I love my job. Honestly, how many people can say that? One of the main reasons I love what I do is that every two years, as an event producer, I get to be in the midst of the world’s greatest sporting spectacle, The Olympic Games. Another bonus is being able to bring the family along so they, too, can experience, the magic of the Olympics as spectators.

These were my 9th Games and will definitely rank as one of my favorites. Vancouver and the Whistler/Blackcomb ski resort have always been on the bucket list of places we hoped to visit and neither disappointed.

First, the city of Vancouver is stunningly beautiful. If you have visited, you understand why its residents tolerate many months of rain for when the sun shines in Vancouver, there is no other city quite like it. Bordered by the coast mountain range and surrounded by water on three sides, it is best known for its majestic beauty and the opportunities afforded by its natural environment. Vancouver is one of those rare places where you could ski in the mountains, windsurf in the ocean and play a round of golf in the same day.

While these Games initially got off to a rocky start with weather challenges and the unbelievably tragic death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, the Vancouver organizing committee, athletes and fans truly rallied and these Olympics will, I believe, go down in the history books as one of the best.

Team USA consisted of an incredibly talented group of athletes which made for some very exciting competition: Lyndsey Vonn, Bode Miller, Shaun White, Apollo Ohno and, my personal favorite, Evan Lysacek, to name a few. However, nothing in Vancouver garnered more attention than, you guessed it - HOCKEY!!!!

You think Americans are sports fans? Think again. I have never witnessed anything quite like the Canadians’ enthusiasm for their hockey team. Whenever Team Canada had a game, the city was literally a sea of red and white with folks young and old sporting their hockey jerseys and waving the Canadian flag.

Bursting with pride, Canada Place (the hockey stadium) and every local bar was at maximum capacity with true hockey fanatics! When the Canadians scored a goal, you could hear a collective roar throughout the city. We watched each hockey game with anticipation, hoping and praying that the perfect Gold Medal match up would become a reality: Team USA vs. Team Canada.

It did and the Final was perhaps the most exciting hockey game played since the famed “Miracle on Ice” game during the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid. National pride aside, I was actually pleased with the outcome (Canada took the Gold). Although my husband disagrees with me on this one, I always like to see the host city win (and feared what would happen in the stadium and on the streets of Vancouver should Canada lose!).

A few Olympic highlights for the family included attending several Hockey games, watching Apollo Ohno (my daughter Emma’s personal favorite) compete in short track speed skating and witnessing both the men’s and ladies free skate figure skating competitions. We were thrilled to meet gold medalist Evan Lysacek during a private breakfast and were duly impressed by his true humility and candor.

He regaled us with a “behind the scenes” look into the so-called rivalry between him and Russian skater Yevegny Pleshenko (Evan says there is none suppose we’d have to ask the other guy!) their different training techniques.

How he prepares mentally and what was going through his head the night of his gold medal win. Apparently winning a medal didn’t factor into the equation for Evan, while skating his personal best and having fun, did. His joy was apparent the night of the free-skate competition and, I believe played a key factor in helping him secure the Gold. A gentleman, overall nice guy, and, now a top contender on this season’s Dancing With the Stars – you know who this family is rooting for!

For a family who loves to ski, topping the trip off with a phenomenal week at Whistler-Blackcomb ski resort was the icing on the cake. Most locals tend to stay away from Olympic alpine venues thinking that they won’t have access to ski.

The mountain where events are being held (not true – 95% of the resort remained open) and prohibitively high accommodations rates. Therefore, we literally felt like we had the Canadian Rockies all to ourselves. With spectacular vistas and over 4,700 acres of skiable terrain we were in heaven! The sun shone, the temps were warm, and we had a ball.