[ SUNDAY TRAVEL ]
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Golden days in SALT LAKE CITY >> We have yet to meet Michelle Kwan, but did shake hands with Naomi Lang and Peter Tchernyshev, America's ice-dancing pair.
Salt Lake City
The Olympic city offers a wealth
of fun without hasslesBy Lucy Young-Oda
lyoungoda@starbulletin.comWe caught just a glimpse of bronze-medal figure-skater Tim Goebel on the street, but did take photos with Michael Weiss, who placed seventh in that same competition.
And we happened to see speedskater Bonnie Blair, five-time gold medalist; freestyle aerialist Eric Bergoust, 1998 gold medalist; and Olympic figure-skating champion Brian Boitano.
Tack on my bronze medal for curling and a silver medal for luge, and I confess to having way too much fun for too little money in too short a time at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. (More on the "medals" later.)
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Before leaving Hawaii last Sunday for the Winter Games, we'd heard the horror stories. Traffic was going to be horrendous; expect to spend hours in bumper-to-bumper chaos. Security would be intense; expect to spend hours in long lines due to meticulous screening, post-Sept. 11. Expect to pay up to $1,000 for the women's figure-skating finals.Nope. Not close. And no way.
Our decision to attend our first-ever Olympics was last-minute -- as usual.
And it's been free form, with our ice-star encounters unscripted and serendipitous. We had no events tickets reserved. But we had figured it was time to do "the Olympic experience."
It's been 22 years since the United States last hosted the Winter Games. For 17 days, 2,654 of the world's best and bravest athletes compete in 14 sports for more than 475 medals. And Utah's hosting it all, in some 10 venues including postcard-perfect ski areas such as Deer Valley east of the city and Snowbasin to its north; and the athletes' Olympic Village at the University of Utah near the Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium, where the Feb. 8 opening pageantry occurred and the Olympic flame continues to burn bright.
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Booking the flight had been our biggest hurdle, so everything after that in our two-week visit was going to be gravy.We had a great place to stay at the brother-in-law's house just north of Salt Lake City. The sister-in-law's family had a van we could all tool around in. No worries: This trip would be about enjoying family and, oh yes, that worldwide miracle occurring every four years called the Winter Olympics.
Our goal was to immerse ourselves in the Olympic experience without paying too dear a price.
Armed with a few complimentary maps, we breezed through traffic in the family van. Though the city and the Olympics committee advised against personal vehicles and warned of parking hardships, there was ample free street parking about three blocks from the Olympic Square. The square is a hub of activity next to the Olympics Medals Plaza, the Salt Lake Ice Center and the world-famous Mormon Tabernacle in Temple Square.
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Walking through tree-lined blocks to the Olympic Square, we spotted several parking lots with telltale signs. Signs offering parking for $10 had been crossed out, some to $7, others down to $5 -- evidence that feared traffic snarls had not materialized.In fact, we were told, many locals were avoiding the downtown area altogether till the Games are over. Great for tourists like us, but bad for some like the local shopkeepers anticipating business booms that haven't materialized.
One of the biggest surprises is how orderly and efficiently the venues have been run, despite the heavy security. Yes, bags are checked each time you enter a venue like the Olympic Square or Gallivan Utah Center, where Budweiser had its exhibition square, but the checks have gone pretty quickly. And that's saying something coming from a Hawaii resident enduring searches in 29- to 46-degree weather.
The staff is consistently friendly, which goes a long way in the chill. Even the many stoic soldiers in military garb with rifles at checkpoints faded in the background.
The cleanliness and charm of Salt Lake City emerged. Night is especially beautiful at Temple Square, lit up with graceful tree lights reminiscent of our own Honolulu City Lights during the holidays. Spotlights dance across the night sky. Floodlights illuminate the huge athlete banners shrouding downtown buildings. And like the "HOLLYWOOD" hill sign in Los Angeles, the Olympic rings shine like a beacon in the night on the snow-capped Wasatch Mountains.
All day, scalpers congregated on and around Main Street, many prowling for tickets to resell. The speed-skating events with Apolo Anton Ohno and the traditionally coveted women's figure-skating finals have been hot tickets, as was last night's medal awards ceremony and concert featuring *N Sync.
One scalper estimated the *N Sync ticket at $100 street value (they were $200 on the Internet two days out). In comparison, last Wednesday's Creed concert/medals ceremony went for about $80, while last Friday's Goo Goo Dolls concert/medals ceremony was estimated at $30 to $40.
We were tempted Tuesday by the women's figure-skating opener, where tickets were going for $275 apiece just outside the Ice Center. Ten minutes before start time, a harried couple snatched them up for $550 cash.
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The nationalism is palpable here, evidenced in flags of every color being toted in the square, most visibly from the United States, Canada and Great Britain.Olympic logo pins also were ubiquitous for sell, for trade; on lapels, on caps, on jackets.
Spiffy jackets with embroidered logos abounded, the brighter the better.
Many people proudly wore them for identification as well as for unification: Canadians sported burgundy; security and Olympics staffers wore yellow; visitor information personnel donned blue.
As for food, seasoned travelers know that the best deals are often away from the spoon-fed tourist spots.
Lunch one day was a hearty and tasty $2 beef burrito from a downtown street stand manned by Eduardo Gonzalez of Angelina's Food Services. It was a far cry from my brother-in-law's experience at the Olympic Square, where he sprung $4 for an anemic hot dog and another $3.50 for a few scoops of chili in a condiment-sized paper cap.
It was that brother-in-law, though, who scored two tickets to Friday's concert/medal ceremony, which he gifted to us. It was likely to be the only Olympics event for us with a price on the ticket.
For the cost (free), one of the coolest and most crowded venues was Coca-Cola's "On the Ice" pavilion, which boasted several stations simulating four Winter Olympic sports: the luge, bobsleigh, curling and ice hockey.
Want to see what it's like to slide two 42-pound curling stones down an ice sheet in hopes of making a bulls-eye? Stand in line to compete against 15 others in a curling match. You may be rewarded with a third-place bronze medal pin, as I was.
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Want to see what it's like to ride the luge down a 40-yard horseshoe bank of ice? Stand in line to compete against 15 others. You just might be rewarded with the silver.All this, of course, is done with good sportsmanship and good fun, with awe for the real athletes who train years for two minutes of do-or-die glory.
"Light the fire within," the Games' motto proclaims.
It's something the viewer can appreciate watching the gold-medal Cinderella story of speedskater Derek Parra or the poignant tale of third-generation Olympian Jack Shea, who won gold in the skeleton event infused with his grandfather's spirit.
All that is good enough in the comfort of a living room, beamed via TV. But being in the eye of the Olympic storm heightens the experience, pure and simple.
The thrill of competition plays against the context of global good will. The Games are a perennial miracle that unites far-flung countries in fielding their best to a venue of hills and valleys to push their bodies, minds and spirits to the limit. After Sept. 11, after months of dark undertones for our world, what a miracle it is.