Olympic Village

This is a me being silly in front of the Olympic ski jumps.  The teams actually practice here, even through the summer. They put some sort of plastic stuff on the jump that allows the skis to glide.  It is unbelievably high. This is a view from a deck that is below the jump, the grass that you see to the left of me is where they land.

This is a view of that jump from the top. We took a ski lift to the level in the picture above then rode an elevator approximately 26 floors to the top of the jump.  These guys are crazy to do this. What you see is the platform they slide down on to jump off the end, then there's the slope they land on that's really long. At the bottom is a set a bleachers for spectators. To the left is a building, that is pretty large, but doesn't look it from this view.  In that building are bathrooms and food service.

This is a view of the landscape surrounding this jump, taken from the top.  It was incredible. You can see the colors are changing, they say it isn't at peak yet. There are some beautiful rustic homes off in the distance in the clearing.

Another pic from the top of the jump.

That is smoke from a trash pile or something burning, it is not coming out of the tree. Aren't the colors beautiful.  I just love it up here.

I did go to the top of that ski jump in that elevator that was windows on one side, I even walked out to the area where they actually launch their crazy bodies from.  I'm trying hard to conquer my fears. I'm so glad I did this because it was breathtaking. I even calmly rode the ski lift. That was actually quite relaxing. When we left here we took a scenic train ride.  It was cooler today than has been and rained a little while we were out.  Right now, after dinner, it's raining fairly hard.  I'm tired but gotta watch the presidential debates tonight.  God help our country make the right decision.

Hope you're all doing well, we miss you but won't come home for a while, since we're up in this area so far, we might as well see all we can.  Fuel costs probably won't come down that much to make the trip worth cutting short and returning again another year.

Love you all!

mk