Whistler

I arrived at work yesterday and was surprised with two bags. One bag was from Panasonic and contained all of the goodies that were given to the Panasonic guests. It included a rain poncho, binoculars, a seat pad, hand warmers, two shirts, a toque, gloves, and a three-in-one winter coat! I was also given a bag and told that my American guests, who had now returned home, had left it for me. It turns out that one of them had purchased me a red fleece from the Team USA store as a thank you gift. I was so pleased to know that I had obviously made an impression (that might have something to do with being able to avoid a taxi that swerved in front of us and came VERY close to crunching up the front of my car!) One of the other drivers told me that the wives were commenting on my driving skills and the fact that I was able to share so many tidbits of information about Vancouver. I found this quite funny since I have only been here for three weeks myself!

My assignment for yesterday was to depart from Vancouver at about 4pm and drive one of the Panasonic team up to Whistler. He was transferring to a hotel there and I was going to come straight back. Not a problem - the trip would take about 4 1/2 hours and I could stay on the highway on the way home, avoid downtown, and go straight home. Alas, it was not to be.

My guest was in a meeting that ran late adn it was nearly 5:30pm before we could leave. In the meantime, I was asked if I could spend the night in Whistler because the guest would need to come home the following afternoon.

I called my supervisors and they contacted Whistler. They were able to arrange for me to stay in a small room in the bunkhouse that has been set up for some of the Whistler volunteers. I arrived in Whistler at about 8pm with nothing but the clothes on my back. NADA! Fortunately, I did have a little plan.

I have an elementary school friend who has been staying in a Whistler hotel for 6 months because her husband is working for Bell on Olympic stuff. I called Devon and asked her if there was any way I could borrow some clothes to sleep in. She hurried down with not only clothes but toothpaste, a toothbrush, soap, shampoo, and conditioner, all snagged from her hotel's front desk. She then took me on a driving tour of the Whistler area showing me some of the neighbourhoods, the school, the rec centre, and some of the shops.

After my tour, I went along to the bunkhouse and found my room. The rooms are fitted out with a tall bunk bed, a chest of drawers, a wardrobe, and a sink. There is a bathroom with a toilet and a shower between each pair of rooms. Unfortunately, the bunk beds were put in the room the wrong way around so the ladders were against the wall. I did not realize that I would be earning a medal in monkey-climbing! I had to climb on to the lower bed, then on to the chest of drawers, and up to the top bunk. I had to do all of this while trying not to disturb Jamie, the girl in the lower bunk who was about to sleep before her early shift on course crew in the morning.

I slept reasonably well until about 4 in them morning when the fellow in the next room decided to take a shower (I think that he was just coming in from a night of drinking). The fan in the bathroom is rather loud and it is connected to the light so it was on the whole time. I finally fell back to sleep and woke up when Jamie did at 5:30am. This time I could not get back to sleep so I decided to get up. I put on my old clothes, ran my little comb through my hair, and headed out for the day.

I walked out of the bunkhouses to find giant snowflakes falling heavily. Whistler Village was absolutely beautiful with a fresh coating of snow. I packed my winter boots to bring to Vancouver but alas, they are still in my suitcase in Vancouver!

This fresh snow created other problems as well. My guest had come up to Whistler to film footage of the women's downhill ski racing. The ski racing was postponed because of the snow.

My guest managed to rearrange his schedule so that he would take footage of the luge instead. I spent a couple of hours in the village with my friend Devon and then headed to the hotel where my guest was staying. I took him and a few camera operators over to the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre. Panasonic has a hospitality lounge here and I was invited to join the crew for lunch. The food was great!

We then headed over to the sliding centre where I was able to watch the women's luge while my guests filmed. I have watched the sliding events on tv but was completely unprepared for a couple of things. The sliders come shooting past at incredibly high speeds so they are only in front of you for a split second. The other thing is the outrun at the end of the course. I always knew that it ran uphill in order to slow the sleds down but I never realized just how long and steep the outrun was. It climbs a long way after the finish line! I tried to take a few pictures, particularly of the canadian sliders but was only able to get one with a slider actually in the frame, and I have no idea who she is. She is beautifully captured though in the Vancouver logo in the ice.

Eventually, me made our way back to Vancouver and I went home, a mere 36 hours after I left.

Lesson learned: always carry a spare pair of underwear in the vehicle!