Purduettes Canadian Tour: Day Six
Sunday, May 21, 2006
New Pictures!
What a busy day for the Purduettes! We started out again with another amazing Hyatt breakfast. After eating plenty of delicious food we finished up our last day in Calgary. We loaded the bus and went to Canada Olympic Park. This was the location of the outdoor events for the 1988 Olympics. We started this tour meeting our guide Monica. She works at the park and is training for the luge. The park is used today for training all the athletes for skeleton, luge, ski jump, bobsled, and alpine skiing. Several Purduettes even got the chance to practice luge starts as well as get their picture in a bobsled! After looking at the various indoor tracks used for training in the facility known as the Ice House, we climbed to the top of a ski jump. The view was amazing and we even got the chance to see ski jumpers in action! Even though the weather is in the mid 70s, the athletes can still train using slopes covered with special plastic that simulates snow. It was pretty amazing to see skiers in the summer! Our tour was very fascinating and we ended it with lunch at the park. We said our goodbyes to our tour guide Jocelyne, bus driver Peter, and the city of Calgary as we went off to the airport. Aboard Canada Air we flew to Vancouver. Vancouver is located only two hours from Seattle and has a very metropolitan feel. It has the best of both worlds with beautiful mountains as well as the Pacific Ocean. We checked into our new hotel, the Sandman, and readied for dinner at The White Spot. It was a cute diner that is famous in the area, and we all enjoyed our delicious meals. After returning to the hotel after eating we’re enjoying some free time at the hot tub or heading to sleep early! Tomorrow will be a busy day with a show in the mountains that we are all anticipating! Technical difficulties are still persisting, but pictures will be posted as soon as possible!
A mural at the entrance of Olymic Park depicts several winter sports.
We got to see the “Ice House,” where Olympic athletes practice their starts for bobsled, skeleton, and luge.
Monica, an Olympic trainee for the luge, shows us the different kinds of sleds used for various events.
Paige Morrow and Lauren Worth practice their starts.
From this tower, spectators can watch the ski jump event.
A view from the top of the ski jump courses.
Kelly Bouwman and Beth Gentry try on ski jump suits in the Olympic Hall of Fame and Museum.
On display was the bobsled used in the movie Cool Runnings , which was filmed here at the Olympic Park.
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