the 51st state

highway driving often affords only the ugliest views of the cities and towns that got bisected for roadways. the view of the garden state from the turnpike is less than verdant, so in fairness to our kindly neighbor to the north, i'll pass on the cheap shots for cities like moncton (fastest growing region east of toronto, and canada's first officially bi-lingual city; motto : resurgo.) and amherst, with its glut of fat folks, fast food chains and deep discount stores (motto: faith in our people, pride in our products; birthplace of wyndham lewis.)

one thing small towns all over america have is the *need* to be noticed. how to get drivers to actually detour off the highway and spend a few minutes and some dollars.

in no particular order of geography or silliness, these are some of the claims to fame we passed on our trip to halifax:

• salisbury-- home of the silver fox (kenny rogers is canadian?)
• perry -- easternmost town in the u.s. (contiguously speaking, but who is to quibble?)
• nackawick -- home of the world's largest ax
• new maryland -- new brunswick's last fatal duel and final resting place
• sackville -- cultural crossroads of the maritimes
• new brunswick -- no small wonders (only big ones?)
• oxford -- blueberry capital of canada
• oromocto -- home of camp gagetown, a large canadian forces base (which tested agent orange and agent purple in the 60s, and now has dioxin levels at 143 times the canadian council of environmental ministers guidelines for maximum exposure.)
• bedford -- a traditional stopping place (for miqmaqs, or what?)
• stewiacke -- 45th parallel mid-way between the equator and the north pole (saw that claim a number of times actually)
• truro -- hub of nova scotia (also home to bible hill, which the owner misread as "bible hell")
• petitcodiac river valley -- home of magnetic hill (canada's 3rd most popular natural attraction)
  

alas, our trip was too short, and we didn't have time to stop, although the ax NOT used by paul bunyan did intrigue. maybe next time.

one little bittie thing that irked the owner was the bi-lingual road signs in new brunswick. at this point, can any french-speaking canadian with a driver's license NOT read english? really? do they have to label it both "rue" AND "street"? "chaussee" AND "road"? then boop, cross the water to nova scotia where all the signs are all english. as trivia, 62% of new brunswickers claim english as their "mother tongue", as do 92.5% of novies. qui sont tous les lecteurs français? strange bit of pacifying politics, that, eh?