It all started when I bought tickets on a whim to see my two favourite country artists George Strait and Blake Shelton. Fast forward several months and after two concerts in NY and a trip to Boots and Hearts I convinced Trina to come with me. We packed our bags and left after work on a Friday night with no plans except the concert the next night.
We arrived at our hotel in Brockton MA the next afternoon, checked in and went to get food and beverages! We used Hotwire when booking our hotels to ensure we got the best deal we could. After some food and drinks we called an Uber and headed to Gillette Stadium for the concert. Our Uber ride heading to the concert was $42. Keep that amount in mind as it will come up later in this blog!
Blake Shelton
We arrived at Gillette Stadium and easily found our seats and settled in with our drinks and of course popcorn (my staple food at every concert). Now this was my 3rd time seeing George Strait and my 4th seeing Blake Shelton, but I was so excited. Blake came out on stage with his typical playful style and played to the audience of 40 000 screaming fans. Blake played his classic hits “Ole Red” and “Austin” as well as his new hit “God’s Country” and “Hell Right” and many other songs. Half way through the concert the sky open up and the rain started pouring down but it didn’t appear to dampen anyone’s spirits. For me, this concert was different as we were also following Gwen Stefani on Instagram. Gwen was back stage adding to her stories, so we got a play by play of what the show looked like from back stage while we were watching it out front. The only disappointment from the whole concert was when Blake was done his set, he left the stage, hopped on the golf cart and was back on his bus before George even hit the stage. All the advertisements for this show made it seem as if George and Blake would be on stage together and they never were!!!! That was a big disappointment for me.
King George
This is my 3rd time seeing George Strait and he never disappoints. He walks out on stage to minimal fanfare and just walks out and starts singing. When George started to sign, it didn’t matter if it was songs from the early 80’s to his newest hits, there was 40 000 people singing every word of every song. George sang his classics like “Amarillo By Morning”, “All My Ex’s Live in Texas” (which Trina changed the words to “All My Ex Lives in Ottawa”), “I Can Still Make Cheyanne” and “Run” and threw in some new ones “God and Country Music” and “Codigo.” For an encore George did his version of Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson’s Poncho and Lefty and then ended the show with “The Cowboy Rides Away”. As always King George did not disappoint. PSA when you spend a lot of money on concert tickets, don’t drink to the point where you pass out in the middle of the show like the poor young man beside us did.
Now remember when I said that the Uber heading to the show costs us $42 and that is $42 USD. When the show was over, Trina got on her Uber app to order us a ride and it showed the cost was $150 USD!!!! That’s right $150 USD for the same ride that costs us $42 to get there. There were several other very upset people also wanting to use an Uber but refused to pay that for a ride. The Police Officer that was directing people out suggested we walk the 1/2 mile to a gas station where cabs, Ubers etc came to pick people up, so off we stumbled!!! After getting yelled at 3 times for jaywalking on closed roads by the Foxborough Police Officers we arrived at the gas station. (I really didn’t mind the Police Officers yelling at us though as they had a very thick Boston accent and I have a thing for accents especially when they called me Ma’am!). Trina had decided the whole situation was bananas and attempted to locate Blake and Gwen hoping for a ride.
When Blake and Gwen didn’t show up we continued walking (stumbling) towards the gas station. We arrived at the gas station where there was approx. 30-40 other people waiting for a ride of some sort. Trina attempted to call a cab who refused to come out and get us. We seen a shuttle bus driver and flagged him down. He asked us what we thought a fair price would be to drive us back to our hotel. I answered ” the $40 we paid to get here” and he laughed and said “No one will take you for less than $100 and even that wasn’t worth it to him. All cabs shut their meters off after 10pm so they will be charging at least $100 as well”. Trina wanted to pay the $120 the Uber had come down to, but I was being stubborn. After sitting for almost 2 hours, we were cold and wet from the rain that started again and our phones were almost dead, we reluctantly got into an Uber and paid the $120 USD to get back to our hotel.
Touring Around Boston
We woke up the next morning, slightly hungover and excited to go and see what Boston has to offer. We started the day with a delicious meal at IHOP and then hopped in the truck and headed into the city.
Parking in downtown Boston was very easy as there is a huge underground parking lot under Boston Common. We parked and headed out to explore. The first place we went to was Cheers. As with many other places I have visited that I have seen on TV it looks different than I thought, but still a very cool place to visit and experience. It was Sunday lunchtime, so there was not a chance at getting a place to eat or get a drink so we wandered through, bought the souvenirs and went on our merry way.
The day was very hot but we decide to keep walking. Trina really wanted to see Fenway Park so we started walking that way. We walked down Newbury Street (which is the fashion district). Even though it was a tax free weekend we still could not afford to shop at most of these places. We settled for a delicious cupcake at Georgetown Cupcake. We continued on our walking journey and finally ended up at Fenway Park. It was game day so the atmosphere was very festive. We stopped at the House of Blues to wet our whistle and then carried on. The next location we stopped at was the Original Wahlburgers to look around and take some pictures. By this time we were exhausted and hot so we found a rickshaw and had him take us back to Boston Common. The driver was very knowledgeable and told us lots about the buildings and history of the area. He even took us across the finish line for the Boston Marathon! When we stepped onto the Harvard Campus it was kind of surreal. So much history in one area. It was very interesting to see the buildings, the grounds and to walk through the campus. A visit to Harvard would not be complete without a visit to a Harvard store for souvenirs. J. August Store in Harvard Square was our choice for sweaters and mugs. We left Harvard and decided to take advantage of the tax free weekend. After we did some shopping, we were using Hotwire.com to find a hotel for the night and ended up discovering the town of Nahant. Though most people think it is an island, it is connected to the mainland by a natural tombolo. Nahant is located in Massachusetts Bay. It is a very, small quaint town, that was very picturesque. Nahant boasts many beaches and beautiful views of the bay.
The next day dawned early and we were off on our next adventure. We headed towards the Cap. We decided to take a secondary highway hoping for some nice views of the ocean, but alas that did not happen. We also found we we got to the Cap, it was the same thing. There was no road that runs along the water. You could see the ocean from some parts of the drive but that was it. We arrived in Provicetown and quickly realized it was better to park and walk. The narrow streets were very busy with people walking from shop to shop, as well as restaurants and bars. We started walking with one intention……. fresh seafood!!!! We found the Crown and Anchor restaurant, where we quickly decided on the Lobster Feast. Great choice!!!!! The meal started with a bowl of Clam Chowder and then the meal arrived with fresh lobster, mussels and clams along with corn on the cob and potatoes. So yummy!
After leaving Provincetown, we headed towards Hyannis Port where we were hoping for a glimpse of the Kennedy Compound. We attempted to drive past it, but we had security following us very quickly, so we lost them and tried to park in a member’s only parking lot on the beach. We parked, got out and headed down the beach towards the compound only to have security find us again!!! I think maybe the Ontario license plates gave us away. Rather than chancing a night in jail we decided to leave without seeing the compound and head towards home. Apparently taking the ferry across to Martha’s Vineyard gives the best “legal” view of the compound but it was already pretty late in the day for us so we decided to head towards home and find a hotel for the night!
The next day found us heading towards home, excited to be heading home, but sad that the trip would soon be over. We had many laughs, found lots of cool spots to visit and enjoyed an amazing concert! Trina, you were an awesome road trip partner and cant wait to see where our next adventure takes us!
