Truro, Nova Scotia

"Truro is a hole," scoffed Timothy, a student from Halifax. "Don't go there if you can avoid it."

But somehow I ended up in Truro – twice. This grim little town was nothing more than a strip of fast food restaurants and ho-hum motels. The town offered only one high point: Giant Tiger, a quirky little department store that offered camping gear at incredibly low prices.

But most vacationers visit Truro to see the "tidal bore." The extreme tides of Nova Scotia cause certain rivers to reverse their flow; a peaceful stream is suddenly washed over by a (literal) tidal wave, and the water level rises along the banks.

At least that's the theory. I woke at 5 a.m. to witness this phenomenon, standing in the buggy cattails of the Salmon River. When the Bay of Fundy finally unleashed its tidal fury, it amounted to mere swirls and gurgling noises, as if the river had caught some hydrologic indigestion.

After a night spent in the spider-infested Tidal Bore Inn, the town had failed to impress me on any level. Truro might not be "a hole," but I was happy to skip a third night.