Trip Into Vancouver

It's always nice to go into Vancouver but we were a bit apprehensive. We had heard that the traffic was snarled, there were delays and road changes, and that there were increased patrols and dogs working the ferry terminals which all would make things go much slower. Well none of that happened.

It did go a bit slower on the way in to Vancouver but that was due to the light rain that made it hard to see on the highway.  By the time we hit North Vancouver it was like a nice spring day and I was wondering to myself who was the idiot that though Vancouver would be a good place for the Winter Olympic games?

We did some stuff we had to do and when we were driving up Lonsdale Ave. in North Van the cloud cleared from Grouse Mountain and you could see "the Cut".  Now the Cut is at the same elevation as the mogul skiing is at Cypress Bowel both face due south and  generally have the same snow pack.  I was really surprised that you could see so much black, the black is dirt not snow.

A closer shot although blurry shows it all

The Weather was warm plus 9 to 11 C and that's not at all good for the outdoor events.  One would think that the IOC would have had contingency plans if there was something like an El Ninio like there is this year but maybe not.

Shopping for any Olympic stuff is just downright stupid.  The cost of everything is highly inflated and just because a Teeshirt has an Olympic emblem doesn't make it worth 300 Baht ($10 Can)  or more, than the same item without it.  We bought nothing so they are not going to get much out of us.  Probably the best comment i overheard was from a young woman to her boyfriend, "We will by able to buy any of this stuff for 99 cents (30 Bt) 2 days after the Olympics are finished."   I think I'll take her advice and pick stuff up on sale before we leave the end of the first week in March.

Now don't get me wrong there is lots of snow around, just not at the Olympic venues.  Mount Washington is having a banner year on Vancouver Island and Whistler, although not the normal snow pack, is reporting decent snow conditions.  We even snapped a picture at the ferry terminal at Horseshoe bay to show you all that it is really beautiful when there is fresh snow on the mountains and the sun is out.