Putts, Balls and Snow Falls - Day 4 - Putts and Bolts

[Wobbles]

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Now for one of the things we were really looking forward to - Ice Hockey. We are huge fans and our local team Bristol Pitbulls have just moved back to Bristol now we have an ice rink again.

Our second team is the Tampa Bay Lightening and we have been following them very closely during their back to back Stanley Cup wins over lockdown.

! GO Bolts !

Our day started in Celebration. I had some Christmas Cards I needed to post and Celebration Post Office is very handy. It also gave us an excuse to eat in one of our favourite places - Celebration Tavern. We had our usual sharing Wobble-Tapas lunch of Onion Rings, Wings and Fries. I think the Tavern's Onion Rings are my favourite and I like the mango dipping sauce

We sat out in the side porch, it was quieter than indoors and the service was just as quick. Still one of my favourite places to eat in Florida

Safety Celebration Tavern - I would give them 5 out of 5, everything was clean, the tables outside were well spaced and they staff had masks. We had to wear our masks to go indoors to the loo but that was it

Now, we don't have a good track record of driving around Tampa - it is safe to say I hate it. So would the (very simple) to follow instructions get us there? - On to Part 2 to find out

[Wobbles]

So we got lost, in Tampa and not for the first time. We stopped at a local tool hire place who promptly told Mr W that we were not the first people they'd had in the shop asking for directions to the arena... so he pulled out a map to show us the way which was spot on...

There is not much local parking around the arena so we parked in the Channelside Parking garage which the parking assistants helpfully told us if we scanned our tickets we got free parking for the day (result!)

We headed to the Sparkman Wharf, which we highly recommend. Made, in part, from reclaimed containers It acts as a fan village with lots of small street food type places, load of seats, tables and deck chairs to sit and has a Splitsville. There are also proper toilets which were very clean and well kept

It's a great place to chill out for a couple of hours, good music (lots of 80s music) and we enjoyed a couple of pints (loads of local craft beers and ciders) and a large ice cream supper at around 5pm. I had peanut butter, salted caramel and chocolate. Mr W had coconut and 70% dark chocolate in hand rolled cones.

From here it was a quick walk in the (warm) rain to the Arena. Like Many USA arena, there was lots of stuff going on outside to build up to the match. You were scanned in as you went in and you could store your tickets in your google wallet which made things useful.

We were up high, opposite the main screen, It is not a huge arena and we found everyone friendly. We had to explain a couple of times who the Pitbulls were as we were wearing our Pitbull shirts

Plenty of outlets to eat in the arena but we were still full from lunch and our snack Ice Cream. There were lots of toilets. And an Organ...In fact the largest of any NHL rink. It has five keyboards and a range of buttons and pedals which produce lightening sounds.

They were mainly playing Christmas Carols but it was a seriously big electronic organ, we went to look at it, and get a drink as it is atop of the Coors stand.

There are plenty of breaks in a hockey match (a 60 minute match usually takes at least 2.5 hours) for penalties and to smooth the ice and repack it. During these breaks, they had quizzes, support to local businesses who had been hit hard by COVID, miltary and charity support and a "spot the elf" competition (it was on the pipes of the organ).

And a chance to go round in the Chik-Fil-A Zamboni with the mascot "Lightening Bug"

LA Kings pushed the Bolts right to the edge and they scored an equaliser in the dying seconds of normal time. Which pushed them into overtime and a sudden death 3 on 3 (or as we Brits would say - 4-a-side as we count the goalie). I LOVE 3 on 3, as it is even faster and more manic than the normal match.

and with just over a minute of over time left, the Bolts score and the place erupted - Bolts win.

It was a brilliant evening, a great match and lots of fun and games...

Safety Amalie Arena - I would give them 3 out of 5, everything was clean, loads of hand sanitizer but no mask - but when you are all shouting and cheering in the same way you don't care.

And yes we got lost on the way back again... what should have taken us an hour - took us nearly 2.5 hrs and it was well gone midnight before we got back to the villa.

Spend Breakdown
Postage at Celebration - $2 approximately - I remember it was cheaper than sending the A5 cards from Bristol to Kent.
Lunch at Celebration Tavern (soft drinks) - $29.57
3 rounds of drinks and snacks at Lighthaus - $48.02
Ice Cream at Jeni's Ice Cream - $17.20
Drinks and Fries at the Bolts - $13.88

Total Day 3 Spends - $110.71
Total Holiday Spends - £444.81
Average Daily Spend - $111.20

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[mick]

That was a good day well apart from getting lost twice

Joan

[Goldia]

It seems like you had a fun day and really enjoyed the match.