There is nothing like being there. The Closing Ceremonies were amazing. It is always a little sad for the host city to close out the 17 days of the games, but Canada can be proud. Yes, there were some issues and gliches but, the games went off well with a very friendly group of people hosting. I sat next to a Canadian who had attended the Gold Medal game of the men's hockey and, although very glad that Canada won, was very complimentary of the American team. What a game that was with the Americans scoring to tie it up with 24 seconds remaining in the game.
They rolled out all the stars for the closing and also made great use of the technical problem from the opening ceremony. They made it fun to raise the final portion of the flame and got some of the egg off of their faces. It was a great preview of the next set of games in Russia in four years, a very entertaining celebration, and a star line-up with William Shatner, Michael J. Fox, and Neil Young just to name a few. We are headed back to Seattle tonight for a 6:40 a.m. departure. We will arrive tired and ready to get back into the busy work schedule having seen another set of games. There really is nothing like being here.

Rick