Curling!

The big hour finally arrived! We stepped off of the new Vancouver Sky Train at King Edward Station and followed the crowds for several blocks. We passed houses and a school and then suddenly in the middle of this unlikely residential setting peaked our first glimpse of the Vancouver Olympic Center, home of the curling events.




After a short line through security we excitedly entered the venue, spent way too much on souvenirs and made our way to our seats. As we entered, the first practice had just started and we were instantly plunged into the excitement.



I know it's not the most popular sport, but ever since I first saw it on TV during the Calgary Olympics I have been fascinated. It's a game of strategy, but these guys are in really good shape, too: it's non-stop action. I knew this coming in, but I was really surprised at how fast paced it really is, you miss out on this watching on TV. There are actually four simultaneous games going on and each team has only a limited amount of time to play their moves or they risk forfeiting the match. Its self policing too, the entire time we watched the officials were only involved once and this was to pull out the measuring device on a close call. It's really fascinating to watch all the action.

In our session we had:
Germany vs Switzerland
Canada vs Denmark
US vs France
Norway vs China

The crowd was whole heartedly behind their home team and the Canadian team is really amazing to watch. They are undefeated so far and deservingly so; such precise feats performed wearing flat bottomed shoes on a sheet of ice. The Norwegians and their now famous pants were also a favorite. And a pretty large number of Americans also turned out to support our team.

Canada fairly quickly pulled way ahead and the Danes conceded, but the other 3 matches all went 10 ends. The US match was close and the last one to finish. In the end most of the crowd got behind the US and the final shots were made amidst raucous stmping and chants of USA...very unexpected.

After the match we reluctantly left and made our way to the Olympic flame for some pictures and then off to meet my former labmate Danielle and her husband Jason who now live in Vancouver. They took us to an awesome Ethiopian Restaurant and shared some of their tasty home brewed beer before chaufering us back to the ferry terminal to make our midnight ride back to Victoria.

As we boarded the ferry we were plenty tired, but still exciting from such a great day of Olympics and visiting friends. :)




-- Post From Shawn's iPhone

Location:Vancouver, BC

Oh Canada!

We were up before dawn this morning to make the ferry to Vancouver. Today is game day! Ok it is actually the 8th day of the 2010 Olympics, but it is THE day we are going to be there. Apparently, so were lots of other people. It was fun to be a part of the en mass excitement as young and old decked out in Olympic gear and wearing Canada red lined up for their game day too.



-- Post From Sara's iPhone

Location:Vancouver 2010

Seals!

We were able to add another animal to our wildlife list today! Harbor seals! Upon getting off the ferry in Victoria we headed straight for our favorite spot. We discovered it quite by accident on our honeymoon nearly nine years ago. It is the Aylor Farm at the Eastern Sooke Provencial Park. It was a farm at some point as evidenced by the open meadow by the parking area and the fruit trees near the picnic area. But the highlight is the access it grants you to the coastal hiking trails. Once to the beach you are rewarded with a rocky shore, a cozy harbor and on a clear day like today a veiw of the Olympic Mountains and Mt Rainier.

It was here we were sitting on a rock enjoying the view when we noticed (too late to get a decent picture) that we were being watched by two harbor seals at the waters edge.

A little way up the trail we found Kreyke Point, a rocky outcrop overlooking the water that reminded us of Gros Morne in Newfoundland. There seems to be a quality about the places that we crave, geology and water, nature and time.


-- Post From Sara's iPhone

Location:Eastern Sooke, BC

A little place called Forks

After departing the Lake Quinalt area, we headed northward and followed the signs to the Upper Queets river. This took us far off the beaten track into some pretty remote country. We were rewarded by a beautiful auto trail through some truly quiet country.

After the Queets valley the road shifts toward the coast and the National Park includes some beautiful beaches covered in rounded stones and massive driftwood (full sized trees). We stopped and hiked around at several and soaked in the peaceful scenery.




As twilight set in we rolled up to the formerly backwater town of Forks. We were here back in 2002 and the glitz and glamour of book and movie exposure has meant big changes for Forks. Such as all the hotels have slogans like "Welcome to the Twilight Zone" and there's a store dedicated to selling Twilight memoribilia. In all seriousness it is still the same quiet town, complete with a herd of elk grazing on the runway of the airport.

We drove past Lake Crescent (which even in the dark is one of the most beautiful lakes I have ever seen) and ended the day with wonderful Thai food in Port Angeles near the Downtown Inn where we will spend the night.




-- Post From Shawn's iPhone

Location:Forks, WA

Enchanted forest

I have always wanted to visit the Black Forest, to see first hand the inspiration of Faerie Tales. For me though, I will never again think of an enchanted forest without picturing the Maple Glade in the Olympic NP near Lake Quinalt.

The rain forest was different here, the giant firs and spruce were accompanied by maples which were coated with moss. The sun was shining today, making the ethereal wood even more magical, and lighting up the hanging moss. Everything was green and gold, even in February. We saw a deer grazing on the other side of a stream, and she paralleled our course for a while, always pretending to ignore our presence. It was something out of my favorite fiction. We half expected to be challenged by faerie folk riding giant dragonflies or eaten by dinosaurs.

If I ever go missing, you can find me living in the hollowed out base of the giant cedar, living off toadstools and faerie dust.

-- Post From Sara's iPhone

Location:Olympic rain forest

Wildlife

I like waking up on the West Coast. It feels like I'm sleeping in but the clock says I have the whole day ahead of me. We started driving north today, because what Olympic journey is complete without spending some time in the Olympic National Park. Last night it was raining but today the sun came out. We went hiking in the rainforest and took pictures of the light filtering through the masive trees and prehistoric ferns and moss.

We have been here before. Almost nine years ago we spent our honeymoon admiring giant firs, waterfalls, nurse logs, and wildlife. Today we felt about nine years yonger as we reminisced about that trip.

We are naturalists at heart. We name trees, identify birds, admire mushrooms; all we need is a heavy dose of khaki to make it official. As naturalists we succeeded today, in addition to seeing the worlds largest spruce and some interesting bracket fungi, we also saw the following wildlife:

Black Bear
Herd of Roosevelt Elk
Deer
Two Bald Eagles

One of the highlights today was the roadside Merrimam Falls that was spectacular from the recent rain.

We are staying in a lake view room at the Quinault Lodge. Franklin Delano Roosevelt stayed here in 1937 while deciding if Olympic National Park should be founded. Luckily he enjoyed the area just as much as we do. We witnessed a beautiful sunset over the lake before an amazing dinner at the lodge's Roosevelt Restaurant. Salmon served on a cedar plank and yummy pork chop with banana foster and white wine poached pears for dessert.



View from our room.

-- Post From Sara's iPhone

Location:Quinault Lodge

Polson's in WA

For the third time in my life I passed the Polson Museum today. And for the third time it was closed. I had actually looked ahead and knew that it would be, but I still had hopes that their website was wrong.









It is a beautiful home (from the outside at least) which was apparently the base for the families logging operations in times past. I have mixed feelings, being very interested in history of the family and of the very important role the lumber industry played in the history of this area, but at the same time sad at the role they played in removing the old growth rainforest which is now relegated to only a few valleys in this area. Knowing that my great grandfather was a lumber man in NC does also make me wonder about how closely related we may be . . . Perhaps some cousin struck out for new experiences as the old growth forests dwindled in the East.

In any case we continued to see evidence of the influence of Polson's on this area including a logging road that we followed called Polson Camp Rd.

For a family name that is relatively obscure, it was very exciting to see!


-- Post From Shawn's iPhone

Location:Hoquiam, WA

Vancouver 2010

And we're off... After the obligatory last-minute fretting and sleep deprivation we have managed to start our trip off 18 hours early.









We left Chicago just as the snow started falling and I imagine it is snowing at home by now as well. I have a conference in Portland next week, so that's where our flight is heading. Btw, Portland is a balmy 52 degrees at last report.

On the agenda for tonight:
-Sit in limb-compromising, contorted positions with tray tables in our laps for seemingly endless hours.
-Fume at guy in front whose seat is reclined twice as far as is normally possible.
-Rent a car.
-Check into hotel.
-Complete poster for conference (maybe).
-Collapse on bed.

-- Post From Shawn's iPhone

Location:37,000 feet above Mt Rushmore