Hockey Road Trip, Fall 2004

Week One - Southwest - Sat, 10/16 - Fri, 10/22
Week Two - Texas - Sat.,10/23 - Fri, 10/29
Week Three - Southeast - Sat, 10/30 - Fri, 11/5
Week Four - Southeast - Sat, 11/6 - Fri, 11/12
Week Five - Mid Atlantic - Sat, 11/13 - Fri, 11/19
Week Six - Long Island - Sat, 11/20 - Fri, 11/26
Week Seven - Midwest - Sat, 11/27 - Fri, 12/3
Week Eight - Midwest - Sat, 12/4 - Fri, 12/10
Week Nine - Las Vegas - Sat, 12/11 - Fri, 12/17
Week Ten - California - Sat, 12/18 - Fri, 12/24
About Me

Thursday, 11/4

Today, I headed southeast towards Charleston, SC. I visited the Francis Beidler Forest and also saw a Stingrays game.

The Francis Beidler Forest is located in Four Holes Swamp in Harleyville, SC. I meandered down a 1.75 mile boardwalk trail absolutely enjoying a walk through the forest. I met no other human on my stroll. It was quite peaceful.

Here's the boardwalk I traveled on. It had several rest areas (benches) and signs were posted along the way describing the types of trees you were looking at (mainly baldcypress) and other tidbits of information..




Speaking of baldcypress trees, here's a good example of the 'knees' it produces. The little things sticking up out of the water. They're actually an extension of the tree's roots.

They don't quite know the purpose of the 'knees' but have three thoughts: root anchors - helps the cypress stand in wet soil, root storage - stores starch produced by the tree, root snorkel - allows gas exchange between the air and underwater roots.




This is the lake (forget the name) about midway through the trail. I saw four turtles sunbathing here and heard lots of fish (I think) jumping up from the lake.

After the forest, I continued on to N. Charleston to watch the South Carolina Stingrays play the Columbia Inferno at the N. Charleston Coliseum.

Some notes about the game/arena:

• I was told the Stingray organization charges one an extra $2 if they purchase a ticket game day. Maybe one of our Stingray fans out there can verify that.
• I didn't read the seating chart correctly. I normally like to sit center ice, facing the bench, above the glass. When I looked at the chart, it looked like it said section 217 was the place to be. It wasn't. I read it wrong; it was 211 that I wanted. Nonetheless, I had a different perspective sitting in 217 and it was quite worth the experience.
• I met a new hockey friend, Herb. A retired gentleman from New Jersey who has made his home near Charleston. Hi Herb! I gave him this website address to check out.
• Several interesting promotions at the game:
  * Great Clips (I think) were providing hair cuts during the game. If the Stingrays scored while you were getting your hair cut, you got it for free.
  * The other one was a between period 'game'. They brought portapotties out on the ice and the contestant was supposed to run to it, picking up hockey clothing on the way and putting it on. Once they got in the portapottie they were supposed to take the hockey gear off and run back to the blue line.
• I've noticed at many of the games I've attended that a player doesn't stand in front of the net waiting for a pass to put the puck in goal. It was particularly noticeable at this game. Could be because I was sitting so close to the goal.
• Attendance was very sparse. One could hear the players calling to each other. Kind of like the AFL.

Here's my new hockey friend, Herb.




Just in case you thought I was kidding about the portapotties.




My namesake. This is Mike Minard playing for the Columbia Inferno. He got pulled about 5 minutes into the 2nd period.




I've not seen quite as much advertisements on the ice as in this arena.

The net wasn't as bad as this photo shows. I even sat behind it the following night.




Stingrays win against the Inferno 3 - 2.

It was a well played game, the kind I enjoy.


Game Eleven - N. Charleston Coliseum
Stingrays vs. Inferno
Score: Stingrays 3 - Inferno 2

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