With the 2002 Winter Games being held in Salt Lake City, we had a few "Olympic moments". Here's the summary of what we did: The girls went up to south Salt Lake to watch a torch runner go by, Jamie was in a school choir that performed a few times in Salt Lake City, Jolene and Kris went to the Women's 4 x 5 km Cross-country Relay (Jamie was also there with her school group) and Our family went to Park City to check out the festivities. Now the details in Jolene's words ...
Having the Olympics so close to home has given us a few
opportunities to do something out of the ordinary so I thought we
would tell you all a little about that.
On Feb 8 we met LaDawn and kids to see the torch runner go
through south Salt Lake. It didn't last long but it was a very
exciting place to be.
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| The Nosack and Bollinger kids waving flags while they wait for the torch |
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| The torch runner goes by |
Jamie has probably had the most fun with it as she was in the school chorus. For those of you not in Utah, every elementary school chorus in the state learned songs from the Governor's Music and Education Program entitled "Light The Fire Within" There are 10 songs and they are a lot of fun. They got to perform several times. The program at school was extremely fun and also touching. Jamie said she was watching me to see if I would cry. What else would a true Hood do?! She also sang at Gateway Mall which was next to Olympic Square and they got to be on live TV at that one. They sang at the airport and she was lucky enough to be in a small group that got to sing at the athletes village. They got white hats and gloves and even an olympic windbreaker to wear over their coats. She got to keep the jacket and it happens to fit me very well. Even though we heard those songs a lot of times, I still liked them so much I had to buy the CD when all the programs were over.
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| Jamie's school choir singing at Gateway behind two TV news reporters. Can you spot Jamie in the picture? |
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| There she is! |
On the 13th we went to see Jamie sing at the Gateway and then went over to Olympic Square to see all the stuff going on there. It was fun too but almost too cold to enjoy. The coolest thing besides the chorus was seeing the huge bison puppet that was in the opening ceremony.
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| Nosack girls by the Bison puppet used in the Opening Ceremonies |
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| The girls by an Olympic statue. |
On the 16th we went to the ice sculpture competition in Provo but the weather was so warm that day that everything was melting before we could see it all. What we did see was amazing. On the 21st Kris and I went to see the Women's X-Country 4x5km relay at Soldier Hollow. Jamie also got to go but she was with a group from school. It was a very exciting race. We stood near the starting line and across from the finish line. You can see quite a lot of the course from the bottom where we were but there was also a jumbotron close by that tracked the leaders. It was great. I was amazed at how fast the skiers could all go..... especially uphill! We were standing next to a group of Germans who had THE BIGGEST cowbell I have ever seen. Since the American team was last to finish and the Germans were always 1st or 2nd, and ultimately won, we cheered a lot with the German group. Soldier Hollow is a beautiful place and I hope they still have good snow after the Paralympics so we can ski there too. They said it will be open to the public, snow permitting. On the 23rd our family went to Park City to enjoy the Olympic atmosphere one more time. There was free stuff and kids stuff and entertainment in the streets.
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| Kris, Jolene and Jamie at the entrance to Soldier Hollow |
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| Jamie and Rachel get into a juggling act on Park City's Main Street |
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| The girls get balloons at Park City |
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| The Nosack family holding an Olympic torch at the Chevy booth at Park City |
We just had fun seeing everything. We also enjoyed just watching most of the events on TV. It was cool to see places I have been before. I found myself staying up late and watching the recap each night and even watching early in the morning while I was still in bed to see where the Today Show was that day and hear the athletes talk about their victories. I was really tired by the end of it all.
written March 8, 2002