Welcome to my Salt Lake City Olympic trip. This trip was very special for me, because it fulfilled agoal of attending both a Summer Olympics and a Winter Olympics in my lifetime. The first part of that goal was met in 1996, when I made it to the Summer Games in Atlanta. I had partially resigned myself to having to travel to another country to see a Winter Games. But, when Salt Lake City was awarded (had bought?) the 2002 Games, I knew I’d find a way to attend them.
Of course, a lot had changed since I had been to Atlanta. First off, my travel partner for the Atlanta trip (my brother, Jerry) was now living a few hours away, instead of being in Fresno. Also, I had gotten married in 2001. So, the idea of recreating the Atlanta trip was definitely not an option. Plus, I was no longer 29 years old and full of energy to do a cross-country drive. I was now 35 and had recently finished a long driving vacation across the Southwest USA. But, my enthusiasm was too high to let age or wife stop me. It turned out that I still had the energy of a 29 year old, and my wife was a real joy to be with on this trip. Just seeing her eyes light up at the whole experience of attending an Olympics added a wonderful dimension to the trip.
One of the pleasant surprises about this trip was that I found my experiences in Atlanta to be very handy for planning purposes. I bought the tickets early, lined up housing a few months before the event, and prepared for the crowds. I had given up all hope of sightseeing, but it ended up that there was enough time between events to allow us to see some of the Salt Lake City area sights. All in all, it was a very enjoyable trip. In fact, I have to say that I enjoyed the Salt Lake City Games better than the Atlanta Games.
All four of you long time readers will notice that this travelogue isn’t the typical one that I’ve written in the past. I chose a different format because the typical things I usually discuss in a travelogue (hotels, restaurants, attractions) weren’t really present in this trip. Since we stayed in people’s houses and typically ate at the venues, I didn’t feel it was appropriate to make my usual full blown travelogue. Instead, this site is comprised mostly of pictures. There are quite a few pictures of the events which we attended, along with some shots of Utah’s incredible scenery, the ubiquitous Mormon presence, and that surreal place known as Las Vegas. For those of you who are wondering who is the better photographer, each picture is marked with a DL (meaning Dianne took the picture) or an ML (meaning I took the picture). So, sit back and click through our impressions of that wonderful time in Salt Lake City.
General Impressions:
The Events:
Men’s Ice Hockey – Canada vs. Sweden
Men’s 1000 Meter Speed Skating
Men’s 1000 Meter/Women’s 500 Meter Short Track Speed Skating
Men’s Ice Hockey – Russia vs. Finland