antigonads

after driving a few hours up the southern coast, we’re now in antogonish, nova scotia. everyone keeps asking how we ended up here of all places. good question!

after driving for about an hour out of halifax, we came across a yard sale. shanon cannot resist a good (or bad) yard sale, so we stopped. ended up chatting with the locals for about a half hour about politics and the economy.

antigonish was suggested as a decent place to stop for the night. it’s a college town, after all.

well, the first thing we notice is that all of the college buildings have crosses on them… yep – it’s a catholic school. the town has one bar. the bartender — a cool guy — was majoring in catholic studies.

before starting to drink, we decided it would be a good idea to secure accomodations. we’re trying to keep things on the thrifty side, so we initiated our usual procedure: find the most dive-like motel, check the rates, and stay if it’s cheap. antigonish has no cheap rooms. they do, however, have cheap camping lots… and a wal-mart… and a sale on tents…

so now i own a decent little tent and a sleeping bag. our new plan is to look for decent campgrounds wherever possible. this place has clean showers and free wi-fi for $27 (canadian) per night. not too shabby, eh?

a few random observations…

* the canadians hate the americans. well, not hate, but they see us collectively as pompus. i’ve been conducting a non-scientific survey on the topic.

* nova scotia’s coast has dozens upon dozens of towns. all have a huge church and just a few scattered houses.

* they have washrooms up here — not restrooms or bathrooms.

* i’ve actually not heard “, eh?” at all. very disappointing.