Sappyfest

Yaahhh...we finally have a good internet connection again.

Ok, so we will never, never whine about hot weather again! We have been in Canada for a couple of weeks and have seen the sun about twice during that time. During that time we have arrived at two great realizations;1) Hot weather is better than rainy weather and 2) we will not live in a northern climate again if we can help it...oh, and 3) Greyhound sucks big time...they still have no clue what happened to our suitcase full of gifts that we shipped across the country ahead of us before we took off and apparently couldn't care less. Anyway, I think I am starting to whine again so I will shift back to the trip.

We left Quebec a week ago and rode through off and on weather until just outside of Fredericton. No sunshine but not really any significant rainfall most of the way. However, the heavens opened as we approached Fredericton. And when I say they opened, I am not fooling around. In five minutes we were totally drenched through and through, visibility was nill, and there were rivers of water an inch deep running along the roadside and across it. We stopped at the first motel we could find and stayed the night. The next day we headed for Sackville to meet up with my son, Pat, who is attending Mount Allison University and to also attend the Sappyfest Music Festival over the next three days.

The town of Sackville was your typical university town with great a great bookstore, coffee shops, lots of music happening on a regular basis, with a little theatre and art thrown in for good measure. The houses were mostly well kept, large and beautiful. We stayed with Pat for the weekend in a large old "mansion" he is sharing with six or seven other students. The number of people staying at the house reached over forty as it was also a billeting location for several bands and other visitors, including a dozen or more tents in the backyard. In fact, they started giving out the address at the ticket booth when people were looking for a place to camp for the weekend! It was definitely a Do Drop Inn for the weekend.

The festival was incredible and is definitely one of the best kept secrets so far. Over 60 "indie" bands played over the three day period from 11:00am to 2:00 am each day. That is one hell of a lot of music. The Eagles had a concert down the road the same weekend but I would not have traded places with anyone. I loved The Eagles in their day but to pay $240 to $1000 to listen to a "has been" group was no match for a $75 weekend of new, incredible music by 64 wonderful bands. It is well worth the trip for anyone remotely close to Sackville or even those far away. Of course, it rained most of the weekend but the concert was under cover so it didn't really matter.

We took off on Monday to PEI. Again, the rain and clouds continued but we managed to get to our reserved room without getting too wet. During most of our two night stay, the wind blew, the rain and mist were eternal, and the temperature was freezing...well a high of 59F seemed "freezing" to us. That is a drop of 60 degrees F from the first part of our trip! We were looking forward to the motel room to regroup and warm up but guess what?....the rooms were unheated! "Air conditioned rooms" was well advertised on their outdoor sign and in the PEI accomodation guide. We didn't think to ask if the rooms were heated...duh...the place is open from May to October and over $100 a night. Oh well, live and learn.

Suffice it to say we were not impressed with PEI other than the 13.9 km Confederation Bridge. Now that really was something else. It was the first place we visited on this trip that we couldn't wait to leave. The clerks in most of the shops we visited couldn't have cared less that we had entered or not, some didn't even bother looking up. The weather was downright miserable. It cost $15 to go look at Cavendish Beach. If L.M. Montgomery had not been born there and written Anne of Green Gables, I don't know how they would survive. The person serving us food on the ferry was downright rude. The motel room was unheated...oh yeah, I think I mentioned that. Other than those few oversights, it was a wonderful place to visit.

Today we arrived in Halifax where we will be staying for a few nights before heading back to Quebec City and then Ontario, our final destination. It is supposed to be rainy and miserable for the next week so we have decided against riding around the Cabot Trail and the Gaspe Peninsula. Instead, we will stay here in the city and take in the sights. But we are still having a great time and have missed most of the rain that is circulating around us while riding.

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