Olympics - 2010

After an amazing time at the Olympics we were headed home. Three flights later, and Chloe almost missing one trying to get us lunch, we made it back. Sad and happy.

Until next time! London maybe?

This morning was a bit of a sleep in and a nice slow morning. We enjoyed breakfast with Megan and chatted. Today was going to be our last event and our last day in Vancouver at the 2010 Olympic Winter games. It felt a bit bitter sweet.

We caught our bus just about noon at our favorite location, BCIT. It's where we've been taking all but one of our buses from. It's a bit of a hike, about 45 min on public transit. I just didn't realize that it was so far away when buying the departure tickets. Oh well, it wasn't too bad. Anyway, another 2 hour bus ride to Whistler.

The women's bobsleigh promised to be an exciting event. Last night were the first two runs, and the two Canadian teams sat first and fourth. With two more clean runs there was a chance for one or two medals.

As usual, we were early to the venue. We walked through Whistler Village, grabbed a bite to eat and headed up the gondola to the sliding center. There already seemed to be more excitement than usual.

I wanted to start at the top of the track, where we could watch a few of the starts, get some good photos and have a view of the big screen, and a place to sit. Ugh, it took 30 min to get to the top, damn that hill is steep. We took up seats in the stands just as it was starting to fill up. We had the families of the athletes sitting right behind us. It was cool to see their excitement and listen to their stories. Mind you I was just ease-dropping. The snow was on and off, wet and cold, but it didn't matter, this was going to be exciting!

We watched the first run for all competitors from the start. It's awesome to see them live, pushing these 500 lb sleds down the ice and jumping in. After the first run the Canadian teams were still sitting pretty. We decided to start walking down the track for the last run, catch a few in different corners and finally be at the bottom when the Canadians take their last run.

The closer we got to the bottom the more excitement filled the air. The Canadians were going to be in the last few to go since they held the top spots. The crowds were the biggest we've seen at the sliding center yet. I wanted to get close to the finish area, but it was just way too crowded. Instead, we took up a spot on the hill where we could watch the entire last corner and the big screen. It was a great vantage point. Especially seeing the crowd, and I knew what was about to come.

There were a few accidents, which are scary to see and hear. One of the last to go ended up crashing just before the last curve, which we saw on the big screen. Next thing you notice is the sled go by on it's side, followed by one of the girls flat on her back sliding on the ice at over 100 km/hr! Now that was intense. First crash we'd seen where someone fell out. Crazy! Good thing it was ice, road rash would be a bitch at that speed, and I'm sure it was bad enough on the ice!

Then it was Canada 2's turn.... the crowd was electric and intense. We watched the big screen as they came down the track... they had a great run going. The zoomed by in the last corner, taking over first place... whoot whoot! Only a few sleds left to go! As the others when by, the Canadians held onto that top spot! They were now guaranteed a silver, with only the Canada 1 team left to go!

At this time the crowd was just going nuts. We could now take gold and silver with a great final run. I can only imagine the stress and pressure the girls at the top waiting to go had. They can see the big screen and know the times and who's in what place before they go. They were off... great start and looking good. It felt like forever for them to reach the last corner. All they had to do was finish and they had the gold. The crowd was already going nuts. As they crossed that line and the time was shown, the place just erupted. I've never been at an event or in a crowd that was that excited. It was fantastic, Olympic Gold and Silver for Canada!

After the best event yet there was plenty of time on the bus ride back to contemplate the adventure of the Olympics we just finished on a high of highs, and how I had always dreamed of being an athlete in the games myself. Maybe if things would have been different, but you can't regret those things now. There is always curling... you can still do that when you're old. ;)

Today is our final "rest" day. I don't think there's really been any rest yet. That's for the weak! Today we did a quick drive through Stanley Park and then headed to Squamish for the day.

In Squamish we checked out Shannon Falls which is pretty nice. It was kinda funny when someone offered to take a picture of Chloe and I, and ended up on his back in the dirt trying to take it, it was all I could do not to laugh... but thanks for the picture!

Next I decided we were going to hike around to check out the bouldering! Woo Hoo! Too bad I didn't have my shoes - it was also a bit wet.

Managed to find several boulders, some looked awesome, some not so much. I don't know the areas we walked through, or if/where the other areas were. I wasn't really that impressed with what I saw, so there must be a lot more elsewhere. None the less it was great fun. We also spotted a few climbers up on the big wall, about half way up. They later retreaded back down when the rain started.

After lunch and stop at the big Squamish logger, we took a hike up some trails that passed some smaller sport climbing areas. A lot of easier stuff, but it looked fun. We ended on the top with a great view of Squamish below. By now it was just starting to rain hard, so back to the car and back to Vancouver we went.

Megan was home for the evening after volunteering in Whistler. It was great to finally see her and get to chat. We all went out for dinner and a fun time.

Today was the first day we really didn't need to be up early to catch a bus to our event. However, we were up early anyway as Chloe wanted to goto the Olympic Superstore (aka The Bay). All week we've walked by and the line was blocks long. It was no different at 8am when we showed up. Ugh. I really didn't want to wait in a line to go shopping, I do everything online!

The store hadn't opened yet, so I said we'd wait to see how fast things will move since the place is empty right now. When they finally opened things moved really fast, I think we waited less than an hour. A wait record. lol.

Anyway, once inside I was surprised at how big the Olympic selection was. It was impressive. However, I knew this meant it was going to take Chloe much longer to get through. Ugh. I did my usual run through, and was surprised how many great items there were. I wanted about 6 different jackets or shirts. In the end I settled on one nice track/spring jacket and a few items for the family. An hour or so later Chloe was finally done and we were out of there.

Shortly after lunch we headed out to catch our bus at Lonsdale Quay. We were a bit early as it didn't take as long to get there as we had planned for, people traffic was a lot less than expected. Anyway, they let us on the next bus - we were off to Cypress for the Men's Aerials Qualification.

It's a short bus ride, only 30 min. However, as we got off the bus we were now at the back of the biggest event line up we've seen so far. Actually, we've never really been stuck in any event line up until now, and we were 3 hours early! It took about 45 min to an hour to finally get up to security. Once through we headed for the stands and our seats, the only time we were to get official seats.

They turned out to be pretty good seats, but in the end I would have rather been standing. They were cramped aluminum benches, with knees in your back and no leg room. I was in pain after about 2 hours, it really wasn't fun.

I fought my way through it and enjoyed the aerials. Those guys are crazy. Jumping 50 feet high and doing 3-4 flips with another 3-4 spins, it's crazy. Very impressive. Even though we were early there was lots to see. The men had warm up jumping the entire time, slowly working up to the big jumps. Apparently, they must do so otherwise they are not allowed to compete. You must also have a license of sorts to compete. Interesting, but kind of makes sense, you could get hurt pretty damn easily.

We did see a few spills, but nothing major, thankfully. In the end it was pretty exciting to watch, but I could see it getting boring as everyone pretty much does the same thing, and even if it was different, the average joe would never know - they spin so damn fast!

Getting out of there was total chaos. 12 thousand people trying to fill 100s of buses. It took about 40 min to finally get on one. We made it home after a stop for more thai chicken bites. Super fun night. Only one more event to see. Time flies!

Today we decided to head over to Victoria to visit a few great friends. Decided to sleep in just a little bit, and catch the 11 am ferry. Another beautiful sunny day awaited us. The 1.5hr ferry ride over we sat out on the deck in the sun. It was so nice. Until someone walked past us... they did a double take which is why I noticed... it was the annoying people from yesterday! I just laughed.

We arrived in Victoria where we found Craig and his new lady friend waiting for us in the parking lot - which was packed. It was nuts, all the lanes between parked cars were filled with cars. It was nuts. Just a short wait though until people started moving. We crammed the four of us into a tiny little truck and headed out for lunch.

Not sure where we ate, but it was a nice patio - yes patio - in downtown Victoria. After a great lunch and catching up we went for a walk around town. Now I've been before, but Chloe never had been. We walked the waterfront and over to Chinatown, down the smallest street and alley ways... where bird on a wire was filmed. Pretty cool. I don't understand how some of these business get business, you'd never find them in these back allies.

After a little walk, we headed over to Dave's, who had joined us on the walk, for a bbq. We got to meet his little guy, who I think out ate us all, and spend some more time talking with friends. But before we knew it it was time to head back to Vancouver. The last crossing was at 9pm and we needed to catch it, and hopefully it wasn't full.

We managed to get home safe just around midnight. Tomorrow our event is in the evening, so no early start.