Nicole wanted to see the Goo Goo Dolls play when she heard they were coming to Newfoundland. Unfortunately, they weren't coming to our second-rate city.
They were coming to St. John's, but she said it wasn't worth driving 14 hours over a single weekend. The other place they were coming though, was Grand Falls-Windsor - a city only 265km0 away.
It made no difference to me that it was on a Tuesday night. We could leave after work, drive for 3 hours, eat dinner, concert, drive 3 hours & get home around 2am. No big deal.
I went ahead and bought the tickets and threw them into the least sappy card that I could find. She opened the card & grew confused, but when I explained that I could drive & that she could sleep on the way back, she was all for it.
The February weather of Newfoundland did us no favours & it took over 3 hours to make it to Grand Falls-Windsor.
Thankfully the hearty crooning of El Gordo helped with the drive.
The concert was at the Joe Byrne Memorial Stadium, which instantly became my favourite Newfoundland arena when I finally made it inside this day.
Built in 1949, before Newfoundland was even included in Canada, the arena is very classical with its arched, angle-iron beam ceiling, and standing-room only areas at the rink ends.
I have to come back here for a hockey game.
Today I was here to see the Goo Goo Dolls though. They certainly aren't my favourite band, but I was happy that they came to Newfoundland & not some knife-my-throat, god-awful band like Maroon 5 or Bruno Mars. At least the Goo Goo Dolls have a couple of classic, non-aggravating songs.
The singer seemed a bit washed up & depressed though; I guess that'll happen when you sing Black Balloon for the 10 000th time.
I imagine he must have cheered up a bit at the sight of the old arena though. Surely.
Eventually it was time to drive 3 hours through the snowy darkness.
I arrived home around 2, slept for 5 hours, drank a Monster, & the next day was completely fine.