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One of my favorite places on the West Coast is the South Shore highway on the Bay of Islands.  It is about a 60-km stretch of fishing villages, the Blomidon mountains (say that one out loud and you'll get it) and at land's end, a place called Bottle Cove.

This is the Cook's Brook swimming hole.  There's a big pool under the falls and in summer, people flock to this refreshing, sparkling clean stream.

This is the big sky, before reaching York Harbour.

The Blomidon Mountains

This waterfall was extremely far away...and so large that we could HEAR it in the distance.

A zoomed-in shot.  Wouldn't it be cool to hike up there and see how big that thing really is?

This is a rocky beach where we stopped to hang out for a while.  The weather was superb, sunny, warm, breezy...

I saw this slope and could not resist practicing some directional exercises with the dogs for SAR.  I sent them all the way to the top.

Connie snapped this neat photo of me and Presto.  This pretty much sums up our relationship.  What a sweet dog.

This is near Lark Harbour.

And here's the bog visible as you drive out to Bottle Cove.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

The next day was Search and Rescue training day in Gros Morne National Park.  We woke to a torrential downpour.  Reba and Connie had graciously volunteered to be victims in the woods the day before (when it was sunny and warm).  Hee hee.  They should know.  Lost people only get lost in bad weather.  So therefore, training days are never cancelled due to torrential downpours.

I was disappointed, because the low ceiling and the rain prevented Reba and Connie from getting a real view of the park.  Kevin was in a mood...oooooh boy.  He was NOT happy to be on the adventure.    Here's the view from the first real lookout point.  Connie was afraid I was going to drive the van over the edge.  Connie, Connie, Connie.

On the way to the training area, Reba spotted several moose that were miles away.  She should be a sniper.  How on earth she saw them I don't know.

It is impossible to describe how hard it was raining.  Everything was wet.  We had really good gear and even a shelter building, but still, it was WET and cold and long and dirty.  And fun!

Connie rescinded her volunteer services because we couldn't find the right combination of gear to outfit all of us.  She oversaw the Hell Child in the shelter.  The Hell Child proceeded to load up on chips, cookies, hot dogs, banana bread, and diet Coke.  We had brought the Hell Child's scooters in hopes the weather would clear so that he could ride around.  Nope.  But that didn't stop him.  He just rode around in the rain, got wet, then rode around in the shelter.  Over people's toes.

Here's Reba in her victim outfit.  She hid in the woods for a majority of the day.

Afterwards we went and had a lovely sit-down / warm-up coffee and snack at the Treasure House in Rocky Harbour.  Connie bought some wool socks.

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Stay tuned for more adventures!