Category: Travel

On a blustery evening today, Heil took the silver medal in moguls with a solid performance.   I was lucky enough to be sitting next to a large contingent of her family and friends from Edmonton.

There were two other Canadians in the event: Chloe Dufour-Lapoint competing in her first Olympics and veteran Kristi Richards who put it all on the line.  Kristi started out extremely well, but could not keep up the pace and lost control.

Rain pelted down during the during the qualification round as well as the final.  The fog shrouded the top part of the course during the first part of the final round making it difficult to see the athletes.  Overall the conditions were very poor and a good day to stay in the city.

Results: Ladies‘ Moguls Final
1.Â	Hannah Kearney	26.63
2.Â	Jennifer Heil	25.69
3.Â	Shannon Bahrke	25.43

Well, probably not Julie Andrews, but still everywhere you look it is one G I A N T party.

The opening ceremonies were great, as you’ve all seen on TV.  To get ready for the big show, organizers asked all the spectators to arrive 1 hour early.

• xxx candle
• xxx flashlight

Got up this morning too early… 2:30am PST.  Argh.

Anyway, the flight was fine and arrived to an overcast Vancouver a few minutes early.  Upon deplaning we were greeted by lots of friendly faces and a “Go Canada!”.   The whole airport has Olympics theme everywhere.

There was a line-up for the baggage claim, but we’re going to get used to waiting for things.

I’m ready to go to Vancouver…. well almost.

• Accommodations: check
• Tickets: check
• Boarding pass: check
• Packing: todo

Good think I didn’t reserve on the cruise ship… They didn’t have enough bookings (originally at $1000/night) so they decided not to come to Vancouver.

I’m staying with Frances’ cousin June in Richmond.

I finally got tickets to all the events I wanted.  Don’t ask how much it cost (I don’t want to know).

ZO001	12/02/2010 18:00	Opening Ceremony	Opening Ceremony
FR001	13/02/2010 16:30	Ladies’ Moguls Qualification Ladies’ Moguls Final	Freestyle Skiing
SS002	14/02/2010 13:00	Ladies’ 3000 m Final	Speed Skating
VC001	14/02/2010 18:30	Vancouver Victory Ceremony Scheduled Headline Performer: Nelly Furtado	Vancouver Victory Ceremony
SB001	15/02/2010 10:30	Men’s SBX Qualification Men’s SBX Final	Snowboard
CU001	16/02/2010 09:00	Men’s Qualification GBR–SWE NOR–CAN USA–GER SUI–DEN	Curling
IH009	16/02/2010 16:30	Men’s Preliminary — CAN–NOR	Ice Hockey
IH013	17/02/2010 14:30	Women’s Preliminary — CAN–SWE	Ice Hockey
VC004	17/02/2010 18:30	Vancouver Victory Ceremony Scheduled Headline Performer: Paul Brandt	Vancouver Victory Ceremony
IH017	18/02/2010 12:00	Men’s Preliminary — USA–NOR	Ice Hockey
CU009	18/02/2010 19:00	Men’s Qualification SWE–CHN GBR–DEN NOR–SUI FRA–CAN	Curling
FS005	19/02/2010 16:45	Ice Dance Compulsory Dance	Figure Skating
FR003	20/02/2010 10:00	Ladies’ Aerials Qualification	Freestyle Skiing

I finally have the requisite “Canada Mittens” for the games. I bought a few other items as well which I’m sure you’ll see in the photos to come aucasinosonline. The excitement is building!

The torch came to Kanata today.   I went out to see it at 2 different places: Castlefrank Rd. @ Hazeldean Rd. and then again on Palladium Dr.   It was interesting trying to get to the second location before the torch got there… they close the roads so far in advance that I had to take the Queensway and then come back.

This is of course after getting stuck in traffic yesterday due to the relay going through Ottawa on Carling Ave.  It hit it the rolling road closures after leaving the movies.

This photo is taken from the median on Hazeldean Rd, east of Castlefrank Rd.

This photo is on Palladium Dr. looking across to Parking Lot 5.