I had a friend going down to the Codroy Valley, which is about 2 hours south of Corner Brook.

I took it as an opportunity to go cycling. It was an absolutely miserable day though, as the rain was pouring down from the dreary sky.

I was excited to check off a new hamlet called The Block; so I took a break from riding in the pouring rain to check out this house.

It was slightly deteriorating inside! Haha!

After spending 2 or 3 hours riding 60km in the Codroy Valley rain, it was nice to get back to the cabin & clean up with a warm shower.

We went out to the Cape Anguille Lighthouse for sunset that night. We had been there for the previous night's sunset as well. I really wish Cape Anguille was a cooler lighthouse, as I swear I've seen the sun set from this cape about 5 or 6 times now.

We drove back down the next weekend as we had heard about a Gray Catbird sighting in the Codroy Valley.

I normally think bird people are completely out of their gourd when they talk about the sounds birds make...but the Catbird does make a sound which is somewhat similar to a cat's meow. It was strange & neat all at the same time.

There was also another bird in the area, which led us on a wild goose black-billed cuckoo chase up a dirt road.

I didn't mind the explore up the road, as there were some isolated, aged houses; along with some very old cars rotting in the woods & along the river shores.

We walked along the river in search of the black-billed cuckoo as well, but couldn't find it there either.

It was still worthwhile as the river was shallow & scenic...and we saw a Cedar Waxwing on the way back.

We continued down to Port-Aux-Basques for dinner. Their cab company has a funny marketing pitch, as they use Christmas trees to represent their phone number; since many Newfies don't pronounce their h's, so it becomes Tree instead of Three (and 'arbour, 'ole, 'olly as well).

A couple weekends later, I went driving up the Northern Peninsula.

Pulling into Bellburns, I discovered that the house I explored very shortly after coming to Newfoundland, had been demolished. The first picture is from the fall of 2008 and the second is what I found this day.

I'm pretty sure they just recently burnt down the house, as I've always gawked at it while driving on the 430 up the Northern Peninsula (and it has been there for the last couple years).

I continued north to Spirity Cove.

Spirity Cove is a tiny community which is no longer settled in the winter & only serves as summer fishing premises. I actually never even knew about Spirity Cove until my friend brought it to my attention, so I was psyched to drive the gravel road through the woods, along the shore, through a village & then walk along the path to Spirity Cove.

Obscure place? Yeah I think this counts.

Walking back to the car from the Spirity Cove, there was a Gray Jay kicking around the house we parked in front of.

Spirity Cove had an area with 10 or 15 homes, so it was slightly larger than the first Spirity Cove picture leads you to believe.

I noticed one of the homes was wide open, so I peaked inside for a second. The entire floor was rotted out, so I couldn't do much besides stand in the front doorframe.

With a little bit of time left in the day after Spirity Cove, I actually turned off Highway 430 & went into the town of Barr'd Harbour. I would have did this before, but I never realized there was any more to the town than the 3 homes along the main highway. Topographic maps can be a beautiful thing.

While it wasn't a bustling metropolis, I was surprised that there was an actual wharf & village of Barr'd Harbour - with about 9 houses.

I'm sure the sunset didn't hurt my level of enjoyment while exploring Barr'd Harbour.

The next morning I took my time getting back to Corner Brook & pulled off the highway into even more towns.

This is Portland Creek - a place of 81 people, which I never envisioned to be anything more than a small loop road. It ends up they have actual stores, and playgrounds, and even a beautiful house at the end of a winding drive.

They also have the Pussy Palace!

(I posted this on facebook and my friends had some pretty good comments about attaching barrels so it would float, having it pulled by the Intrepid & the fact that this trailer has been erected in recognition of my accomplishments (which is the definition of facetious)).

We stopped at one last place, as I've driven past the steps down to this shipwreck about 20 times now. On this day, my friend finally made me stop, because she couldn't believe I hadn't stopped when "I'm in to that type of thing."

I never stopped because I knew there wasn't much to the S.S. Ethie besides the boiler, engine block & some other scrap metal.

It was a nice day & it was nice to finally check it out.