Vancouver Olympics: Day 17 (Final Day!) Highlights

- Ughh.. 8:30am after a late night was not pleasant after the luxury of sleeping in for the past week. A necessary evil though as we started what soon became a MASSIVE line at one of the MANY bars to watch the game. Yes, 9am for a 12:15 puck drop. But boy was it worth it...

- With our crew of 13 we kept the double-pitchers coming, made friends with our fellow Canadians, and got riled up as Canada took a 2-0 advantage. The equalizer from the US with seconds remaining put a hold on the celebration that had nearly begun already, but we didn't lose faith. We did lose it when Sid slid it home though! The place went off. I don't remember who I hugged - everyone in sight!

- Best. Street Party. Ever. Hands down, or more appropriately Hands UP, as mine are raw from the high fives from every single person who packed Granville Street. It was mayhem, I lost 11 of my 12 friends, but somehow found my way back to the apartment, as did Jon, so we could usher him quickly to the Skytrain with only minutes to spare for his flight (he made it).

- Winding back through the throngs of people it was such a joyous atmosphere. Canadian Pride.

- Over some much needed pizza nourishment, rejoined by friends at home, we called Nickelback, Lavigne, Hedley and Buble at the Closing Ceremony, but unfortunately no sign of Celine.

- Crash! Two weeks of non-stop concerts/games/party, a minor cold, a lot of beer and an early start culminated in zonking out mid-evening for a deep nap. Fortunately or unfortunately this resulted in being wide awake to check out the revelers still going (somewhat) strong 12 hours later. The Olympic flame now out, I stumbled upon a Closing Ceremony briefcase, complete with moose antlers, abandoned on the sidewalk which made the detour by the cauldron worthwhile.

Vancouver Olympics: Day 16 Highlights

- In time for the remnants of the tsunami to hit the BC coast, a wave of gold splashed over this city as well. Snowboard and speed skating medals came quick and so when we hit the streets immediately following it was with jubilation.

- Wanting to see whether the $1,000,000 Canada Tent was worth my taxes we slipped in only to be underwhelmed by a handful of photo ops, and a few multimedia screens designed for youngsters. While snapping a shot of Emanuel Sandhu a massive alarm went off - thankfully it was a victory alarm as the bobsleigh bronze slid in too. Manitoba was equally as un-enthralling, and the best part of the Ice Cube was the free headphones, and catching an end of the men's curling gold medal match.

- With that gold secured we booked it to catch Matt Mays (and the purple haze?) who put on a decent show, despite the only songs I knew being played while I was lined up to get through security.

- A glimpse of the future was provided by a 3D theatre.... basketball and hockey games are going to be revolutionized!

- Through the rain Blue Rodeo entertained old and young alike. Cuddy and Keelor are true showmen, encoring with Lost Together (giving band member Wayne Petti of Cuff the Duke a verse too!) .

- My third time watching the multimedia fireworks celebration show was easily the best as there was more firepower for the final night than previously. Plus that K'naan song is so darn catchy. Video to come!

- Mother Mother at Robson Square was a sea of 17 year olds trying to mosh (and crowd surf) for some odd reason. Our Olympics being bookended by MM, I was disappointed by the sound at both shows (2 venues) making me wonder if they've fallen off with the new female, or if the sound guy sucks. I'll hope for the latter.