After loading up the car rental with as much of my sisters junk as we could squeeze in, we started the three hour drive North to Antigonish. Antigonish, Nova Scotia is unique little town that is home to St. Francis Xavior University. one of the best Universities found in Canada. Some would say it’s the education, others would just say that it’s the parties, the community or the old campus. Either way, it’s a beautiful town that is worthy of checking out, whether you plan on getting some education, or just want to see a youthful town populated by University students and a few thousand locals.
Once we finished unloading everything, we decided to check out a few local attractions in Nova Scotia. We took the sunshine trail over to Pomquet Beach to enjoy the warm Nova Scotian Weather. Pomquet Beach is a coastal beach overlooking St. Georges Bay. The rolling waves and warm saltwater was enough to shake off any cramped legs caused by the hours of driving. The only thing that could have made that moment more perfect was if one of those good looking university girls on the beach offered me one of their beers. Maybe I wasn’t flexing enough. Ha!
That night we went to Pipers, one of the few pubs in town, to enjoy some music along with some Rye and Cokes. There was a great student Jazz band playing, getting their groove on. Now if you’re a jazz fan, I’m sure you would loved this, I however am not, don’t get me wrong, they were good at what they did, it just wasn’t my thing. So I made it a mission to drink myself to “deaf”, a new technique I’m still working on. It however, didn’t work. It turns out you will get kicked out long before silence occurs. Next time.
The following morning we woke up, grabbed a bagel and a coffee from Tim Hortons, and went on another little road trip to see Cape George, a supposed great view of the cliffs, rocks and rolling hills of Nova Scotia. After kilometers of winding roads, followed by a few detours, we were just about to make the bend towards the tip of Cape George. Unfortunately, as luck would have it, construction had blocked the highway as a dead end, with a “Locals Only” sign. Seeing as my sister is a local of the area for a few more semesters, we saw no reason why we couldn’t sneak by and see the view we drove all the way out for. After a few more dips and turns, we came across a huge landslide that had blocked the highway off completely, part of the wake of destruction left by Hurricane Bill.We snapped what few shots we could, and continued along the highway until reaching Mahoneys Beach. We didn’t stay too long as the tide had just gone down, leaving meters of seaweed and debris. I did manage to score a few more shots, but decided to call it a day and went back to our hotel room in Antigonish.
My sisters stuff had been completely unpacked, her room was pretty much setup and ready to be lived and learned in, so the following morning Justin and myself said our farewells to my sister, and drove back to Halifax. We had roughly 4 hours to kill before our flight would take us back to the prairies, so we chose to spend it in downtown Halifax. We had a beer at Gatsby’s on Spring Garden Road, took a walk around the Wharf, watched a few fellow buskers, checked out a couple of the universities in Halifax, and enjoyed some local seafood.
Nova Scotia is a strange, albeit familiar place in Canada. There are subtle differences from the Maritimes to the rest of the country, from the way they say “Cawwwr” (for Car), or they’re obsession with all things seafood related (even mussels). The people honestly are some of the worlds friendliest, each city has it’s own unique soul to it, and everyone seems generally happy. Many people, Canadians included, never consider the Maritimes as a potential vacation destination. Fact of the matter is, it’s cheap, the food is great, there’s so much to see, even more to do, and not a day will go by that you’d rather trade it in for something else. Go travel Nova Scotia, the sooner the better.
Read Part One here
Read Part Two Here
Read Part Three Here