girls, but really the Anne books were such an enormous part of my childhood that I can't wait to see it all.
Friday we ride back to Charlottetown, coming across the Confederation Trail.
Saturday Ken and Joe begin the drive back to Toronto, while the children and I get back on the ferry to return to Kelly's house in Cape Breton. This trip is really only so I can get to Baadeck yarns. Otherwise known as "The Whole Reason Our Trip Is To The Maritimes This Year". Don't tell Joe.
Tuesday or Wednesday I'll be back, and normal blogging should return. I'm still trying to figure out how to blog from the road, and I have yet to figure out how I'm going to get to Fleece Artist. Don't tell Joe that either.
Posted by Stephanie at August 3, 2004 3:35 PM