So it's only a month or so late but here are my experiences shown through pics. Unfortunately my scrapper side didn't come through, meaning the pics do not do justice for what I saw and experienced, in so many cases I was just so caught up in the moment that there wasn't time to pull out the camera.
We spent the first day of the Olympics in a Vancouver suburb that was putting on an Olympic celebration. The thought was to stay out of downtown with the kids the first weekend because honestly there was talk of protesters and the crowds were going to be huge. Thankfully the protesters didn't get very far, the first day they made a bit of a mess but were quickly stifled.
One of the local curling clubs brought out demonstration curling for the kids to take part. The curling rocks were so heavy that they weren't really able to move them well but they got the idea for sure.
Next we tried tobagganing, I thougth they were going to bring in snow but honestly it was just like a slippy slide. See my foot hanging out the tobaggan, I thougth they entire way down I was going hit the side and break my foot. They had a bump at the bottom, Brendan and I actually caught some air and then came crashing down, thought I had broken my back. Not really the best part of the day.
This was the beginning of my day on the 18th. I took the entire day off so I could spend an entire day at leisure taking as much in as possible. My sister, Mom and I drove downtown, found an all day parkade and off we went. I have never walked my city as much that day and honestly probably never will again. From one end of the city to the next and back again, it was a blast. As you can see in the pic we had brilliant weather, it was a wonderful day.
Here is my Mom at the Northern House. Many countries and Canadian provinces had free venues where you could learn about their cultures. Considering my Mom grew up in Northern B.C. I am sure she felt quite at home, lol. Culture shock for my sister and I. It was a wonderful pavillion, one of the best in my opinion.
Ok looking like a true dork in this picture but honestly that gold bar was heavy and all I could think was please take the picture so I can put the bar down. The was taken at the Mint pavillion. They were they creators of the Olympic medals. At this pav you had the opportunity to see and touch the medals or just tour through without seeing the medals. We chose just to tour because the lineup to touch the medals was longer than 4 hours and I can't imagine standing in line for that long for anything.
Acting like goof on Granville street, one of the many streets closed to traffic making the party environment much more fun as the party filled all these streets.
After waiting in line for about an hour we stepped foot into Cokes pavillion. I don't now but in years past I had a huge Coke collection so this was definitely one of the sites I wanted to visit. This pavillion was in a place called Live City, they had huge screens to watch the Olympics live and concerts and fireworks every night, the energy here was electric.
Our plan at this point was to stay at Live City and watch an awards ceremony live on the screen (Canada had won a gold medal the day before so it would be an exciting ceremony to watch), unfortunately at this point we were tired and cold so we opted for dinner instead. We decided on dinner at the Keg in Yale Town. It was definitely packed but we were able after a 1/2 hour or so to get a table in the lounge. What was perfect was that not only did we get dinner but they had the t.v.'s set up so we were able to see the awards ceremony as well, I can tell you I have never been in a restaurant where everyone started singing the national anthem when the gold was awarded, amazing.
Another amazing thing happened at this dinner, something I don't imagine will happen again in my lifetime. We had just finished dinner, we were sitting at a table for four and of course there were only 3 of us. My Mom had left the table to go to the washroom and I was looking down into my purse getting ready to pay the bill when I was startled by a large man coming over to the table. He wanted one of our chairs. My sister then told him we were just settling the bill so he could have the table in just a few if he wished, to which he replied "settling the bill, well let me do that for you!", of course we objected but when he asked the server for our bill I think she realized very quickly that a larger tip would be coming her way from him than us, not necessarily true but I think that was the thought. He grabbed our bill pulled out a couple hundred dollar bills gave them to the server and then picked up the chair and walked away. He did tell us that he was a mayor from Alberta and was having the time of his life and that this was the least he could do in exchange for this experience. Never in my life has someone out of the blue picked up my dinner and probably won't ever happen again, such a great memory to add to my already memorable day.
I took this shot just outside where the Olympic cauldron was, I thought it was funny having the Winter games while daffodils are starting to bloom. As many know we had the warmest winter EVER (since records were kept), kind of funny considering the winter before was one of the snowiest and coldest, timing is everything eh?
Olympic cauldron at night.
We have been lucky to be able to obtain an official torch (this one was run in Northern B.C). Here is Brendan with it,
and now Trevors turn. The dark patches on the torch are the burn marks from the flame.
This was inside B.C. Place, we took in an Awards Ceremony and concert here on Feb. 26th. We were really early as with the kids and a big hockey game going on next door we wanted to be sure to get there in time. Security was tight, Brendan was a little confused going through the metal detectors, he has never flown before so it was a new experience for him.
Outside B.C. Place. A police officer was nice enough to take our pic, nice to get one with everyone, it was pouring rain but even that couldn't dampen our spirits.
Throughout Vancouver they had different places set up for photo ops, here the boys are in a bobsled. Oh by the way Trevor has decided now that he would like to learn how to become a bobsledder, I guess a trip up to Whistler is needed to check it out, it is so awesome that we now have these facilities to check out.
Another bobsled, one of my favorite pics. Brendan looks so tiny in the bobsled.
I was planning on adding my favorite moments from the games but honestly there were so many that I can't pick just few.
I am very proud of my city, with or without snow I believe we put on a great show and honestly I wish it was something we could do every year. What a blast!!
