Vancouver's 2010VanFan's Photo Scavenger Hunt

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February 1st 2010

Published: February 2nd 2010

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Travelling Canucks

Amazing Race!

Racers: Travelling Canucks, Andrew & Cathy, Goldie & Elaine. Joyce & Stephanie are no where to be seen at Check-In Mat!

Great Times at 2010VanFan’s Photo Scavenger Hunt

Are you a fan of The Amazing Race, the best reality-competition show on TV since its debut in 2001? The Travelling Canucks are!

So, when we read that Andrea was hosting a photo scavenger hunt, you know the Travelling Canucks couldn't pass up the chance! Andrea is a fellow blogger who has been blogging daily about her Olympic experience and has recently earned well-deserved media coverage about her fabulous blog, 2010vanfan. Following her blogs and tweets is a fantastic way to keep up on the latest news about the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and Paralympics!

Our amazing race became a reality when we joined three other teams of two on a rainy, Saturday with 13 days to go on the Olympic Countdown Clock. Two of the four teams had pre-existing relationships: "Married Couple of 20 years, 50 Years Old and Out of Shape (aka The Travelling Canucks) " and Elaine and Goldie, the "Girlfriends". The other two teams forged friendships during the race: Kamloops Cathy and Andrew the Pin Trader, and Scottish Joyce, Whistler's Athlete's Village Volunteer, and her race partner, Stephanie from Vancouver.

Tricky Clues and Riddles to Solve

Before

Elaine & Goldie on Our Tail at YVR

Time to shake them at the YVR Observation Deck, Domestic Departures Terminal! See domed model where you can find information on YVR? 1st Photo Challenge.

the race, Andrea laid out the ground rules:
• Racers were not allowed to look at the clues before the race.
• Racers had to solve the clues and take a photo of the place or thing.
• Racers could take Translink or other Vancouver 2010 transportation.
• Racers should never be more than a 15-minute walk from a Canada Line Station.
• First team back with photos of all the correct solutions to the riddles would be the winners!
• Estimated race time: 2.5 to 3 hours.
• Helpline was available!

Unlike The Amazing Race, there were neither route markers nor clue envelopes and teams received no money at the beginning of the race. In fact, teams brought their own Translink Day Passes at $9 each. No money was required for food, attractions, or admissions and no route maps, detours, roadblocks, yields, switchbacks, fast-forwards, u-turns, or intersections were planned for this game! The team that arrived first would be awarded prizes and bragging rights!

All the clues were given to us at the beginning of the race so we could take our photos in any order we chose. Here are the eight riddles/clues to decipher in order to win the photo challenge! Can you

Vancouver City Hall

Olympic and Paralympic Flags have been flying high at Vancouver City Hall, recently illuminated by the German artist's installation called Ice Lights. 2nd Photo Challenge.

solve the riddles?
1. Your ETA is 24 minutes. Find the place where you can see and learn about EYVRYTHING under a glass dome.
2. Where the Rings and Agitos fly, Look for Ice Light in the sky.
3. At the west end of our recent arrival from Brussels, look for a rainbow where children can play and shop.
4. While flags normally flap in the air, these are hard as rock, take photos of four at least, as you take a Walk.
5. On the banks of north False Creek Happiness has grown, many tents you may also find but photograph the cabin that is lone.
6. Far beneath where soon we’ll fly, through the bright Vancouver sky, take a photo of the whale that cleans the ice with its tail.
7. Bringing us ever closer, photograph both sides with a poser, on one we’re close not two weeks away on the other we have to wait another 28 days.
8. The whole world on a wall, come here last of all. If perchance you’ve found a pin, don’t forget to bring it in, if you stick it on Timbuktu, there may be a new pin for you.

A Rainbow in the Sky!

Unfortunately, cloudy skies, with no sun in sight! No matter, the Travelling Canucks have their Gortex shields on! See the Rainbow? 3rd Photo Challenge.

If you can't solve the clues, then read on for the solutions!

Our Route
• Around 11:30pm, we ran from the starting point at the Olympic Superstore at the Bay Downtown to the Canada Line's Vancouver City Centre Station to travel to YVR after reading the clues on the run. We jumped on the Waterfront-Brighouse Train leaving Elaine and Goldie on the platform waiting for the Waterfront-YVR Train expected to arrive 10 minutes later. This gave us an 8-minute head start, time to review the tricky clues and decipher the riddles in comfortable, dry seats! We got off at the Marine Drive Station so we could sneak back onto the YVR Train without the other team noticing! After running into Elaine and Goldie at the first photo stop, the glass-domed YVR model located on the Observation Deck Area in YVR's Domestic Departures Terminal, we rushed back to the YVR Station to hop back on the Waterfront Train in the hopes of beating them to the next stop!
• We stopped at Broadway-City Hall Station and climbed the hill to take a photo of the Olympic and Paralympic Flags and Ice Light illuminating Vancouver City Hall. After returning to the Broadway City

Model Laneway Home

Located at David Lam Park, Yaletown Livecity Celebration site. Cabin, not! 4th Photo Challenge.

Hall Station, we boarded the train for one stop.
• From the Olympic Village Station, we walked to the Bombardier Streetcar on the Olympic Line to get to the Kids Market on Granville Island. We ran to the Kid's Market to photograph the Rainbow Sign and ran back to the Olympic Line Station against the stream of streetcar riders we had left in the dust to board the streetcar again!
• After we hopped back on Canada Line at Olympic Village Station, we hopped off at the Yaletown Roundhouse Station. We walked to David Lam Park to photograph the Laneway House at the LiveCity Celebration Site in Yaletown on the corner of Homer and Pacific Street.
• On our way back to the Yaletown Roundhouse Station, we walked the sidewalks on Hamilton Street where colourful flags from around the world are everywhere. FlagWalk is a 3.8 km route that is marked by 80 different flags on sidewalks that link South Granville and Yaletown. We photographed as many flags that we could find!
• We travelled from Yaletown Roundhouse to Vancouver City Centre and ran to the GE Ice Plaza at Robson Square to photograph the cute Zamboni painted like an Orca. Too bad,

Maple Leaf Forever

with glowing hearts.....we walked on Yaletown's Flag Walk. 3 more flags to go! 5th Photo Challenge.

it wasn’t cleaning the ice with its tail.
• We stopped by the Olympic and Paralympic Clocks at the Vancouver Art Gallery to photograph the family's poser before running across the street to the Coca Cola Pin Wall at the Coca Cola Pin-Trading Centre at the Olympic Superstore!
• We photographed the Pin Wall and gave a pin to get a pin!

Arriving at the Check-In Mat, we noticed another team sitting with Andrea in the Happiness Cafe. Needless to say, we weren't that happy! Cathy and Andrew had made it back to the final pit stop, I mean pin stop first, about two minutes ahead of us. Our hearts sank as we had hoped to arrive first. Lucky for us, they had a different take on the clues! Unlike the contenders, they took a ride from strangers who thought they could help and a water taxi. Fortunately, they never made it to YVR, or they might have tried to board a plane, take a taxi into town, or rent a car.

The Travelling Canucks were definitely the happiest team in the Happiness Cafe when we realized we were the Gold Medalists having correctly solved all the riddles and took

Cute Zamboni!

6th Photo Challenge at Robson Square's GE Ice Plaza.

the correct photographs. We were thrilled winning the 1st place prizes: a large COLD-FX Vancouver 2010 men’s fleece, a large COLD-FX Vancouver 2010 t-shirt, 2 COLD-FX Sliding Goalie pins, and a 7.5″ Miga plushie donated by Northern Gifts.

We congratulate Elaine and Goldie (Silver Medalists), Joyce and Stephanie (Bronze Medalists), and Cathy and Andrew who were Runner-ups.

Highlights and Lowlights
Although dynamics of the relationships under the stress of competition is a focus of the show, there were fortunately no cameras following the Travelling Canucks to document our squabbles along the way. Like many teams that we have watched since 2001, we had our ups and downs during our race.
• Mama Canuck thought she lost the clues and her Transit Day Pass multiple times. Too many times to count!! 50 year old brain syndrome?
• Asking directions and information from YVR volunteers to no avail.
• Spotting Elaine and Goldie at the YVR Observation Deck. We decided to take a photo of them and asked them to take a photo of us to slow them down! After all, they were younger and fitter so there was no way we could out run them!
• Mama Canuck being told by a volunteer

Paralympic Clock

41 days to go until the start of the Paralympic Winter Games! 7th Photo Challenge.

that she should wait for people to get off the Canada Line. Mama was very eager to board the train at YVR!
• Canada Line was announcing the correct stations, but the digital displays of the next station on the Train were incorrect. Confusing... so, we had to check the signage at stations to make sure we got off at the correct station.
• Mama Canuck and Papa Canuck squabbled at the Broadway-City Hall Station when Papa Canuck didn’t want to run around City Hall! Mama thought we should photograph the non-existent sign describing the light installation titled: Ice Light.
• The Bombardier Streetcar had a service interruption resulting in a 20-minute delay. Elaine and Goldie catch up and sneak into line!
• Mama Canuck asked the attendants if the streetcar was going to arrive soon - they suggested taking the bus. Mama Canuck feared the race could tighten.
• Visitors from Seattle and Vancouver on the Bombardier Streetcar share our enthusiasm for the hunt and upcoming Vancouver 2010 events. Mama Canuck was so busy talking, she couldn’t remember getting the list of clues back. She searched the streetcar and passengers heading to the Canada Line Station, but couldn’t find them. Thinking we lost our

Pin Trading Centre - Final Pit Stop

Pin Stop - Timbuktu Here We Come! 8th Photo Challenge.

clues, we were thankful we had photographed the clue sheet. Mama Canuck had thought Papa Canuck had taken an extra copy of the clue sheet from Andrea, but didn’t. Fortunately, Mama Canuck had stored the clues in her backpack!
• Mama Canuck was almost grazed by a SUV when she accidently slipped off a curb leaving Granville Island as we walked upstream against the crowd walking down from the streetcar station.
• Papa Canuck nearly boarded a Canada Line train going in the wrong direction.
• Mama Canuck buds in at a line-up at the countdown clock to get a photo rather than waiting our turn since we saw Cathy and Andrew taking photos earlier.
• Not stopping to get anything to eat or drink even though we were starving and thirsty.

After waiting almost one hour for the fourth team to arrive, we headed to Doolin's Pub, location of the After Race Party. It was at Doolin’s that we enjoyed pub grub and ale while sharing our stories. Andrea awarded the edible medals and we traded pins. We had an amazing time after an amazing race! Check out Andrea's posts, including photos of our journeys, on her blog, 2010vanfanScavengerHuntStories.

Mama Canuck,

Gold Medalists!

Thank you Andrea! We had an amazing time!

the fiercest of competitors, was so determined to do her best that she ran more than she has for 20 years during the 2010VanFan Photo Scavenger Hunt. Not only was she huffing and puffing after the race, but she also was stiff the next day! Nothing was going to stop her from attending the Pacific Pin Club's Pin Trading Event on Sunday, January 31st in Burnaby, though!

Additional photos below

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