Winter Olympics in Vancouver

[feliciakw]

Watched the opening ceremonies last night. Extremely impressive and very cool.

It also made me a wee bit nostalgic. The Olympics, especially the winter Olympics, were a really big deal when I was growing up. (Back when both Olympics were held in the same year every four years. A year of Olympics every four years made them far less commonplace than rotating them every two.) I had a Dorothy Hamill doll after she won her gold medal in 1976. The 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, NY were especially memorable. Every night for 2 weeks, it's what we watched pretty much every night. Li'l Bro and I would play bobsled and luge down the hill in our back yard. And the USA hockey win that year was amazing! I remember being at my grandma's house that afternoon.

For some reason, I like the winter Olympics better than the summer ones. Perhaps it is because the nights are short and we're stuck inside anyway. Perhaps it's because, as they said during last night's ceremony, they're smaller and more intimate. I don't know.

I loved the history and trek across Canada that was last night's performance. The introduction of and welcome from the First Nations. The effects were phenomenal, and the design of the torch is really cool (even if they did have trouble with one of the pillars). And I'm so proud that our boarder with Canada is the longest friendly boarder in the world. And I was delighted with the reception Team USA received.

Canada has one of my very favorite vacation spots: Niagara Falls. And my trip to see The Phantom of the Opera in Toronto was great fun.

I'd love to go to Vancouver. I've wanted to visit the Pacific Northwest for a while, and I especially want to see the Aurora sometime (which would probably require a trip to Alaska), but I've heard good things about Vancouver.

All in all, I think the next couple of weeks are going to make for some fun TV viewing. Not tonight, because we're going out to dinner with friends. But . . . yeah. Fun stuff.

Must go get ready for a belly dancing workshop. Did I mention that there's one being held in town today? Fun, fun!

Comments

[just-ruth.livejournal.com]

The 1980 Olympics were memorable for our family in that they had my grand-uncle, LeRoy Bailey at the dedication of the Bobsled run - in the 1932 Olympics at Lake Placid, Grand-Uncle LeRoy, then a young man, was one of the official timers of the event. I think they have the Swiss-made stopwatch he used in 1932 at a museum up there.

For me, k.d.lang singing "Hallelujah" was the show stopper. She is an absolute goddess of music.

ETA if you want to see the Aurora you can come visit me - there's been at least three times I've seen it during the winters here or up in the Adirondacks. You just need to be where there's little light leakage and a run of sun spots. :)

[mlevins.livejournal.com]

I went to Vancouver last spring and had a blast (my userpic is from Capilano Suspension Bridge, but we also went up to Grouse Mountain). I am really enjoying all the "local color" features they've been showing around Vancouver, even though I didn't have time for half of them. You really should go sometime--and I really should go back ;-)