So I left the house a little after 11am to get to the Stadium. I rechecked Google Maps to see the updated duration of the route I was taken. An estimated 40 min. trip went up to an estimated 90 min trip. I thought to myself that wouldn't be so bad since I might get to Ann Arbor before the game began. I was so wrong. With the traffic and weather, it took over 2 hours to finally get to Ann Arbor. And I was nowhere close to the stadium. I eventually had to listen to the first period on the radio while still getting close to the venue. And the parking...holy shit the parking. Parking was closed off at the stadium by the time I got there. There were parked cars practically everywhere (in driveways, store parking lots). There was a 7/11 letting people who were attending the game park in their store parking lot (as long as they paid for it). I even saw a sign somewhere else that permitted parking...as long as you coughed up $60 (I wish I was kidding). Finding a parking space was a bitch. Got to a public parking garage that supposedly had spots left but they were either all taken or people did some shitty parking. Eventually settled for a small spot across the parking garage. The first period was done by the time I got out of my car.
And then came the walking. I initially went the wrong way when going to the stadium (opposite direction) and had to walk back the right direction. I really made no real effort in getting there as fast as I could. It was cold and I was already in a foul mood. Making my way to the stadium, I saw a bunch of people walking in the opposite directions carrying seat warmers from the game. I guess they thought it was too cold. I wouldn't blame them. When I finally got to the stadium and too my seat, the game was already at the 2nd Intermission. So in essence, I paid $100+ to attend a game I wasn't even present at 2/3rds of the way through. And I was barely paying any real attention to the 3rd period. I was too busy standing up like the other spectators, my legs were shivering and I was trying my best to keep my hands from freezing (guess I missed the stand where they were selling hand warmers). What a fucking load of bullshit. At least there was OT and a shootout but I'll never do something like this again. I highly doubt trying to attend previous Winter Classics were as ridiculous as this.
And as promised, here's an album of pics I took:
http://imgur.com/a/bN1cB#
