Skip to main content

A Special Night for Austin Matthews

Thursday, April 7th – Cedar Hills State Park, Dallas, Texas – Day 58 

 Gen was planning on making a laundry run the night before but decided she was too tired. Super keen, she woke up in the morning and decided to get going. Mary and I decided to do a hike with the kids while Gen was out. Gen dropped us off at the trailhead of Talala trail; an easy 3.4 km hike that brought us through hills to a beautiful look out over the lake, down to the flood plains, through some shady wooded areas and back to our campsite. On Mary’s suggestion we took a side trail to go down onto the muddy flood plain and planned to stop for lunch until the wind blew a little bit harder and the water started moving towards our dry patch of sand. Instead, we stopped at a much higher overlook for a very breezy lunch of tuna sandwiches, carrots and cucumber.


 On this trip, we had seen a Raptors game in New Orleans, a Blue Jays game in Dunedin and we just missed out on a Rock game in Atlanta. About a month prior to today, Gen plotted out the Leafs’ schedule versus our potential travel plan and came up with some options. Most options didn’t end up working, we missed games in Tampa and Colorado but if we hurried a little bit, we could see a game in Dallas. So for the last week we have been working towards ensuring we were in Dallas for today. We were checking Seatgeek for the past few days for tickets. Gen picked up tickets for her and the girls for $9 in the upper bowl but Mary wanted something better. Gen found a great deal for tickets four rows off the glass for $130 American and on Mary’s insistence we jumped on them. I didn’t want to spend that much but Mary offered to contribute some money to my ticket and off we went. I’m very happy she insisted. 

 When we returned to the campsite, Gen returned shortly, and we headed into Dallas. The American Airlines arena was beautiful. The walk to the arena had restaurants and bars on both sides as you approached and the arena was very nice. The hockey experience was fun. During the American national anthem when the singer said the word “star”, the whole stadium yelled “STARS” at the same time. When the opposition scored and the announcer announced goals and assists, everyone said “WHO CARES”. The crowd was really into the game. 


 The game itself was very exciting. Austin Matthews was poised to break Rick Vaive’s record for goals in a season and ended up scoring two including the overtime winner. The game went back and forth; the final score was 4-3 as Matthews scored a beauty for the win. Gen tried to sneak up to the lower bowl but had difficulty this time and had to return to her seats shortly after. Mary and I had fantastic seats that were just off the corner of the penalty box and provided an amazing view. I've never had a better seat for a hockey game by far and I may never have one this close again. Gen wished she had taken my seat for a period. 


 After the game was done, it was late, and we headed back to the campsite. Gen and I hung out for a bit but then went to bed.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Desert Forest

Saturday, May 28th – Joshua Tree National Park - North to Joshua Tree National Park - South, California– Day 107 Our campsite was a large open dirt area with some scrub around the outside. In the dark we had managed to park beside the pile of horse poo and shaving. Horses were allowed in this site. Gen stepped in the middle of a pile.   The Joshua Tree National Park visitor centre was a five-minute drive away. The town of Joshua Tree was packed with college age millennials communing with nature. There was a market with kombucha, organic greens and a few small tortoises. It was all very pleasant but very busy. The laundromat was at the edge of the market, I charged the devices and did the laundry. Gen bought some produce from a guy loading a truck. I even snuck in to buy some watermelon kombucha.   The drive into the park was ten minutes followed by a ten-minute line to show our pass. A quick stop to fill up our water bottles and we were into the park. Th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meow Wolf and O

Wednesday, May 25th –Lake Mead National Recreation Area to Las Vegas, Nevada – Day 104  We woke up in our roadside turn out and got ready for the day. Our plan was to go for a swim at Lake Mead, see the Hoover Dam and head back into Vegas. The morning was stifling hot, we were looking forward to the swim.   We drove to the visitor centre at Lake Mead Recreation Centre. We could see Lake Mead on the way. The water was well below the high-water line on the rocks. At the visitor centre we got our passport stamped, filled our water bottles, and received junior ranger booklets. The air conditioning was so nice we set up the kids to work on their booklets and hung around. The kids finished up enough activities that they were sworn in by a very nice ranger before we left.   We decided to go see the Hoover Dam first. We dropped the trailer in the parking lot. We heard it might need to be opened at the security checkpoint and we couldn’t be bothered. The H...
Post a Comment
Read more

Canyonlands is Another Planet - Pt 1

Thursday, May 12th – Moab, Utah – Day 91  Utah is another planet. I cannot do justice to the sights that I have seen in Canyonlands National Park. They are beyond compare. I would encourage everyone to visit. The pictures we have taken do not convey the beauty of the scenery we witnessed.   We woke up in the morning after a late night. The kids did some schoolwork. We ate our oatmeal. We tried to clean up the dust that was all over the trailer. The wind had subsided in the night and the morning was pleasant and warm. Aisling had made us promise that we would climb the rock that they had all been climbing on. We strapped on our hiking boots and started towards the rock. A quick climb later we were at the top; on the way down, we were looking for pretty rocks.  The road to Canyonlands sits between two buttes with their cliffs rising on either side. The drive was thirty minutes to the entrance. The visitor centre had displays that detailed what each layer of the canyo...
Post a Comment
Read more