devo on the move | signal hill | journal | guestbook | pictures
Saturday became a very cold and tiring day that involved me busing it out to Stavanger Drive (think Bayers Lake with less sidewalks) and didn't make it out to Signal Hill as planned. Which is okay, because Sunday was a much better day.
These are some of the photos I took, and mostly in the correct order. Nifty!
Life preservers are even recommended on the third floor at each emergency exit.
Towards the end of Downtown is a small little hill. A Hill O'Chips apparently. We're discovering this together you and I, and it makes about as much sense to me I assure you.
Sad to say, no chips were in sight and this is not Signal Hill.
This is Signal Hill, taken from the bottom of Hill O'Chips. The building on the right is the magazine depot with the guns (you'll see later) and the other building is the main tower on Signal Hill.
After a bit of a hike up the road, then some wooden stairs and a trail, I got to the top of the first hill. Then I needed to sit down and catch my breath before I fell down. Apparently drinking a smoothie through a straw is not the best occupation while hiking. Something about drinking through a straw and reduction of airflow.
Somewhere down there is where I live and work. Actually, it's pretty much at the other end of the Harbour, but still on this side. Feels so far away.
On the other side of the Hill was some sort of training exercise for the Red Shirts. Sadly, due to their overwhelming numbers, not one of them fell victim to the red-shirt curse from Star Trek. They were even carrying a gun around.
Here's the gun they were playing with. If given the choice between which of these I wanted to play with, well, it'd be a hard choice to make. While one is a piece of construction equipment, the other one is a cannon.
I did take this after the Red Shirts had packed up their training and went inside. Despite the fact that they were wearing Red Shirts (you know, those guys in Star Trek that always die first?), they did out number me by quite a bit so I kept my distance. 
And another shot of the gun that I liked.
I'm still not sure what happened here. Yeah.
Moving on...
On my way to the next part, I looked back and took a picture of the first hill. Keep in mind I'm still on the hill when looking at the two tiny figures at the top. It's a big hill.
That's where I was standing when I took the picture of St. John's.
It's an ice berg! I know, it's a bit far off, and I need a longer lens, but look at it!
The bit of land is the other side of the narrows, which, I assure you, are surprisingly narrow. There's a picture later on.
As a side note, the ice berg decided to come after me and was pretty much in the harbour on tuesday. Sadly, we also got hit with a lot of heat the next day and it broke apart before I could get a picture. Next time.
This is the drop off from where I was to the narrows below and you can see the lighthouse across the water.
And here it is (taken later in the day) with a ship nicely placed for me. I tried to thank them, but they didn't have any "How is my driving" stickers on the back.
Here's the first building I mentioned before in an earlier photo where they used to store gun powder and stuff. The intact building was closed, but had some period pieces on the inside that I could see through the windows.
As a side note, this was only a small depot with the main depot held elsewhere. Which, I'm sure was a relief to the gunnery crews as the intact building was actually their lodgings. Pretty close if you ask me.
And the guns that used the gun powder.
After all that excitement, I had to put my feet up for a bit. Matt is probably cringing right now at my military boots and absolute lack of current fashion. I'd assure him that I'll get some hiking boots eventually, but I think the damage is done.
You can't really tell, but there is someone standing down on the rocks there.
Looking back the way I came again. You can't see the first hill in this shot, but you can see the guns and the old lodgings for the gunnery crew (I bet they also wore Red Shirts). If you look straight up for the fishing boat in the harbour you'll see two major streets going through the landscape. I believe I'm right beside the one on the right.
And here's the other building on Signal Hill. The bottom has been converted into a gift shop with the usual trinkets and stuff. The turret is a very narrow staircase going up to a museum on the second floor and the top is open for visitors.
I didn't notice at first, but I believe there's two ice bergs here, though the other is really just a white speck on the horizon and could just as easily be a bit of cookie on the lens. But I'm pretty sure it's another ice berg as I had no cookies with me that day.
It's also surprising (or not surprising actually) how many people will drive up here, park in the "no parking" area, lean out the window, take a picture, and drive off. I was a little disappointed by that after my hike.
I wanted a shot of me and Signal Hill, but, not having my tripod or a friend, I went with holding my camera and hoping that I got somewhere close. Yeah, didn't look as good rotated.
Is it just me, or was the picnic table really strange?