Vancouver 2010 - ROAD TRIP!!!

Friday, February 19


We decided to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of the Olympics in our own country, and now our own province! Tess flew in yesterday to join us for the Olympic journey. Road trip!!!



Peg, the owner of the the house we are sitting, was scheduled to come back for a week and would be arriving while we were in Van. That meant not only packing for the road trip but also taking what we needed from the house over to John and Kath's place. Clothes, food, computer, etc. Good thing it was only across the street.

We got on the road to Van at approximately 9:30am. We stopped in at Big Al's (Abbottsford) for lunch (thanks for the sandwich! Let us know what Tess owes you for the cookies!) and an hour and three bridges later, we arrived at Keri Lyn and Chris' at around 3:00pm. We took in the gorgeous view from their living room window, over-looking the Horseshoe Bay ferry dock. We had a coffee and discussed our plan for heading downtown. KL drove us to the bus stop and we took the bus into town (about 30 minutes).
Here's Tess on the Blue Bus as we cross the Lion's Gate Bridge. Were the drivers ever friendly!

When we got off the bus, it took a few minutes to get our bearings and gawk at all that there was to take in. Here Tess and Ash are in front of the giant Canadian flag on the corner of two streets. Davit!

Below is the zip-line that ran through Robson Square. This is where we first understood the line-up issue that was in store for us. They had signs for the 6- and 8-hour mark of the line-up. That's right, people lined up for hours for a 20-second ride! Needless to say we did not partake.
We met up with Tess' friend, Emma, who moved to Vancouver from Calgary. We stopped for dinner at Joey's and waited 40 minutes to find out they had lost our reservation! We were sitting right freakin' there!!!! How can you lose us?!? Once we made a fuss, they found us a closed-in patio part, kinda outside but not. As true Canadians we didn't make a stink about it! Just too hungry, I suppose.
It was so cool to walk around Robson Square, see all the people and feel the pulsating energy. There were big TV screens here and there, showing the games. We happened to walk up to one as Jon Montgomery was about to do his final heat for gold in Men's Skeleton. As he approached the start line, all the people started hooting and hollering, and cheering him on. After the final competitor's heat and we realized that Jon won the gold, the cheers were exponentially louder and everyone around us was smiling! Off to one side, part of the crowd began to sing "O Canada" and proudly joined in. It was so neat!

Along with our 100,000,000 closest friends, we made our way to the torch. Just like you see on TV, it was hard to get a good shot with all the people and, of course, the fence. Photog Jeff gave it a shot:
As per Cousin Brook's suggestion, we tried to get into David Lam park, but we didn't know that they don't admit anyone after 6pm. Too bad, but we were able to watch the fireworks from just outside of it!

Tess was staying at a friend of a friend's place in town tonight, so Jeff and I caught a very busy bus back to the Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal at around midnight. Unfortunately, we didn't know the street names to pre-order a cab, so the gal said it would be at least half an hour. Not wanting to wait outside in the cold, we walked back to KL's (thank goodness I remembered Maggie's directions!). We arrived by 2:00am and fell into bed.




Saturday, February 20



Our day began with a bit of a sleep-in after the previous night's late events. KL took us down to the bus stop again, and we met up with Tess after the half-hour ride in. The gals picked up a cup of joe for the walk and we made our way to the Live City Downtown site. Since there were huge line-ups at every site, we decided to follow the herd and check out the inside. It was approximately a 30-minute wait to get into the site. While inside, we checked out Manitoba House where we were educated on the new Civil Rights Museum being built near the Forks in Winnipeg. (We were there last summer!) The beer tent was quiet so we made our way into yet another line-up for the Canada Pavillion, about 40 minutes, but it was worth it as Canada's Holy Grail was waiting for us!Not many other people recognized him, but Jeff did and took the opportunity to chat with and get a photo with "The Keeper of the Cup", Phil Pritchard. I think he does everything with his white gloves on!
And just for kicks, the gals gave their Olympic mitts a workout on the Bobsled.
From the Live City, we made our way to the place near the sea wall and GM Place: it was beer tent/pavillion city! Most provinces were represented and had massive line-ups to get in, but you could hardly tell what you would be waiting for! Ontario House and Quebec House were WAY too long! So, when we heard fun music coming out of the Saskatchewan House, we made the decision and stood in line for half an hour. As suspected, it ended up being a beer garden and the band eventually came back on from their break. We downed a few bevies and grooved to the Dixieland band... fun!

You had to look for it, but Sask did have an information place with booths about wheat and stuff. Like everything at the Olympics the most popular "to dos" were the free stuff. Here, people lined up to get their pictures taken with all things Saskatchewan... like a big stuffed fish or a football, superimposed over a background of a lake or wheatfield or was it a canola field? I guess it was popular because it was free! (Not "included", Estupido!)

Feeling tired from lining up all afternoon and since we made dinner plans with the Long family, we hopped a bus back to the Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal. Chris took a break from his studies to pick us up. Merci Monsieur!

With the kids taken care of by the sitter, we got freshened up and went for dinner at The Boathouse at 7:15pm. Deli$h! Back home around 10:30pm, wiped, we went to bed.



Sunday, February 21

We happily joined the Long Family on their traditional Sunday morning walk to the beach near their place. The road there was not without its dangers, as steep hills and slick conditions resulted in Jack having a little one-on-one with the back of a parked truck. No harm done on either end.
After the long stoll, pretty Cate finds herself a sunny spot to re-hydrate before the stone skipping starts.Here we are making our stone selections and giving "what for" to the ocean.Once we got back home, we enjoyed a delish breakfast with bacon and eggs and cute kids!Packed and ready to go into town, we thought we'd save ourselves some time by driving to the Park Royal strip mall in West Van and do the Park and Ride bus thing the rest of the way.

We bused it all the way to meet Emma and JR (Emma's friend from Calgary who also recently moved to Vancouver) and walked around Granville Island, which was called the French Quarter for the games. Once again line-ups o'plenty!
We had a crêpe lunch at the Market (shout out to Alndrew! Totally déjà vu!). As it was getting close to game time (Canada vs US), we made our way back over the bridge to downtown. After realizing every pub and bar were full of revellers for the big game, Emma thought we would have more luck back across the bridge, in Kitsilano. The three of them hopped in the first cab, Jeff and I caught another one and we met up at a restaurant called "The New Bohemian". When we arrived, there were five guys sitting in there, facing the two TVs in the corner. JR was on it right away, trying to confirm that they would, in fact, be showing the game and that there would, in fact, be sound. One out of two... no sound! It didn't help that our server was a complete "meaner" (shout out to Mona and Emily!) who obviously didn't realize just how much money she could be making tonight!

People started arriving, all with the same looks on their faces: "Are they showing the game in here?" "Why is it so empty?" They soon found out! Fortunately, Tess went outside and discovered "The One Sushi Restaurant" a few doors down... it had two big TVs, both with sound, a table for us and friendly staff! We promptly paid our Bohemian bill and settled into the Sushi place for the second and third periods. Much better! Despite the outcome of the game!

After a few more pops at another pub across the street, our crowd dwindled to us three, JR and Karin (Tess' high school friend) who was nice enough to give us a ride back downtown to hook up with "the funny Dumas"... Scott. Scott was at the Cactus Club with one of his ticket dudes, Doug, and "The Reed Man", his buddy from his days of insurance sales who now lives in Van. That's Tess below making nice with the locals. The place was hoppin' with awesome energy and a fab DJ who actually took requests! (Bring on the Gaga!)

The Olympic spirit (or should that be Spirits) took hold of Tess and Scott, which led to a Norway vs Iceland showdown. Who knew arm wrestling was a winter sport? Luckily for national harmony it ended in a draw: Norway wins in the right hand division and Iceland in the left. No need to send the Peacekeepers, Mr. Harper!

Well after all the excitement downtown, somebody must have said "they wished the night would never end". Enough with the bus, we decided to take a cab back to the Park and Ride only to discover that we had been locked in! The car was locked in a gated parkade for goodness sakes!Another guy, who had been there and also locked in since 1:00am, had called 911 and got the number for the Parking Garage people. They said the gal that does her rounds will be around... eventually! We got there at 1:30am and waited until 2:10am for her to arrive. She read us the Riot Act about being in a gated garage (even though there were no signs anywhere!) and said we were lucky we didn't get a ticket. We managed to get home around 2:30am, ready to fall into bed except that the front door was locked!!!! We felt terribly for waking up KL to let us in. Sorry! It was a bit funny 'cause she had killer bed head. See you in the morning. zzzzzzzzzzzz

Monday, February 22

With Chris off to work, we had planned to go for another walk this morning, but Jack had an earache, so we stayed and played instead. We got packed up and on the road around noon. We were feeling the effects of the long weekend so it was a long and quiet ride. Home by 5:00pm to invalid Mommé! We leave her alone for just a few days and she found a way to trip up and sprain her ankle. All her Olympic hopes and dreams dashed! Maybe she could decorate the games instead!

It was very neat to watch highlights on TV for the following week and see the crowds full of excitement and national pride. So glad we were part of that!

Go Canada Go!