Salt Lake City or How I Started an International Incident

[sneezy1956]

It sounds like you are having a wonderful trip. I saw the folks waiting in line to get into the half pipe event. I wonder if I saw our own celeb?

Keep posting the reports they are wonderful

 

[GotAnyPins]

I hate to leave the TV while they are on, and they are doing pretty good coverage..

I have been looking for you in the crowds, but no luck yet..so now I know to look for
a guy w/ 2 lanyards, and a green beret close by..

Seems to me that you are enjoying those searchs just a little toooo much..hmmmm???

Donna

PS The Canadians pairs were gyped..big time..

 

[AZ JazzyJ]

As the day dawned, I was once again in the car heading for another Olympic venue. Today was a full day in Ogden Utah. It started with the Men's Combined at Snow Basin. The weather was horrible with high winds and cold temperatures. The downhill was delayed but went without incident once the wind died down. Bode Miller of the United States had a horrible run in the downhill being in 15th place. Once the slalom began, Miller began to climb in the standings making up massive amounts of time. By his final run, he was in first place with one skier remaining. Unfortunately, that one skier turned in a great run taking first leaving Miller to be the silver medalist. The temperatures were cold and the venue was packed with people. During the competition, I was able to trade for several pins including one with a volunteer where I traded a Coca-Cola pin for a limited edition Utah Olympic Volunteer pin, a major score. Besides this pin, I was also able to trade for:

• Coca-Cola Fry Sauce Pin
• Mascots Utah Outline pin
• Red & Blue Born in the US M&M pin
• Budweiser Official Sponsor pin
• Sensormatic Sponsor pin
• Brother Typewriter Olympic pin
• Salt Lake Community College Olympic Backpack pin
• Canada Team pin
• Biathlon Pictograph pin
• Hockey Skate pin

After the combined, we made our way into town to the Ice Sheet to watch Men's Preliminary Curling. It was awesome! There were four matches going on simultaneously including Norway versus the USA. USA had a cool dude throwing the rock that I named "tricky shot dude". Tricky shot dude was always brought in to do the tough shots with the rock. I kept yelling, "You da man, Tricky Shot Dude!" Pretty soon, everyone was chanting, "Go Tricky Shot Dude!" I think this might be the first time that chanting and the wave were introduced to Curling. Before the match began, I was fortunate enough to win a pair of tickets to the Olympic Medals Plaza for Valentines Day to see Sheryl Crow. All in all, a pretty good day.

Jeff

 

[AZ JazzyJ]

The weather did not fully cooperate with the Winter Olympics today. When I awoke and left for the Mens and Women's Snowboard Slalom, it was snowing and the wind was blowing. By the time we arrived at Park City, the wind was gusting to 40 miles an hour and the temperatures were hovering at near zero. It was extremely cold and I could barely stand up in the wind. By the time the first sixteen boarders had come down the hill, I could not feel my feet or hands. It was extremely cold but the competition was great and a lot of fun. Before the men took to the hill, The Verve Pipe played in concert. It was pretty cool. During the intermission, I was able to trade for a few pins getting in trade:

• Salt Lake Flame pin
• Coca-Cola Thanksgiving pin
• Monster Inc. Mascot pin
• Jet Set Sports Sponsor pin
• White Ice Skating lace up pin
• Sparkling Ice Cream pin

The concert tonight was awesome with Sheryl Crow taking the stage. It was great but very cold.

Jeff

 

[Perdita&Pongo]

Jeff - I am so enjoying reading your "Tales From The Front"! Thank you so much! I can't wait to read each installment. Keep it up!

~Nancy~

 

[nsmia]

Jeff, Thanks for your posts, They have been great, can't wait for more!! still searching for thedouble lanyard guy on TV, no luck yet!!

 

[Liz]

I just found this thread (thank you Obi-wan for the link on the CB)! Its so much fun reading about your experience here!!! We had tickets for snowboarding on the 14th and ended up at mens figure skating instead. Thought we'd be too cold on the mountain and it sounds like we made a wise decision!!! You really have a lot of event tickets! Lucky you!!! Please keep writing about your other adventures!!!

 

[CathyCanada]

Jeff, I don't know a thing about pins but I love your reports!!
CC

 

[AZ JazzyJ]

After a full week of cramming in all kinds of events, I finally had a day off. I took this opportunity to try and get warm sitting huddled in a blanket for several hours drinking enough hot chocolate that I now look like the young lady on the outside of the Swiss Miss package. After finally being able to feel my toes again, I received a call from my daughter Ashley asking if I would like to go to the International Ice Carving Festival in Provo. Although Ice Sculpture is not an Olympic Event (it is part of the cultural arts festival), the winners of the Ice Carving competition are awarded Olympic Medals. Ashley and I went down to the city center to watch the festivities. After an opening ceremonies, the ice carving teams went to their stations where they were given 15 blocks of ice and 17 hours to carve something. These men and women come from all over the world using their own money to compete. It was amazing to watch. I never knew how many different tools there were to carve ice. At our house, I only use one tool a big hammer. Of course all I ever carved was crushed ice. At the event I met several people from all over the world and even managed to trade a few pins. Among them I received:

• Visa Skiing pin
• Copper Mascot Sears Sponsor pin
• Delicate Arch pin
• BYU Fudge Brownie Sundae (my favorite pin so far)
• Outdoors with Dough Miller Media pin
• Salt Lake 2002 Snowboard pin

Another great day filled with ice and snow. I have come to the conclusion that all the scientists that believed in global warming should be sent to Utah where they would freeze to death.

Jeff

 

[AZ JazzyJ]

After an off day, it was once again back to the mountains. We left at 6:15 AM to make our way to Deer Valley Ski Resort near Park City. The first event I had today was the Freestyle Aerials. As we made our way to the mountain, I met a young family who was in dire need of a ticket to attend this event. It was the only event they would be able to attend and their story touched my heart. Since I have been fortunate enough to see so many events, I decided that they needed my ticket much more than I did. I therefore handed over my ticket to the father and wished him luck. The look on their faces was enough to assure me that I had made the right decision. So although I had been looking forward to this event, I did not see it in person. Instead, I made my way to Park City where I was able to watch some of the competition on television. On my way to the bus to Park City, I happened to meet several members of the German Olympic team. They saw my pins and lanyard and stopped me to see if I would like to trade with them. Obviously I jumped at the chance and traded with members of the skating team, the skiing team, and most impressively the curling team. It was wonderful trading with them and although we did not speak the same language, we managed just fine. When I was at Park City, I was able to make several trades that I was very excited for. Among the pins I traded for were:

• Red Hot Pepper pin
• Powder Mascot Visa pin
• Delta Air Lines Crew Sponsor pin
• Coca-Cola Moving Bobsled pin
• Solomon Skis pin
• Panasonic Sponsor pin
• Qwest Ski Jumping pin
• Coca-Cola Thank You Parents pin
• Coca-Cola Staff Gold Coke Bottle Cap pin
• Stein Eriksen Signature pin (LE300)
• Monstor.com Red Hockey pin (I have been searching for this pin for 8 days)
• Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Torch Relay Volunteer pin

After a full day of trading, we made our way back to Provo where we had tickets to Women's Ice Hockey or what I affectionately refer to as "chicks with sticks". We saw Canada versus Sweden. It was not much of a game as Canada dominated winning 11-0. It was obvious watching the game that the gold medal for Women's Hockey will go to either Canada or the USA. I did learn a valuable lesson during the game, you do not yell "You play like a bunch of girls!" or you get smacked by complete strangers. During the game I had the opportunity to trade a few more pins and I was able to obtain:

• Orange Snowflake pin
• Mount Logan Middle School Hockey pin
• Canada Hockey pin
• USA Snowboard pin

It was a great day at the Olympics and one I will not soon forget.

Jeff

 

[pintrader]

I'm starting a new rumor. Just two more Green beret searcheds and I hear you qualify for a Department of Defense pin. The only way you can get one of those is to set off the alarm at EVERY SINGLE passageway at the olympics.

Ummm... it's 78 here near WDW. Wish you were here.

 

[AZ JazzyJ]

Today was our final day of events. It began in the morning with another early departure time. We gathered our cold weather gear and made our way to Soldier Hollow to see the men's 4X10 Kilometer Cross-Country Skiing event. Soldier Hollow has been voted as the best venue at the Winter Olympics. There are two ways to reach the venue. Either by bus, or by steam powered train. The train is a turn of the century engine and cars that is called the Heber Creeper. It makes it way up Provo Canyon to the train station some half mile from the venue. From there, you board a horse drawn sleigh and are carried to the ticket gates at Soldier Hollow. Once inside the gates, you are met by people dressed in Old Western attire including the sheriff, his deputies, and other early settlers. There is a replica of the first Pony Express office and several wagon trains with families cooking over an open fire. Inside the compound is several authentic tee-pees set up with Native Americans dressed in period costumes dancing. There is also a stage where live country bands play before and after the events. We made our way through this area and reached the cross-country event where we watched as the skiers made their way around the 5 kilometer course with each doing two laps before tagging a teammate for the next leg. Norway was favored to win and after the first leg they were ahead by nearly a minute. As the race progressed though, Italy caught Norway and they battled neck and neck with Norway finally inching across the finish line by a fraction of a second. The United States battled Austria losing in the final 2 feet to take fifth place. It was very exciting. While watching the event, I did manage to make one pin trade for a Smith's Food and Drug Shopping Cart Sponsor pin.

After this event, I went back to Provo where I picked up my daughter Ashley to take her to an event. She is going to school at BYU and I thought it was important that she see at least one event. We went to Utah Olympic Park to see the finals of the 2-Man Bobsleigh. The venue was crowded with over 18,000 people in attendance. We made our way along the track trying to find a place where we could see. With the bobsleigh reaching speeds of over 85 miles per hour, it is difficult to find a spot where the sled does not look like a blur. We watched from several different vantage points from start to finish. We were fairly fortunate as many just stood in once place. Although the USA team has not won a medal in 46 years in bobsleigh, things looked good when the USA #1 team was in first place with only 3 sleds remaining. The two Swiss teams each posted better times than the Americans leaving the USA team in third place with only Germany left. The German team drove a perfect race winning the gold medal and leaving the Americans in a disappointing fourth place missing a medal by only .03 seconds. At the event, I introduced Ashley to pin trading. She had a ball although she has difficulty parting with any of her pins. I was a little more liberal in the trading and relented and traded my Green Jell-O pin in exchange for the following:

• Coca-Cola Truck with Moving Wheels pin
• Sports Illistrated Aerials pin
• White Cowboy Hat pin
• Coca-Cola Silver Bottlecap pin
• NBC SLC 2002 Media Pin

Besides these pins, I also traded for a Utah Hazardous Materials Team security pin and another patriotic snowflake pin. It was a wonderful day and one I will never forget as I was able to experience the Olympics with my daughter. It was priceless.

Jeff

 

[AZ JazzyJ]

With all of my events now completed, there was only one thing remaining. I had to go home. Once again I was up at 5 AM (before this trip I had no idea there were two 5:00 during a day). After packing all of my stuff and drudging through the dark and cold, the car was packed and I was leaving Utah. It was sad to see the Olympic flame in my rearview mirror. This was an incredible time. I met many people from all across the world and shared in a common experience. I shall remember watching the athletes as they put forth their best efforts in order to fulfill their goals. Many came to these games but only a few left with medals in their possession. Regardless, they all can proudly proclaim that they were the best their country could offer to the world of International competition. They should each be proud of their accomplishments. Besides the games, the other events that are a part of the Olympic experience were amazing. The ice carving, the music, the art, there was something there for everyone. Although I was in Utah for 12 very cold days, the warmth of the people and the events could melt even the coldest heart. I tip my hat to the Salt Lake Olympic Committee, they have produced one of the greatest events I have had the good fortune to attend.

As for pin trading, I can safely say it is an intregal part of the Olympic experience. As Disney pin collectors, we have all experienced what it is like to trade in the parks. The best way I can think of to describe it would be to think of everyone in the entire city of Orlando, Anaheim, Paris, and Tokyo each having a lanyard/scarf/towel/vest full of pins and trading one with another. Most of these people are only interested in meeting others from faraway places and trading pins as a memento of their encounter. Children were more into the trading than the adults and anyone new walking down the street with a lanyard or pins immediately drew a crowd. I saw pins traded for pins, chocolate, shirts, hats, hot chocolate, and even a pair of mittens. It was a wonderful experience and one I will cherish my entire life.


Jeff

 

[holycow]

thanks so much for letting us share in your adventure vicariously! It sounded wonderful indeed through your wonderful gift of story telling....

Thank you!
Holycow
Lisa

(Hope you have a safe journey home too!)

 

[JudithM]

Jeff, how can you go home? The Olympics are not over yet . Hope you got home safely.

 

[pintrader]

That's the closest I've ever been to the Olympics. Thank you so much for sharing such a special memory in your life with us, your pin trading buddies.

 

[Eeyore's Pal]

Jeff,

Your best narrative ever. Like others mentioned, it was almost like being there. You've made me want to attend the Winter Olympics even more!

Thanks so much for sharing with us.

 

[GotAnyPins]

Thank you for all your wonderful posts...It put a whole new side to the Olympics for me..

I am glued to my TV for the 2 wks they are one, but I would've given anything to be there..

We had t representives from this area..One Bobsledder, and of course Derek Parra..
It's too bad that you didn't get to stay and see him get the gold, and a new wr..

We have missed your stories on the boards.. I hope now that you have warmed up, you can keep
them coming..baseball season is almost here you know..

Thanks

Donna