'The trip of a lifetime'

Seeing it on television was one thing, but being in Vancouver to see Team Canada win Olympic gold with a nail-biting overtime goal was much better in person.

At least one man from Stephenville thinks so.

Gerald Hall, his wife Odelia, son Warren, and Warren's girlfriend Emily, just returned from what Mr. Hall calls "the trip of a lifetime."

Mr. Hall, a physical education teacher at Stephenville Primary School and Hockey Newfoundland and Labrador Ray Bowe Award of Merit recipent said it was three years ago when his son, then a university student, came to him with the idea of attending the Vancouver Olympics together as a family.

"He said, "Dad, I'll be working in two years time. We're going to go to the Olympics," says Mr. Hall, who credits his 29-year-old son with organizing the trip.

It was decided early on that the theme of the trip would be hockey.

"We had to go online, and there's auctions," he said of obtaining admittance to the games. "We got some tickets like that, and then we went on eBay and tried to get them from fellas who were selling them."

All together, the family saw 24 hockey games during the two-week period, including the gold medal game, which Mr. Hall said was technically not his favourite of the series.

"When Canada beat Russia 7 to 3, because everybody was nervous," he said of his top moment. "The Russians had a lot of fire power."

Along with attending the games, the family got to see some of hockey's greatest - Gretsky, Yager, Messier, Coffey, Carbonneau, Howe and Wickenheiser.

They even snapped a picture of American film actor Vince Vaughan out enjoying the gold medal game.

The Olympic city

Taking full advantage of Olympic opportunities, the family waited in line for three hours at the Canadian mint, just to catch a glimpse of the medals.

They stopped to photograph the downtown Olympic cauldron and paid a visit to Atlantic Canada House on PEI day.

"It was wonderful," he said of the hospitality house set up to promote the country's Atlantic provinces.

Mr. Hall says the Olympics were definitely the trip of a lifetime.

"You just can't imagine," he said.

"I just tried to soak it all up. The sounds and the smells and everything you see."

reporter@thegeorgian.ca