Welcome to my journal of my trip to Salt Lake City, Utah, and the Winter Olympic Games!

This journey took place on February 16-20, 2002.
The primary reason was to visit my (maternal) Uncle Michael, Aunt Sheryl, and cousins Aaron (wife Judy) and Adam
The secondary purpose was to check out the Olympics!

February 16

After working close to a full shift at DePaul, I drove to Letty's house, and she and Oscar gave me a ride to Midway Airport. This was my first time taking Southwest Airlines. I noticed several differences with their planes. There is no first class section. Seats are not assigned. You get mere peanuts to eat. But all this is for the good cause of keeping prices low with this no-frills airline.
So I had a connection in St. Louis. The rest of the trip was uneventful, with the exception of the new rule installed for the Olympics. On all flights to Salt Lake City, no one is allowed to get out of their seat, or even stand, for the last 30 minutes of the flight.    
I was met at the baggage claim by Uncle Michael, cousin Aaron, and cousin Adam.
We drove in Aaron's Isuzu Trooper to downtown SLC. We parked in Mike's work's parking. We stopped in Washington Square. We saw several exciting sights, including the International Tent, where a different country graces the inside (tonight was New Zealand). We then walked around, and stopped into Nagano Center. Apparently, since the last Winter Olympics were in Nagano, Japan, that city gets to be here. We got Miso soup and a rice inari/sushi. We trekked on to eat at Red Rock, a local brew/pub, where we got bbq chicken pizza, chicken schnitzel, squash soup, beer crackers, and homemade cream soda, among other items.
Finally we went to the venues, but as it was after 1AM, all public events were closed. Came back to Aaron's place (his wife Judy, was gone until Monday.), we hung out for a bit, and said goodnight.

After getting a late start today, we (Uncle Mike, his wife Sheryl, Aaron, and myself) went downtown. We stopped first at the Korea House. Sampled Korean food, and got some Korean literature in a Korean bag. Then headed for the Bud World Area (this is usually known as the Gallivan Center). Due to the long line, we looked around the area first. Several stores were around, all very crowded, and all featuring overpriced merchandise. The most ominous, and what would prove to be the most popular at these Olympics, was the Canadian Roots store. We saw several of them during the week, all had lines of over an hour waiting to go in solely to do some shopping!
Finally we got into Bud World (the lines were long due to everyone getting a thorough search). We stopped in most of the tents, including stores, snacks, horses, gadgets, and finally the highlight, the Bubble Hockey Tent. This featured 8 hockey games of the variety that are in a big plastic bubble, and the players turn knobs that control the figures inside. Well it seemed they were having a tournament. So Aaron and I entered. We wound up winning our first two matches, making it to the quarterfinals. As a prize, we were awarded a logo long-sleeved t-shirt.
Next we went for dinner, to a Peruvian restaurant. Called Incantation, I ordered lomo (a South American meat) on a bed of spinach spaghetti with pesto. The grownups were tired, so, after a stop at Marie Callender's restaurant to pick up some pies, we went back to Mike/Sheryl's casa. I renewed acquaintances with Sheryl's two sons, Daniel and Josh. Then 4 of us tackled a game of Trivial Pursuit: Biographies. Aaron wants everyone to know that he and Uncle Mike kicked David's and Dan's ass. Before we knew it, it was late, and we headed home relatively early.

Got picked up by Adam and his roomie/friend Amir, and we went for our day trip to Park City!
We miraculously found parking on a side street. We first stopped at the Norway House. Sampled some Norweigan waffles, cookies, drinks, and chatted with some Norweigans (some of whom we later found out were local volunteers). We then walked a few blocks until we got to Main Street. This avenue is the main drag of Park City. It was closed to traffic for the 2 weeks of the Games. It was quite crowded. We walked along, here are some of the highlights:
Had lunch at Texas Red's, went into a few stores, but all had overpriced crap. We saw that the record-setting Jamaican Bobsledteam was present and taking visitors, so we congratulated them and took our picture. (Naturally, this will be added to my collection). On the way back, we stopped by the monster.com Monster Snow Maze. It consisted of seven-foot high walls of snow configured to make a huge life-size labrynth! We finished it in less than 5 minutes. We then left the area, but on the way back, we stopped at the local outlet mall. At the Tommy Hilfiger store, I ran into skiers from Croatia! Then I finally saw Adam's apartment. We hung for a bit, then we came back to Casa Aaron.

Went with Dan Spencer to the University of Utah for two special exhibits.
The first spotlighted Jewish people traveling to and through Utah in the 19th century. We viewed fascinating pictures and read about them, their troubles, and their triumphs. The next was an examination of the Olympics of 1936. These were notable for many reasons, the major ones included that they were held in Berlin, Germany during the Nazi regime, Jesse Owens won several medals for the USA, and several boycotts were executed, while even more did not materialize. The exhibition showcased all of this information, and much more, with pictures, accounts, and quotes. It was informative, moving, and eye-opening.
We then drove downtown to Michael's office. I finally saw what it looked like inside. Dan and I got a bite to eat Blimpie's, and then we all walked around. Highlights included the Jello exhibit (apparently SLC consumes the most Jell-O in the country), and the One World, One Heart exhibit, which showcased dozens of pieces of art, all depicting the heart in a different original method.
After this, Dan went back home, and Michael and I continued. We trekked over to the west part of downtown, and saw the Ethnic Village. This was a grand tent that featured food, entertainment, and vendors of many different ethnicities. After that, we walked over to the Gateway Mall. This was a brand new, outdoor shopping experience. Looking very modern, the highlight was a fountain with over 100 openings that spouted its water in synchronization to music.
We then cabbed over (using Mike's coupons) to Cafe Med for dinner. It was a Persian/Greek restauant, and had good food. The meal was attended by 5 people, Michael, myself, Adam, Aaron, and, Judy was back! We then stopped by Fred Meyer for some last minute groceries/sundries/souveniers. Got home, caught up with Judy, and watched the Olympics, mostly the figure skating (short programs).

On my last day, I did a load of laundry, assisted Aaron in making me a music .mp3 CD, and packed. On the way to the airport, we stopped a the Red Iguana for lunch. Delicious Mexican food to indulge in on my last meal on my trip!
Return plane was full. Arrived uneventfully that evening.