(Continued from Part 4)

Recently I'd discovered that up in Grates Cove they were doing something similar to a lot of places out west, where the town has a municipal campsite that’s either free or available for a nominal fee.

While the campsites out west are often in dusty, out-of-the-way municipal parks; Grates Cove went ahead and cleared a breathtaking spot right at the heart of their village. 

Hoo boy, this would definitely work.

The only question I had was whether this was an RV-only campsite, but without any RV's around, we went ahead and put up our tent.

No one else would join us throughout the evening and night, leaving us all alone with perfect weather conditions of nonexistent wind and splendid temps. Up here at the northernmost cove on the Avalon Peninsula, where Trinity Bay empties out into the open Atlantic, I doubt there are many evenings nicer than this one.

I love having a campsite picnic table, to the point I'd much rather have a picnic table than a washroom.

Isy might disagree though, as this treeless land left her heading down the steep road to the community wharf. But whatever though, look at this convenient picnic table!

Gathering some firewood from the road down to the community wharf, the next problem was that the metal rods we bought for roasting wieners were getting too hot and burning our fingers.

I had a solution thanks to BMX though - vice grips!

The last bit of business in Grates Cove came the next morning when I was finally fine with trudging through an adjacent bog, as I had to check out this uh, one-quarter of a house? Bay window shed? Huh?

I peered inside, but nothing was obvious. I'd love to learn more during my next visit to Grates Cove.

Heading south out of Grates Cove and down the peninsula, both of us spotted an old house tucked away back in the poplars. It was another gorgeous day and this was easily enough to get us out of the car.

A few weeks later, we were telling our friend Shelloo about our trip and how we'd stopped at this great abandoned house in (community name).

"Oh, really? My Pop's¹ old house sat abandoned in (community name) for years."

Isy and I exchanged glances, wondering if we'd wandered into the old Pop Shelloo homestead.

"...but they tore it down, ohhh, 10, more like 15 years ago now."

A close call!

1 - grandfather

I braved going to the top of the stairs, but that was it, as the top level was devoid of walls except for wood panelling folded over, while all of the floors were sagging and wet.

I couldn't make it very far into the living room either, where I wanted to step on the beams to maneuvre around, but the roof tile slurry and fern garden kept me from being able to see what I was actually stepping on.

Splendid grounds and well worth the stop. Especially when you consider the tall trees, soft grasses, and old fencing all about.

Down in Carbonear, it was time to check off another skatepark from the Newfoundland list, as I'd recently seen an Instagram post that made me aware of this skatepark's existence.

Of course the Canadian Ramp Company never posts pictures of their work or anything on social media really, and living in Newfoundland, towns rarely post pictures of these things either. Therefore not knowing what to expect, hoo boy, was this a letdown from one of Newfoundland's more sizable and impressive towns. Just a classic Canadian Ramp Company job of making a quick buck with a bland, uninspiring park.

Isy passed on the opportunity to skate this lot of cracked asphalt, instead breaking out a camp chair and an icy cider to read in the sun.

During one my breathers, I rolled over towards her and asked if she thought it was silly of me to be near the mainland-good, night-and-day better skateparks of Metro St. John's, but instead make it a priority to stop at garbage like Carbonear just to check it off some list.

"Any other person? Yes I would think it ridiculous not to ride the nearby great skateparks during their one chance a year - but you? Making lists and checking things off is too much of your jam. You get so much joy from marking down that you've been to something like Carbonear's skatepark."

Well, Carbonear Skatepark ✔

The Carbonear Skatepark did succeed in bringing an economic impact to the town, as Isy needed a hat to sit out in the blazing sun.

Meanwhile, I liked the look of their retro Wal-Mart sign.

It was about 1 o'clock when we decided to get going and leave the Avalon behind. We put some distance between us and Carbonear, but still stopped in Sunnyside (located on the isthmus) because I wanted to hike the Centre Hill Trail.

Except the trail was closed due to a bridge being washed out, so we instead hiked their Truce Sound (Frenchman's Island) Coastal Trail. This trail was weird though, because it celebrated the point where white people met the native Beothuks of Newfoundland. Of course the Beothuks were extirpated after the arrival of the white man.

As for the above picture, the Beothuks lived in mamateeks, which were made of birch and are in a similar category as wigwams. The above poles are from the recreated mamateek on Frenchman's Island, which the Town of Sunnyside built in 2012 "as a memorial to the ancient people that once roamed our shores".

This fantastic birthday week - if I may say so myself - would finish up with visiting our friends Kim & Yves over on the Bonavista Peninsula, where they were making great progress on their renovation project of an old church.

We'd heard great things about their home and it held up to all of our lofty expectations. It was so lovely to be able to stop here and spend the night in such a beautiful spot.

It almost made me want to encourage Isy to get a remote job so we could do the same in some other tiny community, haha.

Rosie visited Kim & Yves before us, and the only thing she warned us about was the spiral staircase up to the second floor as it lacked a handrail.

She - and we - were worried about Kingsley trying to go up there and slipping, but he wanted no part of it. This worked out great as Kim's dog Trylo would head up sometimes when the dogs needed space from one another.

We went for a short afternoon walk and loaf, out on a rock overlooking the tickle leading into their harbour. This was followed by a fantastic dinner and then some boozing involving a strange liquor that Yves had brought back from the African nation of Benin.

While their spot is a bit far from the Clarenville skatepark, I was starting to be convinced this was living I could get behind.

Unfortunately we had to skedaddle back to Corner Brook the next day, even if we still lingered until the one o'clock hour.

Anyway, one solid stay vacation week.

Thanks for reading as always.