I love the winter games, and this year, they are taking place in our backyard, Vancouver, BC. Unfortunately, due to our warm & dry El Nino winter, there is no snow at Cypress Mountain where the snowboarding & free style events are taking place. The City of Vancouver has been trucking in snow in order to coat the mountain! There seems to be enough snow at Whistler Blackcomb for the major ski events. The good folks at Mt. Baker, near the Canadian border, are standing by, ready to import additional snow, in case it's needed!!
The symbol of the Vancouver Olympics is an Inuit 'inukshuk'. Technically, it's really an 'innunguaq', which is the stone cairn in the shape of a person. An inukshuk is just a stone cairn. The symbol means friendship and goodwill.
In a very generous gesture by BC Premier Gordon Campbell, he directed the Olympic Torch to swing into Washington at the Peace Arch in Blaine, which straddles the border between our countries, and then back up to Vancouver.
As a tribute to our neighbors to the north, I present a slide show of the photos I shot on my trip to Vancouver in 2006.
LET THE GAMES BEGIN!
