Whitehorse is the location for the games and we’ve been preparing for this important (depending on your viewpoint) event for quite a few years … and here it is.
The majority of the athletes for the first week of events arrived yesterday. As I was out during my lunch break I noticed quite a few groups in uniform outer wear. The teams were obviously taking time to familiarize themselves with the city.
We are part of the Northstay program and have three guests this week and four guests next week. We had a fairly major faux pas yesterday and failed to meet our very first two guests from Cornerbrook … oops, mixed the time up with a different couple’s arrival, didn’t do my normal double check on flight times and there you have it, totally embarrassed. Let’s hope that is the only mistake for these two weeks!
The opening ceremonies are tonight, but we have our third guest to pick up from the airport and tickets were sold out before we thought to check. Guess we will have to watch from the warmth of our living room, shucks eh?
Speaking of the weather, of course it has gone cold. From a week ago Thursday through to Monday or Tuesday it snowed, and snowed, and snowed some more. Of course this had made the city look rather clean and bright, but since Wednesday, the temperature has steadily dropped. -27.5 this morning. I hope everyone has brought their best woolies.
Lawrie is putting in his first security shift at the Canada Winter Games Centre this morning. Up at 5:30 and out the door by 6:15. Most of us have Heritage Day off work, so I drove him up to the centre, a very short distance away. I’m doing my volunteering at Mount McIntyre where the curling and cross country skiing events are taking place. I’m in the volunteer lounge and on the environment team as well.
So why have I decided to blog these two weeks? Well, how often will we be living in a place that has a major amateur sporting event? This will probably be it, and why not get involved with a wealth of wonderful Canadians? Day one and we already are the richer for visiting with our first two guests! I don’t promised this will be exciting news (try the TV for entertainment), but hopefully I’ll find some interesting photography opportunities and as always, this blog is all about an easy on-line photo album and journal of stuff we find interesting. You are encouraged to comment at any time!