I just returned from a weekend break. My head said it was a waste of time, but my heart said it was time well wasted. Why the dissonance? Let’s pull the teasing thread to see where it unravels to.

We saw The Passion Play at the Badlands Amphitheatre in Drumheller, Alberta, several years ago on a sweltering summer afternoon. What an experience. I have my faith and beliefs, and the play is the story of Jesus. Still, it was an exciting, expansive play stretching over a rocky stage the length of a football field: live animals and excellent sound. I could hear every word. The play is put on in Europe once every 5 years. Drumheller volunteers have put it on for the last 30 summers.

So, the venue was familiar to me, and the performance was different.

The weekend escape started with a 3.5-hour drive to the south, averaging 110 km/hour, with a stop at Glenn’s Restaurant about halfway. Aside from my affinity with the name, the food is always good, and the service is excellent, all at a fair price.

We settled into the hotel room and then did a dry run to the venue to determine the route and parking.

A few hours later, we arrived in darkness. We were guided into this wide, open gravel parking lot. We backed into a spot nestled in the bushes. It was a short walk to the entrance to the venue. Very casual, as they saw we had one piece of paper with a QR code. We needed two sheets for my wife and I, which we had. Let’s say security was relaxed. We had a reusable grocery bag to carry all the warm clothing we might need. Nobody seemed interested in checking it. Oh, the good old days.

We found two seats on the aisle. We took turns going to pick up our free hot chocolate and choco-chunk cookie.

All the seats had a good view of the small stage set up for the band. Two patio heaters helped keep the musicians and instruments in tune. The band played for an hour with familiar music we could sway or sing along to. The time flew by.

Then, the countdown for the fireworks.

It was a grand display, with most shooting right over our heads. The lower-trajectory fireworks were safely in front of us. The display ended with the traditional biggest boom of the night.

A wild guess of an audience of 1,000 people headed orderly to the exits, and we got safely back to our hotel for wine sharing.

We took backroads home at an average speed of 100 km/hour, which gave us time to enjoy the rolling farmland, massive grain elevators, and bee hives in the corners of these fields.

My head said 30 hours round trip for 90 minutes. It seemed as if it wasn’t worth the time and effort.

My heart said, “What a great weekend with my wife.” There was nothing to do but relax and listen to music and conversation for the seven hours of driving. There were two delicious restaurant meals en route. It was an adventure for 90 minutes. We clinked our hot chocolate in paper mugs and chatted with a local family who sat beside me. I enjoyed the memory of an easier time with few safety checks and no parking lines, “Can you try again, Sir, to get closer to the next vehicle?”

I value adventures in my life. I define an adventure as time spent out of my comfort zone. My adventure had unexpected twists and turns but nothing life-threatening.

Please give this a bit of a think. Would a trip like this be worth the 90 minutes? Do you have adventures that your heart and head struggled to determine if they were worth it?

I am curious about your thoughts. Please put your comment in the space below. It will be reviewed by me before being posted.

Photo by chris robert on Unsplash

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glenn.walmsley@icloud.com