A Visit to the Olympics. . .Sort of

We made the decision that we should at least go up and check out the Olympics in Vancouver. Only a 45 minute drive from here, it did seem like it'd be a shame to say you hadn't bothered. Honestly, our real reason for going up was to go to hear the Mike Allen Quartet play at O'Doul's on Robson Street. Since a lot of the free Olympic activity was happening within a few blocks of Robson Street, why not take a walk around and see what was going on?

We also thought it would be a great idea, what with all the crowds around the Olympic areas, to try taking the SkyTrain. It would whisk us to within a few blocks of O'Doul's and we wouldn't have to fuss with parking or navigating around the streets that had been blocked off for the duration of the Olympics.

We got across the border easily with our new Nexus cards. Actually everyone did with or without one. A car in the non-Nexus lane adjacent to us got through faster than we did. Only a 5 minute wait at the Canadian side. Great! Smooth sailing so far.

We headed for Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver, where we could park and take the SkyTrain the rest of the way. We drove to the first station we found and pulled into the parking lot only to find that only customers of the adjacent shopping mall were allowed to park there. Hmmm. No problem. We'd follow the elevated track on down to the next station. Same thing. Parking only for customers of this shopping center. Plenty of parking. None allowed. Why were these stations built here if no one is allowed to park?

Finally, we decided to go to the airport a few miles up the road to park at their SkyTrain station. Found it. Only airport employees were allowed to park. What?

So we decided to go ahead and attempt to drive into the city despite all the warnings we had heard about trying to do so. We jogged a few times to avoid streets we knew to be blocked off but managed, with absolutely not one bit of trouble, to drive right to our usual parking garage 2 blocks from O'Doul's on Robson. We even parked in the same slot we had last time and the rest of the garage was mostly empty. What is going on? As we drove into the city up the four lane streets that we just knew would be parking lots full of cars attempting the same thing we'd just done, we were incredulous at the lack of traffic. It seemed to us no worse than it is anytime we've gone to Vancouver.

We walked up Robson and within a couple of blocks the crowds appeared and it got more and more crowded as we went along. Intersections were controlled by traffic cops. Eventually barriers blocked off the street to pedestrians only and then it got crazy. The areas where the free public activities were located was a sea of humanity. Still you could get around. But getting in to do anything required standing in long lines, something I do not do. So we watched and took it all in. Then we turned around and left walking back down Robson towards the way we had come.

Slowly, the crowds thinned out and within a couple of blocks the crowds were no worse than they would be on any summer day. The crowds were all concentrated within a very few blocks. Otherwise, you would have had a difficult time knowing anything unusual was going on in the city. Seriously. Oh, there were the occasional clutches of boisterous fans waving the Canadian flag. There were a few groups of fans who were a bit too over the top obnoxious or drunk, but no more so than you would expect after a big game of some sort.

The rest of the city was simply dead. Little or no sign that the Olympics were in town.

We ducked into O'Doul's, our main reason for being here and got our favorite table right in front of the band stage. The only table in the bar had been reserved for us. We took our seats and were joined by Mike and his wife, Donna, our friend and drummer Julian McDonough and by others as the evening went on. We ordered drinks, had dinner and listened to Mike's group play all evening. As soon as they began my wife and I both sighed and realized how much we had missed their playing. Julian was up from Albequerque, where he lives with his wife and baby, just to play here for the 2 weeks of the Olympics. A nice gig. Of course we all wanted to know when he was moving back to Bellingham. We always ask. We miss him.

We had several opportunities to sit and chat, and get caught up with the guys. Two other tenor sax players and another drummer sat in for a few tunes. The "three tenors" played wonderfully together, each taking a turn soloing and all playing off each other's riffs. What a night. Who needs the Olympics.

We've noticed that Mike has a set of groupies that frequent O'Doul's when he plays and we have gotten to know some of them over time, just like the jazz fiends we hang out with in Bellingham. About midnight, we said our goodbyes to everyone and headed home. We did make a detour through the downtown area to drive past the Olympic Flame. Even there, there were no crowds. We stopped to shoot a few snaps and then continued for home. The drive out of the city was exactly as it would be any other night of the week. No crowds leaving the Olympics to cross the border or go home to the suburbs. It was dead.

As for the SkyTrain, Vancouver you have a few kinks to work out of your mass transit system if the purpose is to keep traffic out of the city core. Because, from my perspective, it ain't workin'. Of course, if that is as crowded as it gets in Vancouver, it doesn't need to to work.