Even though it has taken me SIX WEEKS to write about my trip to the Olympics, please, please, please do not let that lead you to believe it wasn't worth blogging about. It was an amazing trip! So great, that I've decided I just may need to go to every Olympics from here on out. London 2012...here I come!!! The atmosphere and energy there was so exciting and fun. We met people from all over the world. We watched Olympic events, met athletes, and attended a medal ceremony. We stayed sooo busy the whole time and had so many things we wanted to do that we hardly even slept while we were there. Luck seemed to be on our side most of the trip, so we got to see and do more than we ever imagined...and even for much cheaper than what we budgeted! It was so much fun. I started to write out stories of the trip, but it really just seemed too much to go into all the details. So, if you want to hear the nitty-gritty (like, perhaps, how we ended up going to a party in a VIP car with a gold medal athlete and Queen Latifah), then just ask! Otherwise, I'm just posting pics and brief details here!
We had fun posing in cut-outs around Vancouver!
Jen
Me
Kim
Pretty train station in Vancouver
Greeting from one of the Olympic mascots
A Vancouver building decorated with Canadian spirit
We tried our hardest to get tickets to the Opening
Ceremony...they were just toooo expensive. So,
we watched in a bar/restaurant nearby with
hundreds of other people and still had fun!
When we realized Wayne Gretzy was headed our way
with the Olympic torch, we left the restaurant with
everyone else and ran through the streets of Vancouver
to see the official Olympic flame.
We also saw the fireworks....you may recognize the
tent-like things in this picture. They were often the
backdrop for Bob Costas' NBC Olympic Coverage.
Many of the countries and sponsors have "houses"
where they host their athletes, guests, clients, etc
for parties or meals...We set a goal to go to at least
5 of these. This was outside the Germany tent in
Vancouver. The line was tooo long to get in, but
we did chat with and take our picture with some
German men just outside the German house...
they were hilarious!
The official Olympic clock....
almost 5 hours into the Games!
The Public Library in Vancouver. My time in Vancouver
was short, as we headed to Whistler where we stayed
the rest of the trip, but I think I could LOVE Vancouver.
I want to do a Vancouver/Whistler trip some summer
for a week...maybe 2011...anyone in???
Our first morning in Whistler, Jen & I ate a great
breakfast at a French restaurant, did some shopping
and were on a mission to find event tickets for cheap!
These tents were the ticket booths. While we waited
in line, we got to hear the All-American Rejects
rehearsing for the medal ceremony that night and we
could kind of see them through breaks in the fences.
It was a free concert to us! Notice the flags at half-mast
for the Georgian luge athlete who died.
The atmosphere in Whistler Village was just as
energetic as that of Vancouver. There were
people everywhere. This was a crazy band
running through the crowds!
There were huge tv screens set-up throughout
Whistler Village, including this one just at the
base of the slopes and by one of the main lifts.
The Olympic mascots were out
and about in Whister, too!
We took our pics with the mascots in the
official Olympic store in Whistler.
Jen & I (after having some serious luck at buying tickets)
with Kim and Angela (after their day of snow boarding).
My only ski lift ride was to get up to the luge track
The Whistler mountains are beautiful!!!
Jen & I arriving at the sliding track for Day 1 of Luge.
We loved this event so much, we went back for Day 2.
It was SO much fun to watch in person!
The views from the mountain above
the luge track were so pretty!
Two men getting the track ready for competition
Despite a rainy Day1 we had a blast...and spent some
time enjoying one of the Warming Tents and the
awesome heater/dryer fan that warmed us
up and dried us out!
Day 2 of luge was Valentine's Day. Jen & I brought
Valentine's for everyone. We enjoyed some
Sweethearts in the Warming Tent.
It was neat to see all the fans from so many different
countries. The Swiss & the British were there!
Of course the Americans were there!
This was the main USA cheering squad...
all the moms and dads of the lugers
We met USA luger, Christ Mazdzer's, sisters, girlfriend,
and best friends in the warming tent.
There were even some GAPERS* there!
This pic was taken especially for my friend,
Melanie, with whom I learned the term
and have since enjoyed many GAPER
spottings from ski lifts all over CO and WY.
*GAPER, skiier wearing '80's style ski clothers
Us girls sitting on the track. We had full reign of the
entire course and had a blast watching from different
viewpoints. With 39 lugers sliding twice each day,
we watched it 156 times! It was neat to see it
from different spots along the track. This was one
of our favorites because you could get so close to
the track, you could touch it.
We stood in this place for quite a while as well.
One of the major curves on the track.
He's going so fast, it's hard to see,
but there is a luger by the 'V'
This picture cracks us all up. Angela was trying to catch
one of the lugers going by, but missed him. She
still caught me screaming at him though!
We loved trying to time our picture taking so that we
could actually get the lugers in our pictures. They went
by so fast, it was difficult to do. We often missed them
altogether or just got part of their body in the picture.
With our bells on Day 1...super rainy day!
With our bells on Day 2...the sun came out!
Kim grabbed Jen's USA scarf to cheer on
Tony Benshoof, our favorite luger.
(Kim met him at the Salt Lake Olympics)
Of course, we all also had to get the red Vancouver
2010 mittens...so popular at the games this year!
I love how this pic shows the luger both on the screen
and just below it in real life on the track!
In spot, we could watch the timer to see how
good of a start each luger got off to.
watching the athletes take off
Visor Down!
Here he is winding up!
And paddling down the first little hill.
Bobsled pilot Gold medalist & new friend of ours)
because only 50% of sleds get by here without
crashing. Sadly, this is where the Georgian luger
lost his life just a few days prior to this picture.
the finish line!
Chris, excited to see his bare-stomached friends & family
while being interviewed by NBC's, Lewis Johnson.
We met Lewis later that night at the Jamaica House...
he's from Dallas!
Loch Felix, the Gold medalist, of Germany giving a little
fist pump while slowing down after his final run!
Loch Felix exiting the track.
of Italy exiting the track
David Moeller, Silver Medalist, of Germany
waving to his fans after his final run
Tony Benshoof of USA leaving after giving it
his all...he is the best American luger, but
finished 8th in this competition.
following and we quickly became fans as well!
For the longest time, we thought Shiva was Indian
Italian because of all these flags. We finally were
informed that he's just Indian, but has a Gelato
company that sponsors him. The Italian flag
that is on his banners was very misleading!
One evening while we were out, we went to the Jamaica
House and we ran into one of Shiva's coaches. We were
so excited to meet him!
Silver medalist David Moeller leaving the track
Tony Benshoof!
These people seemed to perform some sort of testing
or measurements on the luge sleds after each run.
Kim & Jen
Anglea and I
I sped walked all over the mountain side to find the
man who was handing out these little pink balls. It was
exhausting, but worth it! They got us free access into
one of the Olympic Award Ceremonies! These were
hard-to-get tickets and we were dying to go!!!
I ran into the Australian Bobsled
team at the sliding track
The Aussies
They did the flower ceremony immediately following
Day 2 of luge. The medals would wait for a
medal ceremony. We were excited to at least
see the guys get their flowers and stand on a podium!
Gold me Felix Loch
Silver medalist, David Moeller
Kim told me that Bronze Medalist, Armin Zoeggeler,
is known for never smiling, so we started yelling
out his name trying to get his attention. He was
ignoring us, so I finally just yelled "Come ON, dude!"
And he turned around and actually SMILED for us :)
Kim couldn't believe it.
After all that sliding track action, we just had to
take our picture in this Bobsled at the
Whistler Fairmont Hotel.
Getting to attend an Olympic Medal Ceremony
was so exciting! They had a staged area set-up
in Whistler Village just for these nightly occasions.
All four of us so excited to be there
- thanks to my pink balls!
We saw the medals given for the Nordic Combined Men's
Individual 10km, which was awesome because
the silver medalist was an American!
So glad to see our flag as part of the ceremony!
Johnny Spillane
Johnny with Jason Lamy Chappuis (gold) of
France and Alessandro Pittin (bronze) of Italy
We also saw the medal ceremony for the Men's 10 km
sprint biathlon. Emil Hegle Svendsen of Norway won
silver, Vincent Jay of France gold and
Jakov Fak of Croatia bronze
At our medal ceremony in Whistler, they televised
the ceremony going on simultaneously in Vancouver.
We saw Apollo Ono receive silver on the big screen!
Costumes were a big thing at the Olympics -
who knew??
Of course there were fireworks!
After the medal ceremony was a concert.
Estelle! I didn't really know who she was
but did know her song American Boy when
she got to it. It was a fun concert!
At the Medal Ceremony, we also got to see
Whistler's version of the Olympic Flame.
Jen & I spent 1 day at Cross Country (men's and
women's) while Kim & Angela went snowboarding.
The views out at the Cross Country track were
absolutely beautiful. It was a gorgeous day!!
This event was very family-friendly and a lot of
people were just picnicking in the hills while watching
the skiiers go by. It was a fun atmosphere! In this pic,
one of the reporters had challenged all the kids to a
race to see who could slide down the hill fastest.
We spent most of our time in a spot where we could
see the skiiers in the middle of their race and could
also see the start and finish lines...it was great!
Watching the men take off from the starting line.
They took off about 30 seconds apart from one another.
Since they stagger the start times, it was always exciting
to see one skiier bypass another.
I wonder if the skiiers are at all aware of
the beauty surrounding them as they race.
There were also people from all over the world out
to watch Cross Country. The Germans!
What is that blue/white flag for?? Anyone?
The Russians were out in FULL force!
The Swedish were there (and won Gold for women's)
And the Estonian's were there, too
(and won Silver for women's)
There were lots and lots of Czech's there too.
(They took home Bronze in the men's)
Crazy American mohawks
We saw the flower ceremony for the Women's
We had dinner one night at the Swiss House!
Olympic statue out of Lindt chocolate at the Swiss House
We seriously got the best table in the house!
Later, some new Swiss friends joined us
While we waited for our food, we enjoyed
some wine, some Swiss accordion music
and, of course, Olympic coverage on the TV
We were SO excited to get fondue at the Swiss House.
Unfortunately, it was not the best we've ever had.
Our new Swiss friends told also us it was nothing
like the cheese fondue in Switzerland. Bummer.
After dinner, we checked out the Jamaica House
and discovered that Angela and one of the
Swiss boys are very good dancers!
Meanwhile, Kim and I found more boys in costumes.
This time it was German boys.
The Canadians at the Jamaica House broke
out into their National Anthem to end the evening.
The USA House was private. Luckily, we have friends
in high places. Our NYC friend, Mallika, works for the
US Olympic Committee and was working at the USA
House for the entire Olympics. She got us on the list
to have dinner there one evening. The USA house
was in an actual residential house that the USOC rented
for the Olympics. The owners of the house also once
rented it out to MTV for Real World/Road Rules
Competition. The house was amazing!!
The USA house kitchen and staff. The chef is
on the right. She prepared us some
really yummy food for dinner.
on the right. She prepared us some
really yummy food for dinner.
Mallika & Steven Holcomb @ the USA House
He is the USA Bobsled pilot and he and his
teammates were frequent guests at the USA
house. Mallika got to know them quite well.
And they went on to win the GOLD!
We ate dinner and then Mallika joined
us for some fun when she had some down-time
Mallika introduced us to Steven while at dinner. He
was very nice and laid-back. He ended up leaving
with us and spent the rest of the evening with us.
My first self-portrait with an Olympic Gold medalist
All weekend long, we'd heard of Queen Latifah
sightings around Whistler Village. We had our
own this night. I NEVER take pictures of
celebrities at close range. I don't know what got
into to me, but the Queen did not like this AT ALL.
As evidenced by the picture I ended up with. Little
did I know at this point, that Steven KNOWS
Queen Latifah. About 15 minutes later, I found
myself in one of the VIP Olympic vehicles with
Queen Latifah. Awkward. I don't think she
recognized me as the rude paparazzi girl, though.
Hanging out at the Lululemon House. Lululemon (the
yoga apparel company) is one of Steven's sponsors.
They also sponsor many Canadians, so there were
a lot of athletes hanging out there. I met some really
great Canadian skiier (supposedly) but I have
forgotten his name, of course.
yoga apparel company) is one of Steven's sponsors.
They also sponsor many Canadians, so there were
a lot of athletes hanging out there. I met some really
great Canadian skiier (supposedly) but I have
forgotten his name, of course.
Jen and I went Dog Sledding. Fun!
They put us in these crazy coats. Kind
of disgusting, but at least we were super warm.
Self-portrait with our guide
At times, the dogs went really, really
fast, which was slightly scary, but
mostly just lots of fun!
It was so pretty and very, very quiet
And the dogs took us to an area
where we went snow-shoeing!
Jen trying to do some climbing in her snow shoes
I asked our guide if I could check out the igloo where
they store the snow shoes and other equipment. It
was so cool in there! They had just celebrated a
birthday there, so it was filled with balloons.
And we ended up at this huge waterfall
Beautiful!
Jen even took a stab at steering us on the way back.
I did not feel comfortable putting her life in my
hands, but was not afraid at all to put mine in hers
The crazy vehicle that took us from Whistler Village
up to the Dog Sledding place and back.
We got up early our final morning in Whistler so
we could get a picture with the Olympic rings
before heading out. We'd been waiting to get
this shot with all 4 of us all weekend! Unfortunately,
after our wild night with Queen Latifah, we could
not drag Angela out of bed to go with us.
