We started planning for the Olympics almost a year ago. We had just moved to San Diego and Salt Lake City was only an hour's flight time from us. We decided it was an opportunity that we couldn't miss.

Joey and Kris Lawson Carabetta

I did most of the planning by using the Official Olympic web site. Getting a flight to SLC was no problem. Buying tickets turned out to be quite easy. Finding a place to stay near the actual Olympics was another story. By March of 2001, most of the housing in SLC was already gone! We could have stayed in a hotel in Ogden or Provo but both were almost an hour away from SLC. In the end, we rented a room from a couple in downtown SLC. It was costly but well worth it. We were only 10 minutes from downtown, 15 from the highways, and 20 from the airport. As a bonus, the house was an historical landmark dating from the turn of the century (1900, not 2000) and was beautifully decorated. Our hosts were wonderful as well. They packed us a box lunch everyday and provided free snacks whenever we were at home. We could not have asked for a lovelier visit.

The events themselves went beyond expectation. We had rented a car and upon arrival quickly drove to Snow basin for Men's Combined Downhill. We missed the downhill but arrived in time for the slalom. Within a few minutes, we were swept up in the enthusiasm of the crowd cheering and yelling for each competitor. Soon we were experts on downhill slalom. Not bad for a couple of people whose snow experiences were limited to futile attempts to slide down the hill behind the Berea cafeteria! We were privileged to see Bode Miller go from 15th place to 2nd to capture the silver in the Men's Combined.

Our next event was Men's Ski Jumping. We arrived at Utah Olympic Park only to find out that the event was postponed. Like any true Berean, we did the next best thing-we went to Wal-Mart! Turns out that the Wal-Mart in Park City had the widest selection of souvenirs outside the Olympic Park in SLC.

Having been thwarted at the Ski Jump, we sold our tickets and went to Curling in Ogden. It was women's night at the Ice Sheet and the stones were flying fast and furious. Armed with a rules sheet and some hand warmers, we cheered on the USA against Switzerland. We also cheered on Norway because we have friends from the country. Unfortunately, the Norwegians were facing the tough Swedish curling team and lost in seven matches. The USA vs. Switzerland game went down to the last stone in the last match. With a mighty push, the Swiss knocked the USA out of the target and won the game. We went home sadder but wiser and determined to become curlers before the Torino Olympics. It was just the sport for us. No skates. No special clothes. And I've become an expert at sweeping in the past few years!

On Friday, we went to see the Two-Man Luge. Or, rather, attempted to see A two-man luge. The sleds went by so fast that the colours seemed to blur as they passed. We drove 30 minutes, waited in line 30 minutes for security, took a 20 minute bus ride, and then climbed uphill for almost an hour to see two men whizz by so quickly that we couldn't see them. What a thrill.

Saturday was the hottest ticket in town, Men's and Women's Ski Aerials. We had thought that the trip uphill to Luge had been rough for two out-of-shape Southerners but we hadn't seen anything until we met the behemoth of the Ski Aerials. It was literally a mile straight up in the snow just to reach the venue. Once there, we collapsed and refused to move. I decided that someone could dig up my bones in a few years because I WAS NOT MOVING EVER AGAIN. Needless to say, it was well worth the trip. We saw a world record broken and perhaps a few bones. Everyone seemed to do well in practice, but when it counted, people were falling down all over the place. A Chinese athlete landed well but then his feet started spreading apart. He had a choice of doing a split that both Prince and James Brown would be proud of or going down on his face. He went down. Hard. It reminded us of the guy on Wide World of Sports who wipes out on the ski jump. And, yes, they played it over and over again.

Saturday night we toured SLC with Paul "Zil" White, '89, who was a classmate at Berea. He is currently a professor of psychology at University of Utah, or UOU as it's known locally. We got to see the Olympic Rings on the mountains up close and also got a magnificent view of the city. He also took us by the Olympic torch, which his office happens to overlook.

Sunday saw us facing the most daunting challenge of all: security at the airport! The line to check baggage was an hour long for frequent travelers with medallion status and about 2 hours for regular travelers. Luckily, we got there three hours before our flight and made it through in the nick of time. There was just enough time to hit the last souvenir shops before we headed back to the sunshine of San Diego. The following week everyone asked us if all the planning, money, and travel had been worth it. Our only answer is that we are already planning our trip to Torino, Italy in 2006!