The End of an Era

So for starters, I have gone back and inserted images in the posts where technology had not allowed them previously.

After riding Sunshine, our last night in Banff, Ottawa-Matt and Canmore-Sam met Captain Kirk and I at Eddie Burger for a delish meal, and a few trash cans.

An unfortunate lassoo related accident resulted in the demise of my camera, but watching Captain Kirk lose a tug-of-war against a hippie more than made up for it.

We set out early the Thursday morning, with our sights set on Winnipeg. The weather was great, and the drive was uneventful. General and Mrs. Henault were extremely hospitable, and sent us off Friday morning with a fantastic shoe-box lunch.

By midnight Friday, we had arrived in Sault Ste-Marie, and were both well rested after driving in shifts. The thought of wasting all of Saturday in the car seemed worse than the prospect of hitting a moose in the dark, so we powered through, and arrived safely home around 8:30 this morning.

All told, I had a fantastic time, from the moment I left to the moment I got home. I got to see a whole pile of this country that I had never seen before. I had the privilege of working with some extraordinary people from all over the world. I made some friends I will cherish for ages, and I had some great times that I will likely never forget. I was priviliged to be a part of something so big, so cool, and so fun. The 2010 games turned out to be something that all of Canada can be extremely proud of. We rose to the challenge as a nation, and set the bar very high for our colleagues in Sochi.

Our VMO warned us about something called the Olympic Low. She said that after such an intense experience shared with a group of people, it is very depressing to part company and go back to real life. She advised us to exercise a lot, and to stay in touch. Done and done.

Seeing how empty and lifeless Whistler was on Monday, I certainly got a good dose of that feeling. The trip home will help to distract me, as I'm sure will the piles and piles of work waiting for me this coming Monday.

When things get a little crazy, and I need to calm down, all I have to do is turn to my memories of these past five weeks. This is my happy place, and this is where I will go when I need a boost.
















By the numbers:

12,000km + driven
1 tank of gas in the diesel automobile
9 days of big mountain skiing
2 days of backcountry touring
5 powder days
16 shifts worked
1 tampon dispensed
1 ACL injury splinted
12 Olympic events attended
14 BFFs
2 + broken hearts
0 regrets

I haven't received any questions, so a Q&A post is not likely to happen. Eventually, once life has settled, I'll get around to doing a picture dump on facebook.

Spe3 out.