Day 7 - Dig for a day

I tagged along for another dig for a day. I have now watched 3 co-workers host families and lead them through the different steps. The only problem is that it has been 3 days in a row. I would love a day with just workers again in the field so we could actually jacket the bones and/or give me a full day in the lab. As soon as the families show up, I turn into a teacher. Not that I mind that, and I have gotten many compliments on my work from families and from co-workers, I just want to spend my summer with dinos.
Today we didn't find anything new except fragments for the kids to take home. I did find tons of Belemnites at the Sundance and will bring them to my classroom for viewing. I also worked for about an hour on a bone with the dremmel. It was nice and relaxing to get off my feet and to tune out the world for the last hour.

Tonight a camper asked me to look up lyrics online for him to sing with the camp host. I think I will get some beer from the deal, and maybe get up on stage once or twice this week. Last night a family asked me if I liked spaghetti and dropped off an entire plate of garlic bread, spaghetti and green beans, plus a full glass of lemonade. I must look lonely here. I AM NOT ! I HAVE FOSSILS TO KEEP ME COMPANY!!!! (and my co-workers are cool too).

Day 6- Dig for a day 2

Today there were only three people at the center. Most of the full time staff went down the road to a site called "jimbo" where they are digging up a superasaurus. Nick, Amanda, and I stayed behind hoping to jacket a dino bone and get it out of the ground. We started the day and found out that there was a "dig for a day" scheduled, meaning there was a family of 5 that wanted to dig on the hill, tour the museum and get to see the lab.
We all started together and Nick decided to lead the DFD. Amanda and I worked on jacketting the fossil.

We started to work on the fossil but it was truly fragile. We were able to clear some of the rock from out below it, but kept having the fossil material crumble with the rock. We continued to glue and glue the fossil, but we never got the jacket on. The weather was beautiful.
After lunch, we went to the Sundance formation to look for marine fossils. Amanda worked in the lab. I found some clam remnents. Then it was time for lab work and the tour. We worked in the lab for an hour and then began to tour. The family was incredibly interested in everything we did. Thay asked all sorts of questions and the adults as well as the kids were eating up all the info we could give them. It was fun. At the end of the tour, it was 5:30. We are usually suppose to finish DFDs by 4:00 and clock out by 5. The family stayed in the gift shop until the musuem closed at 6 and the gift shop lady tried to get us to push them out the door. They were a great group(and tipped!) and it was fun to have a captive audience. They told us what wonderful educators Nick and I were. It has been extrememly warm the last couple of days and tonight I am planning on crashing hard. This week we should jacket to fossils in the field, and I should get some lab time to work with cleaning up fossils. Next week I will have to try and get certifide. This is still a dream. I can't believe I am able to handle bones each day and that the musuem is letting me use my knowledge of the Earth to pass along to others. It truly is a special experience.

Sunday- Thermopolis in all its glory

Sunday I woke up at about 7 and decided to do a day in Thermopolis. I reorganized my car, read some of my book and fiddled around until 9 am. I drove into town to find a good breakfast. I found a little cafe that had ranch equipment and native art and clothing as decor. I had some very good pancakes and eggs. After breakfast, I went to Hot Springs State Park. It is local and free. I walked around the park, with the terraces of chemical deposition, the suspension bridge and the hot spring. The hot spring was reminiscent of Yellowstone, except that there was jus tone pool. As I was getting ready to leave, I found a sign post with a trail map. There was a 1 mile trail that wen through the buffalo pasture and climbed the hill. I took off on it and did about two laps. I was the only one I saw doing the trail. I hiked to the top of the hill and had a great view of the town below me. I hiked down, and just as I exited the trail, two other hikers started on it. I walked back to my car and decided to drive through the buffalo pasture to see the herd (they were a ways from the trail).
I then drove back to the campsite and decided to sunbathe while watching a movie on my computer. The internet connection was slow, so I would watch it 12 minutes at a time. Then the movie would stop for about 12 minutes, then back on. It took most of the afternoon. I then played a little guitar,read my book, etc. It was a relaxing day. I also showered and did some laundry. All of this I did shirtless and I sunburned the crap out of my back. Whoops.
I went to bed early applying aloe and meant to update but the internet went down. It was a nice day to recharge the batteries (my computers and mine)!

Saturday- day off

I woke up at 6:30 with the train going by my tent. It wasn't too bad, because I had plans for Saturday. My bossman/friend Greg, told me of a hike to do about 1.5 hour drive away. I woke up and slowly got dressed then just jumped in the car and headed out. The road took me north through Worland then onto less travelled roads and finally to a town of Hyatville, pop.105. This town had 3 roads going out of it and I spent 20 minutes on the two wrong ones, before I found my road.
The road I wanted, was not what I wanted at all. It was 20 miles of switchbacks, and washboard gravel, with the occasional horse or giant rock in the way. I was going 35 but couldn't go faster if I wanted to, because my car didn't like the grade. I finally made it to the Big Horn Wilderness/National Forest and contined on the forest service road. I passed a camp site with a large pick-up a trailer and 3 four-wheelers nearby. The shirtless man gawked at the Honda Accord coming down the road and passing his temporary home. I continued on until the road was a clay trap with ruts in the middle and mud built up on the sides. I went a little further, and finally scraped bottom. With a little tricky wheel play, I was able to turn around on the two-tracks and make my way to a different forest service road going North (my ultimate destination was a campground up there). Again, I went about 4 miles and then found a wash out that my car did not like. I turned around (100miles into my day) and decided to search for a plan B. On my way back down, I met 3 other pickups on the road with campers and ATVs. All three drivers took long hard looks at me cruising down the gravel in my four door import.
I saw a trail head on the way in for Paint Rock Canyon, I decided, hey, Plan B. Except, I did not fill any water bottles and there was no water at the trail head. I decided to go find a park to fill water bottles. I went to Hyatville, no park. So on to plan -c, drive to Ten Sleep. It was on my way back and I could see some new country. Possibly at the library I could find a map of the Wilderness. I get to Ten Sleep (the drive is gorgeous by the way, geology abounds here) and found a city park with a free pioneer museum. I view the museum, but forget to fill my water bottles. I then drive through town and find the library: no maps. No problem, I guess I will go back to Thermopolis and view the local faire, and see if I had been missing something. Just as I turn on my left blinker, I view a sign that says "fresh bagels made daily", so I switch the blinker to right and turned in to park.
I found a coffee shop that was straight out of Portland. Even the patrons looked more like me than anyone else I had found in Wyoming. It turns out that Ten sleep is a big rock climbers mecca and they were in full force with laptops in hand and columbia, REi and other sports clothing on (I was also donning columbia and REI). I walk up and ask if they have soy, the lady replies yes. I tell her that I am shocked to find this type of shop in central Wyoming and she told me her daughter started it a month ago. She had been raised the daughter of sheep ranchers, but happened to Seattle and brought some Pac Northwest to the middle. I was pleased, and ordered a vegetarian breakfast sandwich (hummus, egg, cabbage, carrot on rosemary garlic toast) and a soy chai. Then the daughter says she is out of soy. BUT NO WORRIES! She asked if I would mind if she crushed up some hemp seed and put that milk in. She had never steamed it before, but I was fair game. Dee-lish. I then took my laptop in and was at peace surrounded by my type of people. There was even a teenage playing folk/accoustic tunes on the guitar.
On to plan D, I looked up trails online and found one south of Thermopolis that sounded interesting. The river goes through the limestone under layer in a cave and then pops out of the ground later. Plus, Sacajawea's grave was about an hour away. After I tipped my server, I got into the car and drove. I drove for 3 hours south. When I got to the Sinks (the river sinks into the ground), I found that my trail was just a boardwalk along the highway. No-dice. I ran to the visitor's center and asked for advice on a 2-3 hour trailwalk. She told me that the 1.5 mile trail to the Poco Agie waterfalls was great. Plan E. I ran up the trail stopping only to try and take 10 second delayed photos of me hiking. I placed the camera on rocks, hung it from trees, etc. ALSO, I still hadn't filled up my WATER yet, and was getting thirsty. I took two mouthfulls of water out of a stream near the trail (I know, I know...bad me) and went to the falls. FANTASTIC WATER! I ran back down the trail and it took about 1.2 hours. Now I was thirsty. I drove to the nearest campground and finally found a potable water pump. I sucked down a Nalgene and a half, before I filled two bottles for the drive.
I then drove and saw the two Sinks and Rises along the road, very cool. Now, on to Sacajawea. I found the sign for her grave on the highway and turned off the main road. I drove through the town and found myself on gravel again driving into a canyon. Luckily just as I thought it was hopeless I turned and saw a statue in a cemetary on a hill about a mile off the road. There was no sign to it out here, but luckily I had looked up images of the grave in Ten sleep. The graveyard was neat with a very nice statue and plaques talking about her life .
I then found a short cut on my map to cut a half an hour (yea right). Unluckily, the tribal roads were not labeled, so as I started out of town to the East (the correct way) about 13 miles onto the road, it turned south and eventually dumped me off in Lander near the sinks. This would not be too bad, except the road was under construction and it took me over an hour to get around this "shortcut" (backtracking would have been 30 minutes). I did see a huge gathering with lots of teepees and vehicles and it turns out there was a sun dance going on. I would have paid the admission except that I wanted to get home, so I could hike Paint canyon tomorrow.

So back on the road, as I approached Thermopolis (witnessing a great sun set framed by mountains and thunderstorms) I figured I could pay for a dinner out. I have been eating pasta, and soups out of my car for the last week. I stop into two restaurants at around 9pm and both said they were done serving. Plan - Y (or whatever hell letter I was on) I went back to camp to eat cheese and crackers and drink my beer. Of course it has all been in my car all day, so the beer was warm, the cheese (unopened) was mimicking Slimer from the ghostbusters, so I optrd for peanut butter and honey sandwich (my lunch the past 5 days). I do drink a warm beer, which had great taste, truly, and then ate some dried apples for dessert.

Overall, I drove over 400 miles and was on the road about 10-11 hours. I left at 7 am and got into camp at 9:15.
The campground I stay at has an owner that built a bandstand and sings everynight. Lately a mandolin player and tonight a harmonica player, who is staying in the camp, decided to play with him. It was nice to have more instrumentation, although Ron has a pretty full voice and plays well.
I wet down a hankerchef and wiped some dust off my limbs and am now typing this, debating whether to hike tomorrow, or tour Thermopolis after a big breakfast at a restaurant. When the train wakes me up tomorrow, I guess I will decide then. Good night.

Day 5 - first week done

Today I tagged along on a "Dig for a Day" where families can pay to do what I am volunteering to do. My group included a Mom, Dad and two kids (fifth and second grade) from Pennsylvinania. We started at BS a site that I have not dug at, and soon found a nodule. This looks like a round rock. I pulled it out of the waste bucket from the 2nd grader thinking there would be a geode of something neat inside. Nick, a summer staffer, broke it open and found a Camarasaur Toe. These are tough to come by. We gave the kid credit and wrote it in the book, and he took a photo with it. Then, as we were cleaning our site, I swept by something and asked Nick why it had not been cataloged. There was bone sticking out. I had the fifth grader with me, and was so excited when he got credit for that bone. Mom and Dad struck out. Sorry. We then continued to dig and another family found a strange mix of bones ain one rock. Nick and the big boss man Greg (who happened to come up to see how everyone was doing) immediately began looking for crumb sized bone. We had four people on hands and knees looking for tiny bones. We found a "membrane bound" bone, instead of a cartilage one. The only two membrane bound are knees and skulls. We have found more skull material. Usually a bone fragment the size we found I would have not worried about especially if it was loose. But Greg spotted how it formed. Good thing he was there, but the kid didn't get to keep it. At lunch we travelled back to the museum, rehydrated and then went to Sundance. This is dusty hills that look exactly like the breaks from home (only from a different formation and about 200 million years older). In these hills we were looking for bullet type rocks that are hard pieces of old squid called Bellenites, as well as ammonites and crinoids. The ultimate goal is an ammonite. We found lot of bellenites, and some crinoids (tiny), and the temperature was 100 degrees. The dirt was almost too hot to touch. We then took the family on the tour of the museum and the last little bit of their tour, they get to see the prep lab. We even let the boys toothbrush a bone. After they left, I was able to stay in the lab and use a small dremmel tool to work on getting matrix off the bone. I like the airtools.
Tomorrow I have off, but Greg gave me directions to a great hike (14 miles roundtrip). I am going to leave early and try and get up there by 8 to start. My little computer has a hard time uploading pictures, so you will have to wait on that.

Day -4

Today we started by remapping the bones we mapped yesterday. We took pictures and then tried to continue to extract them. We worked most of the morning at the same site (WBS-West Beside Sauropod), Then moved to CB. At CB they have found skull material of an Allosaur. This is the ultimate in fossil hunting. Skulls are made of lots of little bones put together, so to find some that are whole are amazing. We certainly don't have a whole skull (yet) but we will continue to look.
In the afternoon, I had more or less pedestalled the bone I had been working on for 3 days, and the only thing left to do was to glue all the top together. As I worked under the bone, it would crumble. The only solution to allowing us to give the bone a cast is to glue it all together. Tomorrow it should come out. We were able to stop work early to explore the opposite hillside in search of petrified wood. I found a few peices and then went back to CB to pick up our commorades. There in the scree, I found a bone to take home.

Day 3

Today we went back to the dig site WBS (west beside the sauropod) and continued to expose the bones and try to pedestal them. The morning was very nice, no WIND! The sun was not too bad and we found a few more bones on site.
In the afternoon we needed to map the new bones, and I was able to use techniques I learned in college on surveying equipment and with a Brunton. We were able to take the position, as well as the 3-D position in the quarry of the bones. We then hand mapped the bones and were they sat. As the afternoon wore on, I was sweeping my site and broke off a peice of unidentified bone. I was very lucky that I didn't shatter the bone and the matrix around it. I was able to break it cleanly from the pile. This is an easy fix; I wrapped the bone up and took it to the lab.
My time here is well spent and I feel like I am in a great spot to learn about Paleo. My legs are sufficiently sunburned after two straight days on the hill. Right above my knees are the worst. Last night I played soccer with the employees and interns and was able to get to know them better. They are a great bunch of people and bigger nerds than I am! Also, last night at the campsite there was a Peruvian bluegrass band that played. Muy bueno!

Day -2 Digging

Last night as I was cooking my dinner, the wind was howling and I heard cracking from the limb above my head. I moved my operation to the other side of the picnic table and 15 minutes later the limb came crashing down and landed a foot from my food. All my neighbors were worried, but my food and I were safe. Many people came to check on me in the next few hours.

Today I arrived at the museum and Greg sent us (3 interns, 2 summer staff, and 2 permanent staffers) to the dig site we were at yesterday. We began in the same places and were working on "pedestally" the bones. You dig around and beneath leaving them on a pedestal that you can then pour plaster around and "jacket" the entire bone.
It was windy and hot for the morning. At around 10 am, Greg and another boss type person came up and told us to move so there wouldn't be dust storms stopping our work every 3 minutes. Just at that moment I tried to clear some rock away and broke a bone!!! Greg showed me how to apply glue and label the bone so the lab can put it back together.
We all packed up and moved to a different location on the mountain ( I learned that there are over 100 places that bones have come from on the mountain, and each are named). We moved to a site called, Cheryl's blind or CB for short. Any bone that comes out is labeled CB, with a number and a date. We dug at the bone for a while. One of the staff members found some bone that was a high up vertebrate. Skulls are the most sought after fossil. So much so in fact, that they don't say the word, in case that saying it would cause it to crumble or dissapear. We may have "that which shall not be mentioned" of an Allosaur. We went down the hill for lunch and went back up after. My legs and arms are sun and wind burned. Later that afternoon I uncovered the first bone of my time here at the hill. It was at a site where we know bones are and they specifically told me to dig there, but still. I am the first human ever to see the bone, as well as the first living thing to observe it in 150 million years. Chew on that! however, ....I broke it. I needed to glue it again and the next rock I turned I had broken another bone. The experts weren't with us, so I went digging at another part of the hill. Today there was much more chatter. I learned about everyones school, and the geology programs they have gone through. There were also geology jokes, ....such as.....you want to find a mouse in this formation....HA! or....Your tetrapod and cterapod are no match for my saurapod,...idiot (and riotous laughter ensued).
I As I type this, the wind is so strong I need to hold my hat on everyonce in while. Let me just say ...that I was born to do this and I love it. I love it...I love it. Now to go bath in a sulfur rich pool to get the dirt out of my nose and ears.

Wyoming Dinosaur Center - DAY 1

I arrived in Thermopolis at 6pm to claim one campsite in an RV park north of town. My tent rests less than 50 feet from the railroad tracks and less than a stones throw from a hot pool that smells of sulfur.
I set up my tent and ran to town to grab some neccesities and find the dinosaur center that I will be working with for the next few weeks. Immediately upon my return, I was invited to celebrate a neighbors birthday with cake, drinks, and cards.
I went to bed early and was awaken at 4 am by birds near sunrise. ...then a "light rain and thunder" weather pattern moved in. I was up out of my tent at 6 and showered and ate breakfast.
I went to the center and immediately was met by Greg, a man I had spoken with on the phone. He led me through the museum and gift shop and then into the lab. I was handed a bone promptly and told to "start cleaning." CAN LIFE GET ANY SWEETER!?!?!? I had a toothbrush and a dental pick as well as a bowl of warm water. I went to town clearing away glue and dirt from the vertebrate of a sauropod. WHOOT!
I picked on the same bone from 8:30 am until lunch at noon. I did graduate to using acetone and an exacto knife. After lunch in my car, I joined my fellow workers eating their lunch (nobody told me) on picknick tables IN THE MUSEUM. Parents and children can walk by and chat with us ...during lunch.

Beginning at 1, I was able to graduate to dremmel status. I was handed a piece of rock with a bone in it and told "don't hit the bone, but get it out." Man dream come true #2. I was working with goggles and a dremmel taking a bone out of matrix...AND it was in the window where patrons can watch you work. I scared a few little girls by waving. I don't think they knew I could see them.
At about 3:00 two gentlemen asked if I wanted to see the dig site. DID I?!?!?!?! OF COURSE! so I hopped in an SUV with 4 summer workers and drove up to an excavation site. The bones were under tarps and we were told to dig completely under the bone, so if we pour plaster, we encase it.
The two permanent workers left me and two seasonal staff members (both age 20) to the bones as they destroyed a hill side with bobcats and a backhoe. We didn't get very far on the bone, but the conversation was better than in the dremmel and dental drill cacophony. Most people in the lab had ipods....I will remember mine tomorrow.


I am now back at my campsite and debating whether or not to jump in the 100 degree pool to clean all the silt and sand out of my ears. I may wait for it to cool down slightly.

SUMMER AGAIN!

School has ended and I have officially started my summer journey for 2010.  I left Oregon the morning of the 28th and drove 11 hours to my brother and sister-in-laws house in Somers, MT.  I travelled on interstate until I hit St. Regis.  The drive north from St. Regis through the Montana wilderness was beautiful.  I drove along a river looking at rock formations, railroad bridges, great tree filled valleys, and then to come upon snowy white peaks was just fabulous.  My brother lives just beyond a stones throw from Flathead Lake.  His house is surrounded by mountains on the horizon and is a beautiful mix of town and country.  I enjoyed my time there, although short.  I am now back on the farm where I grew up.  Today we are going to move cows and then make it to a farm sale.  I have not been to one in YEARS, and supposedly everyone that is anyone in town will be there.  I will probably meet up with a few old friends.  We'll see.  Last night as I drove, there were beautiful thunderstorms and rainbows.  I was never hit by the storms but drove along side them for much of my drive.  The sky truly is as big as they say.  

Memorial day hike

Last weekend I decided to do the American thing and go camping on Memorial day weekend. I debated going Friday night or Saturday night, but my want to buy a new bike and to play frisbee won. On Saturday morning I went downtown McMinnville and test rode bikes. I decided to buy one and asked them to include a rack. They told me it would be a bit until it was ready. I then went to the farmers market to see some friends and eat lunch. Food of choice: Chili dog.
At 2pm I went and played pick-up Ultimate. We played for about 2 hours and change before I decided I should try and pick up the bike before their 5 o'clock closing time. I drove downtown, and rode my bike home. I then ran back downtown (it was a slow run) and grabbed my car. I drove home and packed the car for my camping.
I drove up to Forest Grove and decided to eat some food, so I stopped at a local Mexican restaurant for a delicious dinner. I had a camp site in mind half way between Forest Grove and Tillamook. I showed up to the campground at about 7pm and found that the 14 walk in sites were packed. Silly me to think that I could get a site Saturday night. I then kept driving praying for another campground. I drove by two that had closed signs up, but finally saw a sign for a campground so I turned off, relieved and ready to set up camp. I drove into the area, and there was nobody else there. I felt that it was strange because the other one was packed. I set up my tent, grabbed a beer and walked around the campground. I read some signs, looked at maps and paid my fee for the night. I was still weird-ed out being the ONLY person in the campground, but I grabbed my guitar and headlamp and began to play to the darkness. I slept through the rain that night and woke up to birds chirping in camp. I packed up my tent, grabbed some granola and decided to get to my trail head early. As I left the campground, I realized the sign told me it was closed as well. If the forest service wanted to, they have my name and the date that I stayed in the campground, but I am fairly confident I will be ok.

I drove to the trail head and filled water bottles and geared up my pack for Elk Mountian and King Mountain loop. I left the parking lot behind a group of 3 hikers as well as with a man and his two dogs.


The trail was pretty much a vertical gain of 2,000 feet in a mile and a half. I was sweating within five minutes and was feeling my legs burn soon there after. I eventually caught the man with the dogs, and discussed the trail and the hikes as we rested. I then headed for the top. The guide books said that you could see the coast and the Cascades on a good day from the top. I saw fog.


Not that the hike wasn't beautiful, it was, and the fog added a surreal silence to the adventure. After the top, the trail goes down 1000 feet and slowly moves toward the other summit.

I was by myself hiking through a gentle mist for the whole day. The backside of the mountains had nice rock outcrops, meadows full of wildflowers, and nice ridgelines that were surrounded on both sides by fog.

I met a group of backpackers who stayed the night on King Mountain the night before and were making their way along the path. It would have been tough to do all of the elevation gain with a bigger pack.

As I arrived at King Mountain, I met the group of hikers from the parking lot. They had missed a fork in the trail, so they went to the other way around the loop. We discussed the trails, and i ate my lunch.


I signed both registers on the peaks and put the names of people in my family who had died. It was a nice way to memorialize them for the year. I then headed down.
The hike from Kings mountain the Wilson river trail took me 45 minutes. Then I hiked the Wilson River Trail (3.5 miles) back to the campground. My feet were tired. I think that after the day of Frisbee, my body was tired. I hiked along the river and saw a few more hikers, but finished at 3:30pm. I was expecting to be done around 4:30, so it was nice to have a little more time.

I drove down to the Tilamook forest center and then headed back toward home because I didn't want to sleep in another closed campground.

Baseball

This spring, I decided to try my hand at being a high school coach. I was asked to be JV assistant coach by my friend/co-worker/head coach. We had 13 students on our team, who may not have been the most naturally talented players, but enjoyed the sport. The team went 4-16 ish, but the postitives that came out of the season were the gains in attitude. The players began laughing and poking fun at each other whenever they would falter, even in a game. Our biggest job was teaching them to be a team, and to keep their heads up when they miss a ball or over throw. I feel that the gain in attitude was good, but the time commitment was intense. Will I do it again? I am not sure yet. It was a fun season and it is always fun to be around baseball.

Now it is time to concentrate on the end of school, and getting my students passing before summer. The sun is shining, and the weather is beautiful. I hope your spring is going well.

Final Day at the Olympics

We woke up early and checked out of the house we were staying at. We drove all the cars down to the Tech college to board buses to get up to Whistler. We only had 2 prepaid parking passes, so I rode with my brother Scott and parked in the residential area near the college. When we all met up, I had left my bus ticket in the car. Scott and I ran(literally) back to the car, and decided to try and park without a parking pass. It was no problem. We all got on the bus and rode to Whistler. We had tickets for the men's 30 km race. Half of the race was to be classic style the other half is free style.

As we walked through the gates, there was a group from Sweden in front of us that all went through but one man. His ticket did not check out. The ticket taker told him that the ticket purchased was for an event held in the next couple of days. The supervisor came over, and let the man join his party for the event. Man, I love Canadians.



We walked into the venue, welcomed by sunshine and a crowd. We found a spot on a slope overlooking the stadium.

We put our coats on the snow to sit on, and got comfortable. Scott and Daimon found that there were trails to get to other parts of the course. It took a while to get to the other side, and you had to cross a few bridges, but you had a different view of the race, right near the racers.

As the race began, Carrie, Scott and myself ran to the other end to watch the skiers. I returned after watching the skiers go by once. We all exchanged turns moving from the stadium to the other part of the course.



The race was incredible, but so was the weather. We watched the Swedish team finish first.The crowd was incredibly pleasant, and people were sliding down the slope with giant smiles on their faces. On our exit, a group of Swiss fans had brought the large alpine horns you see in Ricola commercials. We stuck around for a bit, had our photo taken and had an impromptu dance party on the snow.

The bus ride home was quiet except for a few hockey fans listening to a radio and cheering every once in a while. When we returned to the cars, we decided to meet up in Washington for dinner and part ways there. The border crossing was uneventful and we met up for a decent dining experience. That night Scott and Carrie took off for Montana while the rest of us stayed near Sea-Tac airport. I drove home by myself the next day after saying my goodbyes.

Day 5 (Feb 19)

We woke up with some time to chat with family, and then Dad, Scott, Carrie, Gabe and I took off to catch a curling match. We followed a giant crowd and made it into the Curling Center. We sat in the smallest seats I have ever sat in. All of us were touching shoulders and hips, but it was still very polite with the people in the same row. None of my group was well versed on every rule, but the people around us were very polite ot answer our questions. The Canadians love their curling. We were able to watch China vs. Denmark, US vs. Russia, and Great Britain vs. Germany. The three games went on at the same time and the crowd would cheer for all three sheets at once. It was fun.


Scott and Carrie left part way through to catch a bus up to Whistler to watch the Skeleton. As the games progressed, China defeated Denmark 11-1 in a shortened match. They ruled the ice. Great Britain defeated Germany with 3 points in the 9th end, and the US -Russia match came down to the last throw. The crowd erupted when it left the skip's hand.

Dad, Gabe and I returned home to pick up Mom and travel downtown. Daimon and Kirsten were traveling to the curling center to watch the Men's afternoon match. We traveled downtown and immediately noticed that the crowd was larger. We hadn't been downtown since Wednesday, and the crowd was twice as big. Each line was 10-15 people longer at least, but it still was polite.

We walked to the Native pavilion and listened to music and looked at art. We also watched some preliminary skeleton races. As we continued to walk downtown, we decided to go back toward the flame. We walked through the edge of Gastown and toward Robsen Square. On our way we found a "Green Living" type booth. It had games to help teach about energy conservation as well as a dance floor that was powered from the dancers, and a tent with comfortable reclining lawn chairs with a big screen.

We watched some skeleton and then decided to walk to the library and wait for Daimon and Kirsten to come downtown.
We found our way back to the library and found our way back to the pub we were at the on Monday. We had some drinks and appetizers to help us watch speed skating, and hockey on the screens. We met up with Daimon and Kirsten and we thought about moving toward a LiveCity place for another concert and night cap with fireworks.
We decided that it wasn't worth standing in line for hours and one had already started turning people away. We then walked to Gastown to find food. We wandered the streets and found some more olympic shops and shopped for a bit. We eventually found a great deli and watched some ice dancing as we ate.

We walked back toward the flame. From there we made our way back to the Green living place with the comfy chairs. As the TV switched from ice dancing to skeleton, we also played some of the games and won blinking lanyards.

Mom and Dad finally decided to go home. We stuck around downtown to find fireworks. We made our way to the water and found a brewery tent. We watched the end of the days curling matches on TV and tipped our glasses with the locals.
We all walked toward downtown to finish the night. We saw a few fireworks, but also were shoulder to shoulder in a giant sea of people. We decided to try and catch a bus, but waited for 40 minutes. We then decided to walk toward our house, and each stop was full of people. After an hour or so we finally found a taxi to hail. All others were packed. It was an incredible amount of people trying to get downtown to party with the crowd. We got home and packed for an early departure. We had to get back to Whistler for a cross country ski race.

Day 4 (Feb 18)

We woke up extremely early to drive to BCIT campus to catch a bus to the Biathlon Venue on Whistler. We drove across town in the dark of morning, with little traffic. It was nice to be crowd free for a bit. We got to the buses, and they gave out free coffee and hot chocolate in the parking lot. The bus ride was nice, and we got to watch the sun rise over the islands of the west coast. The riders mostly slept, read, and were in awe of the scenery.
We got off the bus and had to walk about a half mile up to the actual ski venue. The walk was nice, and they had a snow sculpture and bathrooms about halfway up. As we approached, it was obvious that Scandinavia enjoys their x-country skiing. There were tons of Norwegian flags. We found a place on the hill overlooking the stadium and stood behind a french crowd for the first race, the women's 15km individual.
We watched the race from our spot on the hill, as well as from a trail along the last corner.
Each skier started 30 seconds after the next. They would ski 5 km and then come in and take 5 shots. If they missed their targets, they lost one minute on their time.
We watched a skier from Norway run away with the race. The crowd was fun. There were German's with old army helmets, robes, mustaches, and eagles. There was a French man with a trumpet who had a suit made out of feathers. It was great.
Between the races, there was a musician on the hill singing, and our group went into a warming tent to eat our lunch. About an hour later, the Men's race started. Again, the Norwegians were the team to beat. Bjoerndalen, the godfather of biathlon, skied the race 2 minutes faster than any other but missed two shots. A man from Belarus did not miss a shot and was tied for first at the halfway point of his last lap and crossed the line tied for silver with Bjoerndalen. Norwegians went for gold and silver. It was pretty incredible to see the crowd shirtless and cheering for their country.

The bus ride home, I am pretty sure everyone slept. We got back to the cars and drove home. We met my brother and his wife who had arrived at 3am the night before. They went downtown during the day and described the crowds and lines. We then had our Christmas. Not all of us were together for the holiday, so we exchanged gifts and ate a great lasagna dinner. We watched the results from the day and enjoyed some family time.