The East Coast

So husband and I are experiencing culture shock. The first bit of this involved toll roads. Washington State just got a toll bridge recently. It was a very big deal, lots of angry people, etc. Good times. Well here, just about every time you go on the interstate, you pay a toll. Sometimes twice, if you cross from one state to another. This really confused us while we were driving north on Monday, because we'd already paid a toll to get onto the interstate in Boston. Then we realized that Massachusetts had ended, and we'd entered New Hampshire. Just when we got used to that, we left New Hampshire. It lasted ten minutes. I'd like to see some of these folks go out west where you can drive in Montana for eight hours and still be in Montana two days later. That'd break their little brains. We saw a house that was a little ways out of town (like two miles) and the landlord actually said that it wasn't "that long" of a drive. Like two miles was a real hardship.

Also, everything is older, and the apartments look funny. Almost all of the buildings are converted from something else; most are old manors or boarding houses. Nearly all are at least fifty years old, although one building we looked at was nearly one hundred years old. As such, everything, even the nice places, is cobbled together in a funny fashion. Takes some getting used to. These places would not work on the west coast; no one would want to rent them. I've really had to work on the whole not judging a book by its cover. We found two really nice apartments that are quite lovely on the inside but less than ideal on the outside. I suppose it's a common cliche for people of all sorts, but when I come from a state where apartment buildings are pretty awesome looking, it's difficult.