September was already looking good with camping at that abandoned cove, plus an upcoming visit from my friend Rosie, but then it just went through the roof when Shelloo asked if I'd drive to Grand Falls-Windsor if she paid for gas and lunch.

A free and refreshing escape from Corner Brook to another sizable town?!? Sign me up!

Shelloo's whole motivation for going to Grand Falls-Windsor was to pick up a treadmill which wouldn't fit in her little car. Looking up the specs on my car, she said it would fit and boy did it just fit.

Shelloo is physically in the above scene, but she's behind the box in the back passenger seat.

Another selling point was knowing Shelloo would be up for a bird watching, biking, or exploring detour anywhere along the way.

The exciting part of this was that I'd recently noticed during my daily poring over Google Maps, that I'd only seen about 60% of the 722-person town of Robert's Arm. There were eleven whole side streets that were totally new to me without having to take a seven-hour ferry or fly off the island. How exciting!

An exciting path between houses in Robert's Arm.

I love the little window into a village/town/city's life that an unsanctioned pathway provides. It also feels a bit like abandoned building exploring in that you're walking somewhere you're not supposed to be.

Spending my Saturday driving to Grand Falls-Windsor was already paying dividends.

Noticing this rundown Salvation Army church, I figured it was worth a closer look, but like so many of these small churches in rural Newfoundland, it had been sold and was now being used for storage.

Almost immediately after stepping out of the car in Robert's Arm, a loose dog ran up on us and we suddenly knew we were in rural Newfoundland.

This lazy cat was a much better find over on Orlando Road.

Rosie arrived in Corner Brook in the coming days and I was able to sell the group on going to the Cloud 9 Lounge for a drink, as it was one of the last bars in Corner Brook that I hadn't visited.

Isy had actually been here before, so she led the way with some familiarity up a tight staircase made tighter by dark blue walls, where she pointed out a sign she loved saying that outside drinks were prohibited, but "Tim Horton's drinks accepted".

I'm pretty sure they were going for excepted, but I guess accepted works?

The Cloud 9 Lounge is located on the second floor, where we opened the accepted door and the Video Lotto Terminals were right there beside us. Grabbing a handful of beers, Isy was confused because for years she'd claimed that she'd been here and that there was a Ford Mustang pool table.

That was enough to always put this place on my radar, but now that I was here, where exactly was this car pool table?

The bartender laughed and shook his head, saying that there was never a Ford Mustang pool table here. And he spoke as if he he'd been here a while and there had never been a Mustang pool table during Isy's Corner Brook tenure.

It should also be said that between the two of us we've been in every dive in Corner Brook, so it's not like this pool table exists in some other place either, lol. Memories can be a funny thing.

The bartender seemed excited that people were here for something besides the lottery terminals, leading him to ask if we wanted him to turn on the fireplace display.

Heck yeah we did!

I didn't ask about all the cats, but I wish I did.

I put in a few hours trying to find any information about the Cloud 9 Lounge and all I could find was this old matchbook for sale on eBay.

As Close To Heaven As You Can Get.

In addition to seedy lounges, of course we had to get some camping in and I knew just the spot over on the Port au Port.

With the wind up a bit, we decided to put the tents over in the trees and I told the group to be careful as there was a bit of detritus around. Pronouncing 'detritus' wrong, they then mocked me and laughed it up for the next five minutes, asking if I thought there was any det-trid-us where they were putting up their tent or if I noticed the det-trid-us over in the trees. Smh.

The sunset was one of those ones where there's a cloud ceiling and the sun only comes out for a tiny sliver as it approaches the horizon. That of course didn't really matter, as we were all on cloud nine, happy to be back out camping together.

Tonight was supposed to be a chilly one though, so it wasn't all cheery bullshittin' by the shore, as we eventually needed to scour the shore of its plentiful driftwood.

Both Rosie and Shelloo would doze off around the same time, and I was very excited to have one more beer in the cool night, as the shore lapped nearby and migrating birds chirped overhead. I realized the key here too, to keep the fire quietly stoked, providing a steady and comforting warmth.

Except me being who I am, I boozily threw too much driftwood on the fire and it got a little large, heating up Shelloo's leg and waking her up. Damnit! Haha.

I probably shouldn't have been so keen to stay up late, since bacon, eggs, brie, and salami by the ocean was for breakfast.

Following breakfast we went for a spin out to Blue Beach, which remains one of the most scenic villages on the island.

We also stopped in Stephenville to do something neither Shelloo or I had ever done before - play disc golf, aka frolf!

The most interesting thing here was that the park used to be the site of 80 homes that were flooded out by the overflowing Blanche Brook in 2005. Some of these houses had sewage in them and had to be abandoned, while the government also paid off other people simply to get them and their houses out of the flood zone.

I remember seeing intense video of the floods in Stephenville, but I had no idea this swath of land, or this number of houses, was affected. About the only thing I knew was that they had to demolish their wood skatepark after it sustained water damage.

I spent a lot of time in Stephenville during my first year of living here and now I'm really bummed that I didn't realize this area was here. I would have liked to get some before photos of the gardens and housing lots, as the park has no hints of its history left over today.

Anyway, frolf shared similarities with real golf - see above - while also being a lot of fun, especially on a crisp fall day with good friends.

We'd wrap things with pints outside at nearby Secret Cove Brewery, toasting to fantastic September times.