Today was the first day that we've had since we got here that wasn't absolutely gorgeous. On Monday, when we arrived, it was foggy for most of the drive up to St John's, but it was nice once we got here. Each other day has been sunny and warm. Last night, it rained most of the night, and it was very cloudy and overcast most of the day. But, we had a few last things that we wanted to do before we leave tomorrow, so we headed out.
First, we wanted to visit the Fluvarium which is right in Pippy Park where our campground is. We kept on thinking, "Oh we'll visit it when we get back one afternoon," but we realized that might not happen unless we specifically stopped there. You might be asking "What is a Fluvarium?" From their website:
What is a Fluvarium?
The
Suncor Energy Fluvarium is a public environmental education centre
focusing on freshwater and riparian ecology. The word Fluvarium is
derived from the latin root “fluv” meaning flowing water. Fluvarium
therefore literally means “windows on a stream”, and aptly describes the
nine large viewing windows that allow our guests a glimpse into a
natural, freshwater habitat.
http://fluvarium.ca/information/fluvarium/
It is set up to be a great learning center and they have lots of activities and displays well suited to children.
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| One of the Brown Spotted Trout visible through the Fluvarium windows. |
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| We could see the light filtering down and plants growing in the environment. |
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| Dwayne in front of the viewing windows. |
We then headed back to the museum at Signal Hill that we had not been able to visit on the day when we went there before.
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| Cabot's Tower on Signal Hill |
When we had visited Cabot's Tower a couple of days ago (
http://trekincartwrights.blogspot.com/2016/08/an-early-start-to-be-among-first-to-see.html), we learned more about Marconi's feat. He had been working on wireless communications with ships in Great Britain, but there was the opinion that the radio waves could only travel in a straight line and therefore could not travel great distances around the earth. He set up a sending station in Poldhu, Cornwall, England, and went to Signal Hill, in St. John's, Newfoundland to listen. The sending station was to send the letter "s", three dots, at predetermined times each day. On December 12, 1901, Marconi was able to get an antenna aloft via kites and hear the "pip-pip-pip" signal. He had proven that wireless communication was possible.
Unfortunately, this was *not* good news to the transatlantic telegraph cable companies. The one on Newfoundland had a 50 year non-compete agreement established in 1854 with the Newfoundland government; it would not expire until 1904. Marconi moved to Nova Scotia to construct his wireless station. However, he did return after 1904 to establish his station at Cape Race, where we visited on Tuesday(http://trekincartwrights.blogspot.com/2016/08/a-long-drive-today-but-in-jeep.html), and where the messages from the Titanic were received in 1912.
We continued on our drive north from St John's today. Along the way, we stopped to take pictures of these interesting boxes.
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| We have been seeing these octagonal shaped boxes since we arrived on Newfoundland in Argentia... do *you* know what they are used for? Answer in a later blog entry.... |
Continuing northwards, we stopped at several bays on the eastern coast of Newfoundland.
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| Middle Cove beach - looking southeast |
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| Middle Cove beach looking northeast |
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| Torbay |
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| Flatrock |
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| Flatrock from an overlook |
We returned to St. John's and headed out to pick up some groceries. I had to take pictures of a couple of "Texas" themed items...
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| Texas Garlic Parmesan Toast |
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| Tex-Mex cheese |
Just to make us feel not *quite* so far from "home"....
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