Although we're certainly glad we made it all the way to St. John's, I have to confess that the eastern part of Newfoundland wasn't exactly the high point of our trip. Now don't get me wrong, St. John's was interesting and we enjoyed our little side trip out to Bell Island, but I guess we had become somewhat jaded by all our previous experiences.

If we had it to do over again, and didn't have the dogs with us, it would have been better to take the long ferry from NS. By so doing we probably would have appreciated St. John's and the rest of the east coast more because we wouldn't be comparing it to the rest of NL, especially the Northern Peninsula.

Another advantage to arriving on the long ferry and then working our way east is that we wouldn't have had to traverse the northern part of the island twice. That would have cut a week or more off the trip. But that said, we really didn't mind recovering old ground since there is so much to see there.

Several peoplehad told me that this is 'the' RV park to go to in St. John's. They were right.

We really liked this campground. It is large and spacious with almost 200 sites, including tent areas. Each site has 30 or 50 amp, water and sewer; no cable. Loop 4 also has wi-fi access but is a little more expensive. The internet seemed to perform well; I only had to re-connect a couple times during our four night stay. Our site # 151 was gravel and reasonably level. The water faucets have pressure relief valves, which is nice considering how playfully chaotic Canadian water pressure can be. Of course you should have your own pressure protection, especially in Canada, but it's nice that it's there if you don't. There is a playground, camp store and laundry.

The sites are not close to each other, and there are garbage cans at most sites. They have planted new trees on many sites so, in a few years, the sites will look more mature. There are no fire rings, and I don't know what their policy is about fires. As the campground is in the city itself, fires may not be allowed.

This is an eclectic harbor town with a mixture of heavy and light industry, residential and tourism. As you come toward town on the TCH you will see a gazillion tightly packed homes on the hillsides. I don't know how much of this is due to the oil refinery outside of town but I suspect it's a lot.

The downtown harbor area seems to be more oriented toward work activities than tourism. We didn't see much in the way of classic tourist attractions you would find in places like San Francisco, Boston or Seattle where the waterfront areas are teeming with places to shop, eat and drink.

There is a fairly large shopping area just off the TCH in St. John's. It is located on the north side of the TCH on route 20, and is a shopping mecca by Newfoundland standards. There are, among other things, a Costco, Best Buy, PetSmart, Staples, Canadian Tire, Kent building supplies, NAPA auto parts, Starbucks, McDonalds, Tim Hortons and a couple hair solons. There are a few gas stations [the Irving has diesel] and several places to eat. They are all within the same general vicinity.

There are also other shopping areas in town. For example, on Torbay Road south of the TCH [major crossroad is Newfoundland Dr] there is a Sobeys, a large pharmacy and some fast food places. If you need a vet, Torbay Road Animal Hospital is in the same area. This is especially good to know since vets are few and far between in NL.

You might be interested to know that St. John's is the oldest city in North America. John Cabot was believed to have landed in the harbour around 1497. It was incorporated in 1888. I was surprised to find out that the town was named after the Nativity of John the Babtist, not John Cabot. This city's name contains an apostrophe, whereas the St. John in New Brunswick does not.

If you find yourself needing an RV dealer, Islander RV is just northwest of town on the TCH.

George Street has the reputation of being "the" place for drinking and fun in St. John's, with pubs, bars and restaurants. Personally, I didn't see think so. Now admittedly we visited during the day, which isn't exactly prime drinking hours, but I did expect more activity. When you go to places like New Orleans, Cape Cod, Key West or the San Francisco waterfront, it doesn't matter when you go. Those places are always hopping, just more so at night. In all fairness, some of the articles I looked up do say that the place comes alive around midnight. If you go there and find otherwise, let me know and I will amend the blog accordingly.

Surprisingly, the street is actually only two blocks long. It used to be six blocks before the construction of the convention center. Due to its length, it's hard to find, and road construction in the area didn't make things any easier.

Don't miss this - it's a must see! This is the westernmost terminus for the original wireless communications from Europe. It was originally a fort protecting the harbor, but it has become a big tourist attraction because of its 360 panoramic view of the St. John's harbor and the Atlantic ocean. This is where you will take some of your best photos.

There is ample parking up at the tower but don't try to take your rig. There is a Chocolate Shop located on the winding road up to the tower; they had great hot chocolate, my favorite. They also have nice chololate gifts if you want to pick something up. There is also a nice little gift shop located within the tower building.

It can be quite windy at the tower, so make sure anything you want to keep is tied down.

If you have an interest in rocks you'll love it here. If you want to learn about the creation of the Earth, volcanoes, seismic plate tectonics and the creation of mountains, this is the place. Going back 4 billion years, you will hear facts and see examples of each of the dynamic periods that played their parts in the formation of the planet we now inhabit. There is also an exhibit on the role that oil and gas plays in our history.

Did you know that today's oil reserves were actually not created by huge dinosaurs? You might be surprised, as I was, to learn that they were instead created by lots and lots of dead bacteria. Offshore oil, on the other hand, was mostly created by plankton.

If you want to take in all of this, plan to be there several hours. Due to a vet appointment, we only had a couple hours and did not get through half of what there was to see.

If you are into plants and flowers, the Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) Botanical Gardens are a must-see while in the area. Located just up Allentown Rd from the Pippy Park campground, they have all kinds of regional plants on display. Although we were there rather late in the season there were still lots of beautiful flowers in bloom.

BTW, don't get discouraged when you leave the office and step out into a small garden area. This is by no means the extent of the offering. Follow the trail down to the "real" garden area where you can easily spend an hour or more walking around and examining everything. And if that's not enough they have about a km of other trails leading down to a nice lake.

It is easy to lose yourself in the atmosphere and forget that you are still in the St. John's metro area. Call them to check on the hours before you go, and don't forget to pick up a map of the grounds when you check in.

I think I remember that the admission was around 8 C$. They have a gift shop.

Considering how much hype we heard and read about the Irish Loop, we were frankly disappointed. After touring along the western Newfoundland coast, going up the Northern Peninsula, and taking the northern route on the TCH to St. John's, the overall offerings of the Loop do not in any way compare, at least in our opinion. I guess if you've just gotten off the long ferry from Sydney NS to Argentia and this is your first look at the NL coastline, then it might be impressive. But if it's your last trip after seeing what NL has to offer elsewhere, it pales in comparison.

I've seen books and articles that say the Loop is about a four hour trip. No freaking way! I guess if you blow past the speed limits all the way and never stop to look at anything, you might be able to do it. But then what's the point? In order to get the full effect of the trip you have to venture down little side roads and stop at lookouts

Take route 40 from the TCH up to Portugal Cove. It's not far, only a few km.

Portugal Cove itself is not particularly memorable, but your objective will be to take the ferry over to Bell Island. It's a short ferry ride to the island but you will get a chance to see some nice scenery. At least one of the ferry's has a snack bar on board.

While we were waiting in line a lady who was also waiting told us that the little restaurant down next to ferry has good fish and chips. It didn't look that great from the outside, but I've learned to generally give deference to the locals. So we gave it a try. Son of a gun! I do believe they had the second best cod we've found in NL. The Daily Catch restaurant up in the Northern Peninsula was of course the best.