Made a trip to a nearby city to buy fish for my aquarium. Took Sonic along for the ride to practice in new places.
Stopped at a city trail/paved pathways through parkland.
In the parking lot, did some sedate (read-boring) loose leash walking to see if he would start looking to me. Check, yes. Teased him with his tug-n-treat toy and got him tugging, and got him started up. Actually engaged enough that I felt perfectly comfortable to drop the leash and have him chase the frisbee.
Walked the trails, he was very distracted, but decent on leash, going out.
Could not engage him in anything when I stopped in the middle of a ball field--he just wasn't feeling good out there.
On the way back, same route, he started bugging me for training, whip out the frisbee, and played tugging and fetch games on the (empty) trail (had to watch for other users, it was Sunday, mostly empty).
Seeing him get excited for play on a trail that he obviously found somewhat strange and disturbing going in, is exciting and new. I can no longer say that he only plays at home.
He was overly interested in some dog sightings, but behaved okay, needed treats and space to accomplish--leashes still suck.