OK, day 1- drive to Tahoe, eat, sleep blah blah blah
Day 2- Drive across Nevada. Drive, drive, drive, no towns in site, drive some more, look at endless landscape of high desert and mountains covered in snow. Drive some more- you get the picture... Arrive in SLC at sunset- just in time to see the sun setting pink and orange on the downtown Olympic
banners. You have seen them on TV- 20 story high buildings with a 20 story high speed skater on them-they are quite amazing to see in person, and got us even more excited about our Olympic adventure. On to Andy and Justyn's in Coalville, just in time for dinner-so far the vacation is going well! off to bed for an early morning.
Day 3- up before light, coping with time difference, bundle up, wipe the sleep out of my eyes, and trundle off to Snowbasin. It is somewhere around 10 degrees- but we are excited about our first event- Women's Downhill- Picabo's last competition! Everything is easy to find, and so well organized- parking is a snap. Off to security check- easier than the airport, and far more thorough, and friendly. Into a waiting shuttle bus and up the hill. As we arrive at the venue we are greeted- I mean truly greeted by everyone we see. All volunteer are dressed a la Disney in
color coded uniforms. And all are friendly. I am convinced that Prozac is being put into the water
supply. Once in the venue, a few things become apparent. Throw all biological needs out the door.
The line for food is over an hour, and it doesn't look like the line for the bathrooms is any better. Of
course the shopping line is monumental as well. Oh well- we ignore it all, and go off to find our seats. On the way I make my first pin trade with Luigi from Italy. I am truly living the Olympic experience. Yippee! Then we climb to the last row of seats and wait in anticipation. And we wait. And we wait. The event is postponed, and then postponed again. Oh no- they are cancelling for today. Boo hoo! And even worse- 20,000 people are now heading for the buses! Oh glory be...it is actually pleasant. Everyone is having fun- the volunteers are telling jokes over the pa, and playing games with the crowd. No one cares, and get this- we are back to our cars in 20 minutes. Did I mention there were 20,000 people? These people are amazing. Oh well- now off to SLC for pairs
skating. Again through security- it took 2 minutes tops- and again- everyone was soooo nice. We have time to kill so we brave the superstore. Of course, there is a line! In 20 minutes we are in, shopped, and paid for the goods- how do they do it? Off to pairs skating. Did you see us on TV? We were 4th row from the top. It was fab. Of course, you never see all of the skaters on TV. The first 16 pairs were a little, hmm, how to say? Well, they weren't very good, but they tried really hard! And we all cheered for them like they won a medal. And, did I mention that they all fell? Then of course, we saw the Canadians. You have seen it on TV- but I can't even tell you how fantastic the performance was. We had goosebumps. We were standing before they were finished. I am proud to say that we boo'd the judges along with the rest of the crowd. It's too bad about SkateGate- but they seem to have gotten far more attention than they would have with the gold medal- so I am sure they will be fine. Then- walk to the shuttle under fireworks from the medal ceremony, drive to Coalville for some well-needed rest. This email is too long, so more later.
Linda
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