Olympic Park in Park City, Utah

Linda from Linda's Lens just came back from a ski trip to Salt Lake City where she visited one of the Olympic sites and got me thinking about our own visit to the area in 2009.  She visited the Cauldron Park, but we took in a tour of  Olympic Park in Park City.  During the 2002 Olympics it served as a venue for ski jumping, nordic combined, bobsled, skeleton and luge. Admission to the self-guided tour of the museum is free!

During the summer, ski jumpers work on technique by landing on plastic runways in landing zones. Freestyle aerialists practice their twists and jumps and land in the park's 750,000-gallon training pool.  When they hit the water the pool fills with air that pushes them back up.  The highest of the four primary kickers can launch the athletes nearly 70 feet in the air, allowing the aerialists to perform twists and flips.  We hung out and watched for awhile, it was incredibly cool!

The indoor museum brought back a lot of memories of the games.  I tried to convince Wayne to have a seat in the old bobsled that was on display, but he insisted it was my turn to humiliate myself.  It was surprisingly difficult to climb in and out of, but while seated I did get to enjoy the Olympic related comics framed on the wall. If you want to ride in a bobsled, come for a visit in the winter and they will accommodate you in something more modern!

We watched a lot of figure skating during the 2002 Olympics because Katrina was still skating at that time. Sarah Hughes was the gold medal winner and Katrina got to meet and skate with her at the ice arena in Crystal Lake, Illinois in 2005. Sarah gave tips to all the Marshall's Skatefest participants on improving their skills and then everyone received a hand autographed poster. 

 

My favorite item on display was the white bison.  It was decoupaged with newspaper articles from the Olympics and signed by the athletes.  I picked out Brian Boitano's name right away!  Next time we're in the Salt Lake City area we'll have to visit another of the venues, and it's on my travel list to hit other Olympic towns as well.