London 2012

Hi all. Just a quick note: London is hosting the summer olympics in 2012. Tickets to events won't go on sale until next year, but they are inviting you to express your interest in tickets NOW, so that you get in the first round of ticket lotteries.

Here's the website: London 2012 tickets!

What's So Great About the Coke House?

Jen worked on the mittens until the wee hours(about 3:30)! And, Sunday we were greeted bright and early by Lisa and Jeremy, who had driven up from Portland in the night. We all got up and were ready to travel to Canada.

I drove my parent's car with them and Caroline as the passengers. Jeremy drove his car with Lisa, Jen, and Allison as passengers. I was excited and nervous as we got to the border. When we got to the agent at the crossing, he scanned all of our passports. Then he scanned mine again. Then he said, "please ask her to stop taking pictures of me." I looked back and saw that Caroline did have her camera in her hands. I asked her to stop. Then we were told we could go on through. We did. I parked the car at a visitor's area just inside Canada. When Jeremy caught up to us, that car gloated that they had received passport stamps! Ugh, I had forgotten to ask for them for our vehicle. Oh well, another time... We found our hotel, which was just a few miles across the border. Then, we were ready to begin our trek to THE OLYMPICS!

We drove to a park and ride at the very end of a monorail train system. It was pretty cool to just walk on and off the public trains there since we had a ticket to an Olympic event. We never had to show our event ticket, so I think almost anyone could have went on a free ride during the Olys (as I now refer to them). Mom, the super Olympic trooper, was walking with us, but was in a lot of obvious pain. Soon after we got off the train, most of us needed a restroom...this was the first time we would be looking for a restroom in The Upper Couv, but definitely not the last. A police officer recommended a great hotel bathroom. We found our way there.

Since it was Mom, Dad, Allison, and Caroline's only day at The Olympics, I really wanted them to get to do and see what they wanted. We spoke to a hotel worker who recommended The Coca Cola House as a fun place to go. Caroline used to really like all things Coke, and everyone else was on board, so it seemed like a good idea. Then, the cab driver (yes, we had shifted to taxis for ease, comfort, and speed), told us that he could not get us close to the Coke House.

At this point, Jen was off to pick up tickets for day two's hockey game. We sent Mom, Dad, Allison, and Caroline off in a cab to see the Olympic Cauldron instead of the Coke House, wah, wah. Jeremy, Lisa, and I waited for Jen to return to the hotel lobby. Then, we were going to follow in another cab. Well, this is where it got a little sticky. And, having forgotten my cell phone in the car at the park and ride really began to suck. Anyway, after some confusing communication, and even a call to the hotel lobby phone for us (good thinking, Jen!),we all converged at the Coke House. Yes, you read that correctly, we all converged at the Coke House. Whaaaaaaaaat? I should say we made it to the venue that housed the Coca Cola House. None of us ever made it inside. After waiting in line for 25 minutes or so, disposing of some gin treats (Lisa and Allison)at security, we all met inside the venue.
While we were waiting in the line, I decided to capture the 10 gallon hats on video. We eventually got close enough to see that the hats were made in Canada and then sold to the silly, fun, Americans!

The event venue was called Live City, of which there were several around Vancouver. The concept of Live City was good-- a free venue where there was music and other performances, food vendors, and in this case, the Coke House. But, for us, the execution was not great. The performers were preparing for later performances, and, obviously, we did not make it in to the Coke House. So, in answer to my title question, we'll never know what's so great about the Coke House. But, it looked pretty from the outside!
And, there was a lot of activity all around it! This was the Live City performance space.
You can tell how excited Jen was to be captured on video :)

The Coke House did make a fantastic backdrop for Jen and Caroline's posing! Super Sassy Pose! Super Spunky Pose! And Super Cheesy (I mean Super Skater) pose!

This is our first glimpse of a cute little Quatchi (one of the mascots). We stalked the mascots throughout our time in The Upper Couv.

Jen also stalked some humans. These are the Canadian police officers that Jen asked me to photo stalk for her...

We left Live City on a mission to go to the Irish House, which Mom had heard was super fun times. Mom is a trooper, and always up for a good time. But, she's not a huge fan of drinking or bars, so I was surprised how much she wanted to go to the Irish House. This leads to my next question, "What's so great about the Irish House?"

Oh, Those Canadians, Good Luck Athletes, and Did Someone Say Official Olympic Auction??

I think Joelf mentioned in a previous post that I had spent a lot of time perusing the Olympic website and all things Olympic on the internet. This is all true. I found all sorts of fun facts and games on the Vancouver 2010 website, including lists of what we could and could not bring into an olympic venue, that all public transportation in Vancouver would be free the day you have tickets to an event, that we would need to take a chartered bus to Whistler to see the bobsleigh, and that Vancouver had the CUTEST MASCOTS EVER. EVER.

See? Adorable.

I also discovered links to Vancouver's public transportation system, which had PDF maps of the metro area, links to the Washington department of transportation's border webcam, and links to Vancouver 2010's Fan-to-Fan marketplace, where ticketholders could sell their tickets and the general public could purchase them. This was the first official Olympic ticket-resell marketplace, and I think it was a great idea. Sure, many people were trying to sell their tickets for much more than they paid for, but not everybody, and at least the transaction was guaranteed by VANOC.

I signed up for Vancouver's email newsletter, and one of the newsletters invited people to join this funky virutal stadium. As far as I could tell, the virtual stadium was a huge swirling webpage where people from all over the world were uploading a photo of themself and their first name and location. I thought, why not. So go ahead and see of you can find me. (Or not--it looks like the stadium is closed.)

Today, I received an email from the Canadiam tourism board, thanks to that virtual stadium I was a part of. That's not so bad, as I can unsubscribe, but the email linked up to this webpage called "Locals Know." It is all about the best kept secrets of Canada, like an Ice Hotel in Quebec City.

And THIS:

The website says it is

a combination of hockey, skiing and boardercross, Red Bull Crashed Ice is the fastest sport on skates set against North America’s most spectacular backdrop, the historic streets of Old Québec.

HELLO, how cool is that? Those French Canadians. They are crazy.

So when are we going?

Oh, and the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic games began today. Good luck to all the athletes!

Okay and hello--this is why poking around the internet is awesome--The Official Vancouver 2010 Auction!!

Trains, Planes, and Automobiles

I will tell you up front: I am loving public transportation these days.

I won't ever give up my car, at least not anytime ever in the forseeable future, but I loves me some train traveling.

The original plan was for me, Cookie, and Jeremy (the Portland contingent--the PC) to meet up with Joelf and the Montana/California contingent (the MCC) at our hotel in the Vancouver burbs on Sunday morning/early afternoon.  When I started thinking about how long it could take to get to our hotel, I realised the PC would have to get up butt early to have any chance of making it to Vancouver before Sunday evening.  Cookie and I talked about staying in Seattle Saturday night, which I thought was a great idea!  I talked with Joelf, who told me the MCC would be in Bellingham Saturday night.

Cookie then found out her mother was having a birthday party Saturday night so she and Jerm couldn't leave until after the party (10 pm...at the earliest).  I wasn't much interested in riding in a car all night so I decided to take the Amtrak up to Bellingham, and Joelf could pick me up.  Cookie and Jerm would meet us at the hotel Sunday morning and we could all party train up to the Upper Couv...and when I say party train I mean PAR-TAY train.

Then I got in contact with my friend Raiuchka, who usually lives in Seattle but was going to be at her parent's house outside of Bellingham on Saturday, so she decided to pick me up.  Awesome!  Taking the train, seeing an old friend, and starting the Olympic celebration one day early!  I was excited.

Saturday morning finally arrived.  Cookie took me to the train station and off I went.  This was only my second Amtrak trip; the first one was in 1998 when I took the train from Salem to San Jose.  This trip was much better.

Traveling by train is awesome because:
1. You can get up and go to the bathroom any time you want.
2. You don't have to worry about falling out of the sky.
3. You can bring on your own food and drink, or get up out of your seat and go to the dining car.
4. You can just plain get up and walk when your butt gets sore.
5. You can sleep; you're not in charge of directions or driving or keeping the driver awake.
6. You can furiously knit a mitten from start to finish while traveling.
7. You don't have to turn your phone off so you can continue to send and receive text messages from your sister, Joelf, and keep up with the latest olympic news via nbcolympics.com.  Hooray for technology!
8. Oftentimes the scenery passing by outside your window is really lovely.

Once we got to Olympia, the train started traveling right at the edge of the Sound.  It was really pretty.  I was sad that soon after, the sun went down.  That last leg was really so nice.

Raiuchka picked me up as planned and it was so good to see her!!  She and I were Russian majors at Willamette together, and we hadn't seen each other since her wedding almost 10 years ago.  We had dinner at an Italian restaurant and I feel we could have talked all night long.

After dinner she drove me to the hotel where I was meeting up with the MCC.  Hooray!!! Seeing everybody just made our olympic dream reality.  Joelf showed me the official tickets (pretty!), the banners he had made the night before (awesome!), and all the other USA stuff he had brought.  Joelf and I played cards while I tried to weave in the ends of all the mittens I had knitted.  I didn't get very far, but I figured Cookie could help me do it in the car Sunday.  It was probably 3 am when Joelf and I finally went to bed.

On the road again

To prepare for our Olympic experience I made some banners for us to wave at the events. I really do love curling, 'Montana' may have been a slight exaggeration.

We finally made it to February 19. We were all getting anxious to drive over to Seattle, pick up Caroline, and then head north. We packed and packed. Mom packed a lot of stuff...Allison and I tried to get it all in the car. We eventually did, but where was Caroline going to sit? Where would her bags go? Mom finally said, "don't worry about it. We'll get rid of stuff if we need to." As we walked to the car, I noticed that mom looked like she was in pain. I figured it was her neck and back stressed after packing.

So, I started driving. We got down the road about an hour and stopped for a restroom break. I stayed in the car. This time when mom approached the car, she could barely walk. She told me that she had hurt her leg when she was getting dressed, but didn't want to worry any of us. I was, officially, worried at that point.

I kept driving. Then Dad and Allison drove, and we made it to Bellevue. We actually arrived fairly early, so we were able to watch the Olympics on TV and relax.

Saturday morning we all slept in :) Then, we went to get Caroline in Everett. She had arrived the night before and stayed with a friend from Mariposa. We found Caroline and her two small bags (good job of packing light, Care). Caroline, Allison, and Dad loaded into the back seat with bags packed around them. I was driving with a backpack under my feet, and Mom was in the front seat with bags around her feet as well. We were a bit 'hillbillyish' but it all worked out. And, it was a fairly short trip up to Bellingham. Of course, we did have to make a side trip to the Dairy Queen in Sedro Wooley. None of us had ever been to Sedro Wooley (we've all been to a Dairy Queen), so it was a necessary detour! Hopefully, I will get Caroline's pictures to add to the blog sometime in the future.

Throughout the day I received text updates from Jen, who was on her way up on the train from Portland. She was busy on the train, finishing the last pair of mittens. Jen knitted mittens for all of us! and Lisa knitted hats for all of us! Such amazing knitters!!!

We made it to Bellingham and set up a little red, white, and blue pride area for Jen's arrival!


The knitters weren't the only ones working on projects. Allison was finishing up a project for an online beading class. For us non-beaders, the thought of an online beading class is completely intimidating!
We posed the Olympic binder next to the beaded bag reinforcing that online work can really be done from anywhere in the world.

Caroline got into the Olympic spirit with a special hat made from a windsock! Patriotic all the way!

Jen arrived and was more than happy to pose for the camera. She was practicing her figure skating moves.

And yet another figure skating pose. And, I'm not quite sure what Allison's pose was all about. It ended up being a bit like the Statue of Liberty...but doesn't his arm look a bit like a mannequin leg? funny that...

Getting Ready

Once we had the tickets, we began planning our trip, including hotels and travel. Dawn and I looked at all of the websites for a hotel. It was pretty amazing to see the minimum prices ($350 or more per night) and the minimum stays (sometimes up to 28 days!). We considered staying in The States and driving up each day, but we were concerned about the border crossings and travel times. We reserved rooms for Sunday night and Tuesday night just across the border in South Surrey.

The months passed...Jen began really getting into the Vancouver 2010 website and everything Olympic and Vancouver. Sometime in that time, I began affectionately referring to Vancouver, B.C. as 'The Upper Couv' since Vancouver, WA is affectionately referred to as 'The Couv' around Portland.

In one of her forays into the website, Jen found a fan-to-fan forum for ticket sales, and we started thinking about Monday options. Jen got really excited and reserved a hotel, this time in Langley. If we were unable to get event tickets, we decided that we could just hang out in The Upper Couv.

When I got back from The Dominican Republic in December, there was a special package waiting...Olympic Tickets!



Aren't they beautiful?



Curling...



and bobsleigh...

An Olympic Dream

I have been watching the Olympics for as long as I can remember. My first memory tied to the Olympics was when I was three years old. We were visiting my grandparents in Montana; it was cold and icy. For some reason my dad took me out to ride a horse. We were in the corral. Thunder was a big, not tall, black horse. He would have been a stocky muscle man if he were human. So my dad put me up on Thunder, just behind the saddle. Then my dad went to get on the horse. In the 30 seconds or so between lifting me onto the horse and hoisting himself up, my dad forgot that I was there. He swung his leg over, hooked me, and off I tumbled onto the icy, frozen manure covered corral ground. Like I said, Thunder wasn't a tall horse, so I didn't fall too far. I don't remember getting back on the horse and riding, but I'm sure we did. What I do remember is going into Grandma and Grandpa's house to warm up, AND watch the Olympics. That was the year Dorothy Hamill won a gold medal in figure skating and I thought she, and that, was about the coolest thing ever. I was sure I could do the Hamill camel and all of her other jumps and spins.

Ever since that day, I have dreamed of seeing the Olympics in person. In 1988, our family talked about going to the Calgary games, since they were 'close', but we didn't make it. Then, we were definitely going to go to Salt Lake in 2002, but we didn't make it again. In the summer of 2008, my niece, Caroline, was talking with her mom and me about the Vancouver games and how cool it would be to go. She had already done some investigating and knew that the ticket sales lottery opened up in October of that year. As we were talking, I said, "so, if I enter the lottery and get you a ticket, are you definitely in? You will come up from Santa Barbara for the Olympics?" She said yes.

In October I started looking around to find out about the tickets. I found the website. I was with my best friends, Cookie and Jen, and we found the ticket site and information about the lottery process. We could only try for 8 tickets to events, and if awarded, our credit cards would be charged immediately. Allison had already told me that he was in for the fun, and Mom and Dad too. We began looking at events and times. I recommended curling, since I had become a fanatic of curling with my mom from the time it was an exhibition sport a few olympics ago. I think Jen barely knew what it was at the time and thought it looked boring, but she went along with it. So, we entered the lottery. We had high hopes. We asked for 8 tickets to events on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.

In January 2009, I received an email--we had been awarded tickets! Yay!!!! We were awarded 8 tickets for curling on Sunday and then 4 tickets for bobsleigh on Tuesday. Then it was time to plan our trip!