Canada Day in Regina

So I know, I know...it's damn near August and I'm only JUST updating about the roadtrip to Regina! Sorry! Life got the better of me...

The trip was great though! Di and I had a great time and I'm glad we went. The weather has been so iffy here this summer that we turned out to be pretty lucky. I'm sure we were a sight to be seen trying to walk down the street in Regina under the same umbrella though. That is, had there actually been people in Regina...haha.

The 6 hour drive to Regina was fairly uneventful...we had good weather most of the way there except a little strip that Di had to drive on the two-way highway, which wasn't much fun. It threatened to pour again once we arrived in Regina but it ended up only showering a few times, as I mentioned, while were walking down the street to get to the park. Then the sun came out and it was hot and gorgeous! Prob couldn't have asked for a better day actually.

So after circling the block prob at least 3 times just to figure out how to get into our hotel so we could check in...(damn one-way streets in Regina!)...we finally got in and parked in the unloading zone so we could get our bags to our room, etc. We both grumbled about the hotel being a bitch to find the entrance to but in the end a very nice surprise wouldn't have occured had we gotten in the door the first time around! As we were walking towards the main doors I saw a rather attractive looking young lad walking towards us and smacked Di (because I'm ohhh so smooth), whispering "I think we know that guy..." She nodded and grinned. Maybe we didn't KNOW him, but oh, we knew him, haha. T'was the McCann returning from his run, I figure. Looking damn cute too, if I don't say so myself!

I don't know what it is, but I can get excited as I want about going to see GBS, but I can never get REALLY excited about it til I see one of them. Like then suddenly it's actually happening! My stomach just fell to my feet and suddenly it occured to me....We get to see Great Big Sea!!! Hehe. Because we're cool, we didn't say anything to Sean and we hadn't checked in yet so we went to the front desk and he went to the elevator. Damn. Not to be a stalker, but I wish we'd just pretended we already knew where we were going and gotten on the elevator with him, haha. Oh well. We were good girls and checked in instead...good thing D was running the show on that one cause my brain had ceased to function. Desk clerk: "What kind of car is it?" Me: "grey." Haha. Ok, so sue me. Sean's the only one I haven't met and I've never even seen him off stage before...from day one he was always my 'favorite' too so I still have yet to really get passed the "omg it's Sean" thing with him. One day. Ahem. One day.....hehe.

SO anyway...we get checked in and take the elevator up to our room, deposit our stuff and check out our lovely view....of the main post office........haha....



After going back down to move the car into the parking garage...which we had opted to pay prob double for, just so we wouldn't have to drive out onto the street again, haha, we went back up to the room to purty ourselves up a bit and then figure out how to get to the Wascana Park for the festivities!

Some of our junk...note the yummy cookies from Sobey's that D's lovely hubby, Jay so kindly packed for us!



We headed it down to the lobby to ask the desk clerk where the park was, and she kindly gave us a map that made no sense. So me being the map reader (insert hysterical laughter here) took it and continued to inspect it intently as we walked out the front door...so intently that I didn't manage to notice the tiny cement step down. Suddenly I found myself on my ass on the ground having pulled quite the Christine. ie. tripping for no real reason. Haha. The map swirled around me in a sort of tornado like fashion and as Di couldn't decide whether to help me or catch the map, a kind man laughed at us both. Thanks, asshole. Though granted, I'm sure we looked pretty ridiculous. I just thanked God that no one of real 'importance' had witnessed such a utterly moronic spill. However had they, I'm sure the would've been far more helpful and sympathetic than that jackass.

After attempting to collect my dignity, we continued on our misdirected way. Then it started to rain. Yay! We popped the tiny umbrella that at least Di had remembered to bring and tried to fit both of us under it, fairly unsuccessfully, though I don't think either of us got TOO wet. About what seemed like 40 blocks later, we reached the park. I think it was more like 10, but Regina is retarded. After having reached the park however, we realized why we hadn't met a single soul on the street on the way to the show. Litterally everyone in Regina and possibly all of Saskatchewan, was at the park. I think afterwards I heard there was some where between 35 - 40,000 people there. It was insane.

So we surveyed the crowd that was mainly gathered around the main stage in lawnchairs and on blankets...and then decided to check out the lake and get something to eat. We wandered lakeside, which was gorgeous, and met these very friendly and VERY cute guys...



I can only assume that those were the evil birds that Sean later recounted he had been chased by on his run. They were terrifying alright!!! Hehe.

A view across the lake...



After resting and checking my battle scars from the earlier fall, we made our way back to the main stage and the food area to get some water and french fries. After standing in line for what seemed like a good portion of our lives, we got our fries and iced tea instead as water had run out. DUH, people! It's summer! Buy lots of water! They had just gotten some more in but it was warm. Ew. So we sat in the shade and ate our fries, then braved the line at the museum so we could take one last trip to the bathroom and wash our hands, etc. As D would say...that stall was so small you had to go outside to change your mind. Haha. Smallest, stall, ever.

Back into the hord we went and tried to make our way to the front of the stage. We did so very successfully and found ourselves approx 3rd row, behind some short children which rocked because we are both tall. Perfect! Yet, we had about 3 hours to go before GBS hit the stage. Damn. Luckily we had missed most of Canadian Idol Finalist, Terysay Sokyrka (sp) and her off key singing, and made it there just in time for the Waltons. Who neither of knew, but thought they sounded entertaining. Turned out we did recognize a few of their songs and we quite enjoyed them. Apparently it was a one time reunion deal or something for them. Then out came Streetheart (I think that was the order of go)...whom I had never heard of but Di knew quite well as they were big in the 80's, I guess. I pretended I was a huge fan and sang along because a cute camera man kept pointing his camera at me. So if you watch it on Saturday...I'm the one looking like I'm a hardcore Streetheart fan. Which...I am not. Though they were amusing and had some catchy stuff. Pretty 80s though.

Then out came K-OS. Though it should be noted that during Streetheart and then more so right befor K-OS, there was a severe influx of idiots in the crowd. Who turned into plain old morons and soon progressed into flat out gigantic assholes. By the time K-OS hit the stage they had been worked into a frenzy and I had all but restrained myself from killing them all. I would have liked to. Many of them got the bitch end of my elbow to their necks, I'll say that much, along with a few choice words. I hope thats not on tv. Haha. Be pretty funny if it is though. K-OS was awesome though and before the crowd got really out of hand, I got a pretty cool shot of him...



Soon the crowd was too much for us to handle though. I have never in my life been in a crowd like that. I never imagined that many people would be there, and when half of them are all pushing against you, it gets pretty damn scary. Di decided she was out and I was trying to play it cool at first and stay, but about 3 seconds after she left that attempt went out the window and it got scary. She had apparently been holding some serious ground and when she bailed the jerks surged forward and I felt completely trapped. Couldn't breathe and I almost panicked...finally I managed to turn around and get the hell out. It was so weird though. The park was so poorly set up that it was like a funnell going towards the stage and so everyone was so completely packed in there it took me forever to get to a spot where I could breathe and not be completely surrounded by people. It was so freaky! I couldn't find D anywhere and K-OS was almost over. I didn't want to watch GBS from 40 miles away and definitely not by myself. But just as I got back to the chip truck we'd been at earlier, I thought to send D a text message...and she'd already sent me one! Stating her coordinates at Stage Murray, haha, and after much difficulty in working my way back closer to the stage and searching for her I finally found her a bit in front of the crane camera. Yay! About 5 minutes later, GBS hit the stage! Whew!!

The show seemed a bit hurried, not much talking...but dancey Sean was in the house and that always makes my day. It was still a great show and the boys sounded fantastic as usual. Joked around a bit but not the usual amount as it seemed they wanted to get in as many songs as they could.

A few pics...









The coolest part of the whole show though was the encore. The guys finished their main set and then did their first encore as they do. There were supposed to be fireworks right after their show, which had already gone long though so the two guys hosting the event came onto the stage and said as great as GBS was they weren't going to be back because everyone had to get over to the fireworks. We all chanted for them anyway. Much to the amusement of the two hosts, GBS took the stage again for one last song...Alan strode back out as the guy was in mid-sentence and everyone cheered. Not really realizing what was going on, the hosts kept talking and urging everyone to start walking to the bridge for the fireworks. Alan would have none of it. The whole band came back on the stage and picked up their instruments...finally the hosts got the picture and left the stage. Neener, neener! Alan thanked the crowd and welcomed the dude from the Waltons and that Terysa chick back on stage for an awesome encore song...Bruce Cockburn's, Lovers in a Dangerous Time. So awesome! A verse or two into the song the crowd roared as K-OS surprisingly took the stage as well to sing along side Alan. Alan seemed as surprised as everyone else for K-OS to be out there too. It was awesome though! Alan was so great singing that song, its one of my favorites ever. I love the way BNL do it and I actually think it's more of a song that Sean could have sung better, but Alan did a great job. Loved it!

A few pics from the finale...





And my favorite pic from the whole show...



Despite the frenzied crowd of jerks at the front, causing us to lose our amazing spots...the show was still great and we still had tons of fun. We had lots of room to dance where we were and we weren't being squished the whole time. It was great and sorta cool to see the show from a different perspective, as we are almost always front row. I'd rather be front row...but not willing to die to be there!

Instead of seeing the fireworks, some of which we did see anyway, we decided to high tail it back to the hotel, change and go to the bar to beat the crowd of people leaving. We'd been standing for too long and did not feel like watching fireworks! After theat ordeal we more than needed a drink. The walk back to the hotel didn't seem as far, though we were half-dead...we changed fairly quickly and freshened up and headed to the bar we thought was the best place to go. Strangely the front desk clerk had no idea where it was. Funny, Jay had said it was only a few blocks over. Oh well, maybe she was new. So following Jay's wonderful map, we walked to where this bar should be. Hmmm...funny. I don't see any bars at all, D. Yeah, her either. Let's look in the telephone book for the exact address. Wow. That's funny, its not in the telephone book either. Well lets just keep walking anyway, there must be something. It must be down here. Hmm...this is a cool little bar, a few people there, but not the right one. Lets just walk around the block...ok we are back at the hotel. Wtf? Lets call 411 and find out where this place is. Hmm...funny she says there's a bar by that name in SASKATOON.

SON OF A BITCH!!!

Yes, Jay got slapped a few times when we arrived home. SOMEONE forgot that he'd also been to Saskatoon a few times. DAMMIT. Ugh. We were so tired but we were starving and desperately needed a drink by this time, so we staggered back to the original bar we had passed in our search and got a table. It wasn't too busy and was actually a pretty cool bar...catwalks and all, no live band or anything which was disappointing. Oh well. Cute/funny waiters though! Not to mention hot flyboys who made themselves at home at our table and tried to pick us up. Yay us! Hehe. That was entertaining and I more than enjoyed that part of the evening. One flash o' the ring and they were gone though. Dammit. I will really have to encourage Di to keep her hands under the table next time...or to wear mittens. Haha. Our waiter was pretty damn funny though after the airforce guys left us and I almost enjoyed his flirty banter even more. Too cute.

We finally staggered back to our hotel and fell into bed. Jay was right about one thing though...they certainly do roll up the sidewalks at 9pm there!! The only living soul we saw on the way back to the hotel from the show was a bunny. I figured we didn't even really need to worry about being mugged because prob all the muggers were still at the park or already in bed too. What a city. Oi vey.

The next morning we checked out and left Regina behind without much pomp or circumstance, and sadly no entertaining encounters.

T'was a fun trip though! And after arriving home from the 6 hour trek back...I showered, changed, grabbed more clothes and food and drove another 2 1/12 hours to Winnipeg Beach to see those boys in skirts play! What I won't do for good music...hehe.