Before flying out we had lunch at the Calgary airport.
 Conor having a big ol slice of pizza |  Clare munching on a french fry |
Our Plane getting ready to take us to Vancouver..
We had four seats in two rows both a window and a middle. I sat with Clare and Jen sat with Conor. Conor was a little bit anxious about flying at first, but once the plane took off and the neat views of the city appeared in the window I think he forgot that he was worried about it.
Conor holding on..
I tried to take a few pictures while we were flying, both out the window and of the kids in their seats.. The plane flew west towards the mountains and we could see Mt. Yamnuska from high in the sky. I tried to shoot a few pictures of the mountains but soon everything was covered with clouds.
I liked how this pic of Clare turned out.
After the plane landed we waited a bit for everyone to clear off. The kids went up to the cockpit to see if they could get a tour. It was pretty cloudy on the approach to Vancouver and Conor wanted to ask the pilot how they could still fly the plane when they couldn't see anything.
Conor talking with the crew in the cockpit.
After picking up our bag we were making our way to the train when we came across a Coke pin trading area. Jen stopped to look at what was available. She was really looking forward to trading pins and re-living the fun she had back in '88. The kids were getting into it too.
Jen checking out the pins.
Then we ran into a torch bearing beluga whale and got someone to take the picture of the four of us..
Baby beluga in the deep blue sea, swims so wild, swims so free...
We finally left the airport. There was a question about taking a cab or taking transit and opted to take transit. Picked up a day pass so that we could also take transit later in the day. There is a new train line that goes from the airport to downtown Vancouver that was put in for the Olympics and it was pretty slick. It'd be nice if the C-Train in Calgary went all the way to the airport.
another looking out the window shot
Once we got downtown on the train we ended up taking two buses to the bed and breakfast. Most of the buses are electric and double long. There is a bendy accordion middle part that had a single seat on each side. The kids always wanted to sit on this seat if it was available.
Clare sitting in the bendy bus seat.
We eventually found the bed and breakfast - checked in, dropped off our bag, got some stuff together and headed back downtown. Jen had bought tickets to the short track speed skating event online and we had to pick them up downtown. There was quite a bit of activity going on and you could feel that the excitement was starting to build.
It was raining and initially we thought it wouldn't be too bad - but then it was - and we bought some umbrellas to help fend off the rain. We walked around for a little bit and then went down to the ticket office - there was a pretty long line. Jen ended up waiting in line for over 90 minutes. I took the kids and we walked around for a while. Strangely enough they starting to get hungry. We saw a Burger King so we went and grabbed a bit of food. After eating, Jen was still in line so we went to a book store to kill some more time. Eventually we made it back to the ticket office.. Jen was almost done by this time, so we watched some people skate on the rink - I pulled my camera out and grabbed a couple of shots of the kids.
Kids waiting by the skating rink.
After Jen got the tickets we decided to walk over to the water front, not really knowing how far away it was. On the way we came across a countdown clock to the opening ceremonies.
Less than 22 hours to go.
We eventually made it down to the waterfront and found that most of the paths were blocked off due to a perimeter that was setup around the IBC building ( which I think was the International Broadcast Center or something like that ) There were a lot of people walking around with TV cameras and tripods, looking like they were getting ready for the games.
Walking down the street, there was finally a place where we could see the water and saw the Olympic rings were setup. I tried to take a few pictures but I didn't have a tripod with me and it was difficult to find a place to sit my camera down so it wouldn't move. Jen said that the company that her sister works for was providing power for the rings.
Rings on the water.
It was getting to be pretty late so we started to head back to the train station to begin our long journey home. Jen hadn't eaten yet and we found a MacDoanalds so we stopped so she could have a quick bite. After riding the train to the Main-Science Center station we caught the number eight that took us to within half a block of the B&B. While waiting for the bus I noticed that this great big advertisement was giving off some interesting light.. I asked everyone stand next to it and took this picture.
mmm, nice soft light for free. and the end of a pretty long day.
Eventually we made it back to the B&B where we pretty much went straight to sleep.
More pictures can be found here.
Thanks for reading.
brad.
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