We started the day by heading over to a nearby park that the region has set up to restore an area of wetlands for birds and other wildlife. We found it to be a very nice park with great walking trails and even an off-leash area where Baxter could take some time and run on his own. It was set up on the side of one of the lakes to allow dog owners to let their pets frolic in the water. But of course since Baxter despises water that wasn't an option for us. He was perfectly happy to stay as far away from the water as possible.
We we visited a couple of stores nearby and picked up some supplies for the trailer and then came back to the campground to prepare for our excursion tonight. We have purchased tickets to the NHL game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Buffalo Sabres.
It was an easy trip from the camp ground to the arena area, and we found a parking lot about three blocks from the arena that only cost us $5 for parking. I had originally investigated the option taking the bus from a stop near our campground to the arena, but that would have left us about four blocks from the arena and the cost was $2 per person each way. Plus the bus trip would have been about 50 minutes each way. Driving took about 20 minutes including the time it took to find the parking lot, so in all it was a saving of both money and time for us to drive.
I thoroughly enjoyed the hockey game, even though it started out a little slow it actually turned out to be quite exciting with Buffalo coming from behind to tie it late in the third, and them Columbus winning it in overtime. It was an easy walk back to the truck, traffic wasn't very heavy and we made it back to the campground by about 10 p.m. Obviously Columbus is not a hotbed for hockey so tickets for good seats were not overly expensive. We purchased 2 club seats which were in a preferred area, with wider seats and waitress service provided. These cost us a total of $300 US. I'm sure the same type of seat in Calgary would have been $400 or $500 per seat. We were fortunate to be the only two people sitting at the end of our row. I noticed several rows in front of us was a large man who did not fit in the wider seats provided in the club section and essentially he had to sit on the edge of his seat because he couldn't fit between the armrests. Of course because he had to sit forward on his seat then his knees didn't fit the extra leg room so his legs spread side to side and covered at least a full seat on either side of himself. I'm certainly glad that we did not have to sit near someone like that.
When we first arrived to find our seats I noticed on the concourse, there was a craft beer vendor at the end. I bought a beer from this vendor and maybe the $13 price tag was too high for the others because when I went back to the concourse between periods I don't think I saw anyone purchasing beer at that location. So either the locals don't like craft beer or perhaps price was much higher then the standard swill beer provided by traditional breweries. I had an Amber ale from this vendor and thought it was quite good. Unfortunately I have forgotten the name of the vendor.