The BEST two days in St. John’s, Newfoundland!

Six weeks ago we hopped on a seven-hour ferry to head to Newfoundland, and since then we've road tripped across the island checking out different national parks, small towns, and epic coastal scenery as we made our way east to St. John's. St. John's is the largest city in Newfoundland and one of the oldest cities in North America, and over the next couple days we're going to experience some of its history, colorful streets, delicious local eats, and beautiful views. And our adventures are starting with an early wake-up call. Today we're going to be some of the first people to see the sunrise in North America. We're at Cape Spear, which is said to be the easternmost point of North America. However, this is heavily debated and it depends on how you determine the easternmost point. Some people say it's in Alaska, which stretches into the eastern hemisphere, while some people say it's in Greenland, which is technically on the North American tectonic plate. So just to be safe we're going to say we're at the easternmost point of Canada, and to be even safer we're going to say the easternmost point of Newfoundland. This reminds me so much of when we were at Acadia National Park on top of Cadillac Mountain for sunrise, which at the time of year we went was the first place in the U.S. to see the sunrise. Similar to that day, it is very cold out so we're bundled up in our sleeping bag. We have our coffee, we have all the layers on, and it looks like it's going to be a really good one. The sunrise was amazing, but I think the star of the show are these waves. They are huge. They are probably the biggest waves we have ever seen. I could seriously stand here and watch these waves all day long. They are gigantic, and when they crash on the rocks they make this loud thunderous roar. It is just insane, but we're forcing ourselves to go because we still have a lot more that we want to see today. So as we mentioned, St. John's is the largest city in Newfoundland, but you won't find many large buildings here. But what you will find are some very colorful ones. St. John's is known for having these vibrant colorful buildings which have the nickname jellybean row, but it's not just one row of them. You can find them all over town. So there are a couple different theories on why they paint their houses these bright colors. One is that decades ago fishermen would paint their house the same bright color as their boat. That way they could spot their house through the fog. Another is that it was done in the 70s to help revitalize the town and add some fun and color. Whatever the true reason is, we love it. It feels pretty crazy to be walking around a larger city. Over the past six weeks we've been in nothing but super tiny towns, and St. John's feels completely different from anywhere we've been in Newfoundland. Even though it is bigger here, it still feels like a smaller city type feel where it's very walkable. The downtown area has a bunch of shops, restaurants, and bars, including a whole street dedicated to bars and pubs called George Street. And if you drink, one thing you should take part in on George Street is a very famous Newfoundland ceremony called a screech-in. This is where come from aways or non-Newfoundlanders can become honorary Newfoundlanders. You recite some local sayings, kiss a cod, and take a shot of screech, which is a rum with 40% alcohol. It kind of reminds us of the sour toe cocktail in Dawson City, but trade the frostbitten toe for cod lips. We don't drink, so we're gonna pass on it, but if you do drink, you gotta do it. So you may be thinking, wait, you just said you don't drink, so why are you at a brewery? But Baron and Brewing is more than just beer. They have coffee, they have some non-alcoholic drinks like this homemade soda water, and they have a Thai restaurant called Nam Jim, which we hear amazing things about. We have a few goodies coming from soon. First up, we have crispy pork belly. Hubba hubba. Oh baby. These are piping hot, juicy, crispy, so tender. And then this sauce here, a little bit sweet, a little bit spicy. Perfect combo. Oh, it melts in your mouth. That's delicious. And next, we have their sticky wings, which is covered in peanut, praline, fresh herbs, and fish sauce. So crispy on the outside. Holy smokes. Being covered in peanuts, they have a big-time peanut flavor. And then that batter on the outside makes it super crispy, but they're also tender and juicy on the inside. Some people say these are too salty. They even have a t-shirt that says, these wings are too salty. We don't really think they're too salty, but we're big salt fans, and they also have a little sweet kick to them. Last but not least, we have the have a nice day fries, which are probably the most beautiful, colorful fries I have ever seen. They have some peanuts on there, they have their special mayo, pickled onions, looks like a bunch of herbs, some sesame seeds. It's a little bit sweet, a little bit nutty, a little bit spicy, a little crunchy. Oh my goodness. Those might be like the best loaded fries I've ever had. Oh, it's like the perfect just flavor combination. Next up, we've come to The Rooms, which is a very popular museum here in St. John's, and it houses the province's most extensive collection of art, artifacts, and historical records. There are tons of cool things in The Rooms to check out, literally. Touch an iceberg. We miss the icebergs here, so I'm gonna touch one. Wow, look at that. It's heavy and so cold. There are a variety of exhibits like an Irish history exhibit, exhibit on wildlife and indigenous history, multiple art galleries, a fantastic finds exhibit where you can see archaeology discoveries found in the province, plus an exhibit on Newfoundland's military. You get to dress up in old-time clothing. Awesome. I've dreamt of this. I'm a nurse. Is this how you do it? Do you think this is how you do it? But besides the exhibits, the building itself is super neat. Its design mirrors Newfoundland fishing rooms and has a huge wall of windows plus an observation deck with an amazing view of the city. For our final stop of the day, we're heading to Signal Hill, and while you can drive there, we've decided to hike there instead on the North Head Trail, and the first part of the hike is taking us through the Battery, which is an area of town that has these narrow streets and colorful homes that are all tucked up into the cliffside. This trail is pretty wild. You are just skirting along the edge of a cliff with basically a drop-off to your death on one side. It gets pretty narrow, and they even have this one section where there's some chains to hold on to, so if you have a fear of heights, you might just want to drive to the top. It's also crazy windy, so you feel like you're just gonna fly right off. My shirt just keeps flying up. I'm almost flashing everyone. Just gotta tuck it in. You almost have to lean into it to walk. I wonder if we ran off. We made it without flying over the edge. Not only does Signal Hill have amazing views of the ocean and St. John's, but its location played an important role in signaling. Starting in the early 1700s, this area was used for military signaling. Flags were raised on a mast to signal that a ship was arriving, and as St. John's grew as an important commercial port, this flag signaling shifted to notify of merchant vessels arriving. It also has a fog gun that was used to warn about foggy conditions. But besides signaling, it was an important site for transatlantic communication. There have been many communication feats that have happened here, but the most famous was in 1901 when Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless signal on Signal Hill. The letter S was transmitted from a station in Cornwall, England, 3,500 kilometers away. Well, the wind was fun for a bit, but I think we've had enough for today. This morning, we're exploring Kitty Vitty, which is a quaint historic fishing village that's tucked into a narrow harbor less than 10 minutes from downtown St. John's. Not only is it known for being super picturesque with all these colorful fishing stages, but also for a couple very popular businesses like Kitty Vitty Brewing, which is famous for its iceberg beer made out of water from the icebergs that float to Newfoundland, and for Mallard Cottage, which was built in the 1800s and is one of the oldest residential structures in St. John's. Today, it is a well-loved restaurant that is said to be one of the top 20 restaurants in Canada and was even visited by Anthony Bourdain. We actually had brunch there a couple days ago, and it was amazing. The interior has this cozy, rustic vibe, and for brunch, we got fish cakes and a brisket eggs benedict, and both were incredible. I am fully convinced that they flew this brisket in from Texas. It, there's no, like, they had to have. This is so good, and I'm a brisket snob. But our favorite part was that on the weekends, they have a cake table. So how it works is you can buy a small box or a big box and stuff it with as many desserts as you can fit in there. So we're gonna pack this thing as much as we can get. The number one thing we wanted to try on that table, the carrot cake. It was definitely more than we typically spend on food, but everything was very high quality, and we absolutely loved it. One of our favorite things about St. John's so far is that it is surrounded by nature. The city is located on the Avalon Peninsula, which is home to the East Coast Trail. This is a 336 kilometer trail that runs along the coast and is popular for both through hikers and day hikers. There are 25 different paths that make up the East Coast Trail, with quite a few of them located close to St. John's, and for the rest of the day, we're gonna go hike one of them. We had such a hard time deciding which trail to hike today because all of them look incredible, but we ultimately decided on the Stiles Cove Path, which is going to be around 15.7 kilometers round trip, and just from the first few steps, it is insane. We have these massive waves just crashing on the shore. There's a cove up ahead. I can see some crazy cliffs off in the distance. I think we picked a good one. This trail has been nothing short of incredible pretty much the entire way, and now we have come up to this amazing formation along the coast here. One of the coolest things I've ever seen. A huge cove here, but then there's an arch down there that also looks like a cave, and then the water can rush in, and it's like got a horseshoe bend like coming back out through this cove. Never seen anything like that. Another thing that's completely blowing my mind on this trail is the water color. Look how blue that is. It looks like the Caribbean or like a glacial lake. It is so vibrant. We have made it to the turnaround point of the trail, and it ends with this majestic waterfall cascading down the cliffs and spilling into the ocean. Also, we've seen some pretty gnarly waves since we've been in the St. John's area, but the waves right here might be the most intense we have ever seen. They are exploding into the air and then flying over the rocks. It's like the power of the water in this one spot is just mind-blowing. It has been an awesome couple days here in St. John's and a fun change of pace from the rest of Newfoundland. Unfortunately, our time in the province is rapidly coming to an end, but we have one final adventure left, which is going to bring us back to the East Coast Trail, but to a different part of it for a one-night backpacking trip.