At the end of the year when I was looking back at 2019 and the 2010's, I looked back at the end of 2009. What was my life like then? Could I have imagined everything that happened in the 2010's? This reminded me that in December 2009, I was about to have my experience of a lifetime attending the Opening Ceremony and Men's Moguls for the 2010 Olympics.
That experience was so magical that I enjoyed thinking back to the person who didn't know how great it was going to be.
That's when I had an aha moment. In two months, it would be the 10th anniversary of the Vancouver Games. I have been saying since then that I want to go to Whistler who co-hosted the Games. How has ten years passed already?
Before we had kids, my husband and I used to go skiing in Whistler every year. I loved it so much there. The skiing was incredible and the village was amazing. I would have loved to go to Whistler during the Olympics but it was not meant to be.
Since then, I have had many friends post on social media or send me photos of Olympic rings when they went to Whistler. I loved the photos and hoped that some day I would go back to Whistler, ski my favourite runs, enjoy the village and see the Olympic rings!!
That aha moment I had was to use the 10th anniversary of the Games and combine a Vancouver reminiscing stopover with a Whistler ski trip.
We booked our trip to arrive on the eve of the Opening Ceremony anniversary day. There have been times that the Olympic cauldron has been lit for special occasions in the last decade. I hoped they would light it for the 10th anniversary but was doubtful that they would on a Wednesday. With family day weekend a few days later, I thought they may do it then.
It didn't matter though. I wanted to go celebrate my personal 10th anniversary experience. I wanted to see the cauldron even without the flame. I had not seen it without the flame although friends had sent me photos of it when they visited it. I wanted to see the hotel where I stayed even if we decided to stay elsewhere. I wanted to go to Cypress Mountain where the moguls event had taken place.
A month before our trip, I saw news that they were having anniversary celebrations the weekend after family day weekend. I was initially a little disappointed but realized that even if I had known that before booking my trip, I wanted to be there the day of the Opening Ceremony on February 12th, not ten days later. It wouldn't have changed my plans.
A couple of days before our departure, I saw the news that they would light the cauldron the morning that we would be there. I screamed in that moment, running to my husband to tell him the news. I couldn't believe it. On a Wednesday morning, for two hours, the cauldron would be lit!!
We had a late night flight arriving at 10pm, so I was just hoping that there wouldn't be any delays and there weren't. Lucky us!!
The next morning, I was happy to just grab a quick bite, but my husband wanted a nicer breakfast. He googled places between our hotel and the cauldron and found one that he liked. As we walked closer, I see a sign for the hotel I stayed in after the men's moguls. What a view with the harbour in the background! I had not been to this side of the hotel so I didn't initially recognize it as my 2010 hotel.
My husband didn't realize it at the time, but he chose a restaurant that was inside that hotel. Afterwards, we walked through the lobby to the front desk where I pretended I was checking in like I did 10 years ago.
Walking through the hotel brought back such amazing memories.
There were two cauldrons in 2010. One inside the Opening Ceremony venue and one near the harbour where it is today. Wayne Gretzky left the ceremony and rode in a truck to get to the outdoor cauldron to light it. After the ceremony, I rushed to catch a bus to get to the midnight ferry to Victoria. I didn't see the outdoor cauldron until I saw it broadcast on the ferry.
When I returned to Vancouver a couple of days later for the Men's Moguls, I was ecstatic to see the cauldron lit even if we couldn't get close to it because of the fence that surrounded it.
I was still able to take amazing photos of it through the fence, just not with me in them.
Another memory from 10 years ago was my friend lending me his Olympic torch for the night. He had run in the relay a few days before and knowing how much I love the Olympics, lent it to me.
Someone said that I look like a kid in a candy store in this photo. At this moment in time, this is as close to my Olympic dream that I think I'm going to get. I didn't have Olympic tickets yet and no plans to go.
I'm sharing both photos to show the difference ten years makes. Back in Vancouver on the 10th anniversary, there were torch relay runners and volunteers who attended the lighting ceremony. One of the runners lent me his torch for a photo. I'm a lot closer to the cauldron this time. We could feel the heat from the flames as we stood nearby.
I had tears in my eyes as the song "I Believe" from 2010 played on the loud speakers before O Canada when they lit the cauldron. I am so happy that I went back and got to re-create past memories and create new ones with my husband who wasn't there in 2010.
Our reminiscing tour continued to Cypress Mountain where Alexandre Bilodeau won the first gold medal for Canada on home soil. And I was there!! I still have to pinch myself to believe my experience.
The moguls run looked quite different in 2020. The base of the run is a parking lot. The moguls, aerial jump, stands and lights are gone.
I was still happy to see it and create new memories by posing by the first Olympic rings I would see on my trip and having a great lunch in the chalet that was reserved for athletes, coaches and entourage in 2010 and now display mementos from the Games.
If you want to read more about my 2010 Olympic experience, you can read my blog posts by clicking:
Thank you for reading.
Chasing dreams...capturing memories.
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