We took the 7:00 am ferry over to Vancouver for the day and what a perfect day it was. Dad and Nate picked us up from the ferry and we spent the day perusing the sights and action downtown Van. We checked out most of the houses in our midst (Canada House, Saskatchewan House (for Mark), Manitoba, Quebec, Ontario, German House, Saxony House, etc etc) while also touring around Canada Hockey Place, Canada Place to see Dad and Nate at work, and of course… the flame cauldron. Our highlight was definitely, randomly, getting in line for the Ontario house while deciding what we should do next. Once we entered the house, there was a myriad of people congregating at the small stage…when lo and behold we were told that WAYNE GRETZKY was on his way there for an interview! The hearts stopped in the chests of the 3 guys we were with… and then started beating again when we got autograph… SUCCESS! It was very, very cool.

Actually the whole experience was surreal and awesome… every second of it was purely incredible. People in Vancouver that were working for the Olympics were so gracious and kind and I don’t think it’s because we were all wearing those red Olympic mitts! Everyone was genuinely excited to be part of something so big and after being there, Canada (especially BC) should be very, very proud of what they’ve put together over there. Seeing many different supporters of different nations was neat…especially when they were all flanked with thousands of people wearing red and white. I encourage you, any of you, if heading to Vancouver is at all an option for you…take it; it’s a once-in-our-lifetime opportunity and it’s pretty darn cool that the unification and peace between nations that the Olympics bring is resting on our home soil. We are blessed and it was such a reminder that I am a part of something in this world that is bigger than my own.

GO CANADA!

As for the pics, I tried a gallery style posting so hopefully it’s ok. Click on the first picture and then they will get bigger and you can just scroll thru them… rather than making it one huge long post? Crossing my fingers…