The finals of the Short Track competition seemed to be an ideal event – a great competition, a local personality (Apolo Ohno), 3 medal events (Women's 1000m, Men's 500m, Men's 5000m Relay). Unfortunately, many others did too – Ticket brokers, Ebay and the "Official" Olympics Ticket Auctions had the cheapest pairs of tickets running for $900 (9 x original price!). Even after waiting until 7 hours prior to the event, the best deal found was $770 for a pair of tickets in the back of the nosebleed section and likely partially obstructed by a camera man. Deciding to forgo buying tickets online, Ray and Traci headed north to check out the Olympics.
Travel on I-5 was uneventful, and there was no wait at the border. Ray planned on parking near the short track venue (Pacific Coliseum), and found a free street parking spot near a school. After getting Canadian dollars at a HSBC bank, Ray and Traci caught the 135 bus to Robson Square, the center of the Olympics.
Driving in, one wouldn't know anything special was going on. Even during the short 3 mile bus ride to Robson Square, little traffic was encountered – appeared to be a slow workday. Once in the center of the Olympics, crowds were noted in the drizzly Friday, but they weren't overwhelming. Ray and Traci headed to the Olympic Caldron for the obligatory picture of the torch. 
From the torch, the hungry travelers found a Japanese restaurant on Robson. Traci had an udon dish with some California rolls and Ray had a beef teriyaki / tempura dinner. Fortunately, this restaurant didn't have "Olympic Pricing" and the $35 (including tip) dinner was quite satisfying. Hunger resolved, Ray and Traci wandered around Olympics Central. Fans everywhere were wearing Canadian Hockey jerseys as their team was about to win their semifinal game, setting up the epic rematch with the US for the gold medal. Police patrols also looked rather inconspicuous – small patrols were noted - but the heavy anti-terrorist forces must have stayed well hidden. Ray and Traci wandered over to the ice skating rink were many kids enjoyed the festivities on the ice while older ones waited 7 hours for a free zip lining experience overhead. 
The Official Olympic Store had a long line (they only let a few people in at a time) – interestingly enough, there was a longer line outside the Canadian Mint where they let people actually touch (while wearing gloves) Olympic medals. Ray and Traci went to the Hudson's Bay department store above the Olympic store where on the 5th floor, they had a selection of Olympics souvenirs, none of which the travelers bought. Ray and Traci are both returning to Vancouver for a meeting in May, and they figured everything would be at least half priced by then.
Their final stop during their brief Olympics experience was back at the short track venue. After getting off the bus (public transportation was very efficient for these games!), Ray immediately was approached by scalpers offering tickets. Refusing initial offers, Ray and Traci found an area that served as an enclave of pure capitalism (maybe the last?) – buyers and sellers finding a market price for tickets. Still unhappy at the prevailing prices – which were much better at this late hour than anything on the internet, Ray and Traci wandered toward the main entrance where a friendly scalper obviously tired from a day's work ended up selling two fairly decent seats for 2 ½ times face value. Armed with tickets, Ray and Traci passed a rather strict security screening (just like at the airport) and found their upper deck seats 13 rows back positioned right above the finish line of the oval. While they missed the Men's 500m quarter finals and 1 of the Woman's 1000m quarter finals, they immediately became captivated by the spectacle that is short track racing. 
Apolo got disqualified in the 500m finals after an amazing performance in the semifinals (he really did take out a competitor). A highlight of the evening was Katherine Reutter's silver medal in a very close Women's 1000m final, further adding to America's haul.
The most interesting and confusing event was the crazy Men's 5000m relay – 5 teams of 4 zooming around at high speeds and changing places on the fly every 1 ½ laps. The US won a hard fought bronze, giving Apolo his 8th overall medal in Olympic games.
After the wonderful short track competition, Ray and Traci decided to get out of town as the Canadian Hockey team was close to winning its game, and the crazy Canadians would be celebrating en mass until the late hours of the night. Their border crossing was again quick, and the exhausted travelers completed their 12 hour 32 minute journey as veterans of their first Olympics and fans of the short track for life.
