MOPS Convention in Indy

Thursday, Sept 17 - Sunday, Sept 20:  MOPS convention in Indianapolis - Momcon 2015

Fourteen women (13 MOPS mamas and me, Mentor Mom) left Kalona at 6 am Thursday morning to drive in Indianapolis for the international conventions for MOPS.  Most of us stayed at the JW Marriott where the convention was held.  What a fabulous weekend of worshipping with 3000 women, speakers, break-out sessions, eating out, and bonding together!  

Music at worship by Matt Maher

Group photo with Matt Maher

Friday evening out all together at Bucca's

With speaker Jen Hatmaker

Saturday night - watching the Iowa Hawkeyes in the JW bar.

St. John's, Newfoundland Canada

And we are off......after a week at home!  Don has been invited to speak/coach in St. John's, Newfoundland Canada so we boarded in Cedar Rapids on September 8th for a week in this new location.  Three legs of the flight:  CR to Chicago (less than an hour), Chicago to Toronto (about an hour) and Toronto to St. John's (three hours).  We missed our flight in Toronto but we had solved that before leaving Chicago and caught the next one.  We arrived in St. John's about 9 pm.  St. John's is 2 1/2 hours ahead of Iowa time.  We've never been in a time zone that changed by 1/2 hour - strange!

Far east island is Newfoundland and St. John's
is on the NE tip.  

Our Canadian host/coach picked us up at the airport and took us to our "home" for this week.  We are staying in a 2 bed/2 bath beautiful condo looking out over the St. John's harbor.

View from the condo

Highlights of our time in St. John's

First morning brunch at Mallard Cottage
What a great way to get the Newfoundland feel by having brunch here in the Quidi Vidi village.  I had the Eggs Benny which was beyond delicious with hash brown patty on the bottom, smoked brisket then the eggs and sauce.  Wedges completed my meal.  Don had the famous "meat and eggs" breakfast.
After breakfast we walked through the village to the Quidi Vidi Brewing Co but they were not open for tours that day.

Mallard Cottage

Eggs Benny with wedges

Quidi Vidi lake behind the brewery

Boat Tour
A two hour boat trip out the harbor and into the Atlantic Ocean did not provide us with views of whales, puffins or ice bergs as we had hoped.  Wrong time of year for those I guess, but we did enjoy the trip.

Heading out St. John's Bay

Love the colorful buildings

Cabot Tower on Signal Hill

A lighthouse at the mouth of the bay

Cape Spear

Cape Spear - the most Eastern land mass of North America

Dinner Theater
We are always looking for a fun theater night when we travel.  We attended a dinner theater at the Spirit of Newfoundland (the old Masonic Temple) and had a delicious meal of cod and pork tenderloin.  The musical was "It's my Party and I'll Bawl if I Want to" which was funny and included lots of musical numbers.

Hiking up Signal Hill
Sitting atop Signal Hill is Cabot Tower.  Built in a late Gothic Revival style and standing at 30 feet, it was completed in 1900.  The British Military first used Signal Hill know as the Lookout at the time, primarily for flag signaling ships approaching the city.  In 1901 Marconi received the first trans-Atlantic wireless message at a position near the tower.

We hiked going up the hill via the sidewalk by the road and hiked down on the bay side via the North Side trail.  Wow!

At the top of Cabot Tower looking out over the Atlantic Ocean

Looking out over St. John's Bay

Hiking down the trail!

Looking back at Cabot Tower

That's where we were headed!

Almost back to St. John's!

Buildings and Landmarks in St. John's

War Memorial

Court House

George St houses the most bars and pubs per sq. foot of any street
in North America and it's roughly 2 blocks long.  

Raymond's - Voted Canada's Best New Restaurant
The steak was delicious!

Cathedral of St. John the Baptist
Anglican Church of Canada

Beautiful (and unusual) stone interior

St. Andrew's Presbyterian church  1893
Built by brick and stone imported from Scotland.

The Rooms
A historic location once occupied by Fort Townshend
now houses art gallery, archives, museum and wonderful cafe

From inside The Rooms
It's name and architecture comes from a reference to the
simple gable-roofed sheds called "fishing rooms" that were
once common in fishing villages.

Panoramic views of downtown and the harbor from the cafe.
Delicious lobster mac and cheese and seafood medley.

Basilica of St. John the Baptist, 1855

Colorful houses!

Restaurants and Foods
Mallard Cottage - Eggs Benny
                             Eggs and Meat
Spirit of Newfoundland - Cod and Pork Tenderloin
Duke of Duckworth - Fish and Chips (complete with stuffing and gravy for the french fries)
Raymond's - Steak Diane
Oliver's - Sunday brunch:  fish cakes and eggs, egg panini

Screech In!

Newfoundland screech is a rum blended and bottled by the Newfoundland & Labrador Liquor Corporation.  The term screech is often used to describe any cheap, high alcohol spirit.  It's use in a traditional Newfoundland ceremony called the "screech in" where non-native Newfoundlanders become honorary Newfoundlanders via a shot of screech, kissing a cos, and a short recitation.  We were "screeched in" at Christian's on George Street with Ian, Erica, and Sarah in attendance.

Time to kiss the cod! 

And now a shot of rum

After reciting some irish nonsense we were declared "screeched in"
and honorary Newfoundlanders!
Long may-yer big jib-jrah! - may your sails always catch wind.