Greetings from Salt Lake! Mike, Dick, Nancy and I are enjoying the Olympics. Mike and I saw the men's cross country pursuit race today. It was very exciting, including a photo finish for second/third.

Yesterday, we walked around the downtown event center. It's a lot like a large Oringen: people from many countries, lots of vendor booths, and overpriced food ($5 hot dogs, $3.50 for coffee). Mike has also noted some similarities (except scale, of course) to WOC events.

So far, I'm enjoying it all very much. We're off to a women's hockey game tomorrow.

-- Mary (maprunner@juno.com), February 14, 2002

Answers

Our second day of competition was a very different crowd. We saw a women's hockey game, Kazhakstan vs. Russia. It was great to see 6,000 people cheering for a women's game, where most people had no allegiance to either team. It was also funny to hear the comments from people around us who had never been to a hockey game before!

Besides sports, the other prominant feature of the Games are lines. You wait in line to get on the shuttle bus; you wait in line to pass through security; you wait in line for a shuttle bus at the end of the event. But things have been working smoothly, and lines usually move quickly.

They have plenty of volunteers here. They are _extremely_ friendly. It's a bit Stepford-ish. At the cross country event, they had a person every 30 feet or so; their only job was to meet and greet. I got tired of saying "hello" all day long!

Now we're off to another women's hockey game. Look for us behind the goal. NBC should be broadcasting this game: US vs. Finland.

-- Mary (maprunner@juno.com), February 16, 2002.

Are there people walking around trying to convert you?

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), February 17, 2002.