We hit the Trans Canada Highway (TCH) before 11:00 AM en route to Newfoundland via "Nart" Sydney. As always, we had prepared the car with food, drink, and entertainment, some of which would last the entire trip! The route, through Whycocomagh, Baddeck and over Kelly's Mountain, served us gorgeous weather, with the highways tolerable as far as traffic. We were quickly scurried into the Argentia line-up, well ahead of our departure time. Of note... you need identification to board for all passengers, so we made sure that we brought our passports especially for this. By 2:30 PM (after filling with gas) we had come to rest in the queue to board the HV Atlantic Vision.

So, with some time to spare we abandoned the car and took a stroll around the neighbourhood (Note: You can leave the terminal area but need to pass security in and out and require your boarding pass and ID to regain access). We hadn't been to North Sydney for several years, the last time being one of Peter's basketball tournaments. However, we quickly got our bearings and found our way around having a great walk. Along the way we managed to arrange a quick mug-up at Wendy's, source a couple of bottles of red, and raid the wine glass section at the Salvation Army Store. Mission accomplished.

We were a little late boarding the ferry, with our 5:00 PM departure actually occurring close to 6:00 PM (6:30 in NFLD), and we ended up parking in G5 Deck. We had reserved a cozy 4 berth room that would serve as the evenings lodging. Not the Ritz, but absolutely all the essentials. After leaving the pier we lounged about on the 7th deck for a bit and the kids enjoyed some checkers, while Janie and I checked in and gathered some Newfoundland Tourism literature. They've got it going on pretty good, with lots of high and low tech options for gathering information. I think some of that Newfoundland Tourism marketing money is beginning to have an impact.

Back at the berth, Janie served up some of the sandwich fixings we had packed and all hands grubbed up. Seas were calm, with only the slightest hint of a pitch, so the emergency Gravol we tucked into the cooler wasn't even close to being necessary. In fact, the adults had a glass of fancy North Sydney red, from the newly purchased "Wilson Creek Winery" glasses and spent the evening relaxing. Monica had brought playing cards so we topped off the evening with a few hands of Crazy Eights. Then off to bed for a warm but decent sleep (especially after Janie sought some directions from information and figured out how to pull some cool air into the room).