Friday afternoon we suddenly decided that we would not waste the opportunity to go to the Olympics in Vancouver BC when it is only a 2 hour drive from Seattle. So, we decided to make a spontaneous trip north and go to the XXI Winter Olympics.
We got up really early on Saturday and were on the road by 6 am. We were pleasantly surprised when we got to the border and it was a 5 minute line. In all the times we have been to Canada we have NEVER seen a line this short at the border. We parked in Surrey (just across the border) at the park & ride and took the light rail into Vancouver. We were downtown by 9:30 am. We walked around the Robson Square....
then went to the ticket office to try to buy tickets for any event happening that day. The only tickets available were for a 12 pm hockey game between Norway and Switzerland. Just as we got to the ticket counter they told us they were sold out. "But wait" the lady said "we do have obstructed view tickets. The seats could be 0-50% obstructed by a camera or pole". We decided that it was worth it to see an Olympic event even it the view was partially obstructed...and we got a 10% discount on the tickets (James tried to barter for more of a discount but they would not budge).
By the time we got the tickets it was 10:45 am...game time was noon. So, off we went on the light rail to Canada Hockey Place.
We had not even looked at the tickets until we got to the venue and we were trying to find our section. Turns out we were in the 100 level seats. We were more than pleasantly surprised when we got to our seats and this was our "obstructed" view.
(This picture is taken from my seat). We were in the 17th row with a great view of the goal.
We had a great time at the game.....hockey fans are quite interesting......Todd and Sarah Palin were at the game. Sadly, these the only "famous" people we saw that day...and we aren't really fans of the Palins.
After the game we headed back downtown to the Waterfront to see the Olympic cauldron...
then walked around some more, had dinner and headed back home.
It was long but fun day and we are very happy that we went to experience the Olympic spirit, even if it was just for one day.
