every last detail . . .

about our big TODAY SHOW adventure. The plan was to meet at Mary Lou's condo at Birch Bay at 2:30 . . . that meant leaving Sumas at 1:45 . . . which meant no point in me going to bed. I was too excited to sleep anyway. With my signs, a few Pepsi's and some crackers for the road I made it to Mary Lou's and Sheila picked us all up (the group was Mary Lou and Sheila and Mary Lou's 2 high school classmates). We went across the Peace Arch border . . . not a single car in sight and actually made it into Vancouver before our MapQuest directions gave us fits. Thanks to a nice taxi driver who let us follow him part of the way and a middle of the night tour through Stanley Park, we made it to the Lion's Gate Bridge and were on our way up to Grouse Mountain.

After forgetting our signs in the car and paying $45 for the gondola ride up the mountain (it was pitch black on our way up . . . but such a clear morning that we had breathtaking views of the Olympic flame on the way back down) we were there. (We heard that the first 100 people there got the gondola ride free . . . when we bought our tickets, the gal said all of those tickets were gone by 3:30 a.m. The gondola driver said there were about 400 people up on the mountain.)
We all kind of scattered once we could see all the action happening and somehow, my eye caught this guy off to the side . . . since he won gold the night before I was HOPING he would be there . . . little did I know I would be standing 2 feet away from him.

Seriously . . . I did not zoom in for these pictures . . . I was standing that close to him. He had already been interviewed for the Today Show by Meredith and then some other news outlets were interviewing him while I took these pictures. I was so excited, but then got worried that I was missing out on the Today Show peeps . . . forgetting that we were only 5 minutes into our adventure and still had 2 1/2 hours left of them taping the show.
I joined the crowds by the fire pit and started jockeying for the prime spot to not only see Matt, Meredith, Al and Anne . . . but to also be on TV . . . a game that would continue all morning long. Following Mary Lou's lead, we somehow got right beside Meredith while she was interviewing Scott Hamilton about men's figure skating from the night before . . . Mary Lou made it on TV during this segment and I think my shoulder did too.
After they got done filming that segment, Mary Lou said to Meredith, "Hey Meredith, will you take a picture with my niece?" So gracious, Meredith said, "Sure honey", turned around, hugged me and KISSED ME ON THE CHEEK. You know I'm about dying right then.
Back to the fire pit for the next segment and Mary Lou was at it again . . . "Hey Matt, can I take a picture of you with my niece? She has one with you in New York too!" Matt joked, "Oh, well then no way . . . one picture is all she gets" and thus . . . the MATT and AMANDA:Grouse Mountain picture is born. Do you see his red mittened hand around me?
Since all this had already happened in the first hour, I couldn't imagine it getting any better . . . we took a little break and went inside and scoped out the ski shop and had something to eat.

Back outside, still jockeying for the best tv spot . . . it was fascinating to hear them talk in between segments while they were off air about the Tiger Woods statement that would be happening that morning, joking back and forth with each other, what they were going to do over the weekend (Meredith was renting a sea plane and going to Victoria, Matt was going to the US/Canada hockey game). After they were done with their scripts . . . they tossed them in the fire. Mary Lou got interviewed by a new station from Indiana . . . they were looking for crazy TODAY show fans . . . you found them!I did end up getting on TV at about the 9:30 mark . . . it was a shot similar to this, except Mary Lou is standing in between, directly behind Matt and Al and Sheila and I are standing up above. I was waving like a FOOL with my red mittens on. Lester Holt came out near the end . . . he is the host of weekend TODAY, so he was plugging what they would be talking about on Saturday. Just about as we were ready to leave . . . I was standing outside by myself, taking everything in one last time and all of a sudden . . . there was Anne. She was just finishing taking a picture with a couple of ladies, so I got brave and asked for one too . . . they were asking her what time she had to get up each morning and she said about 1:00 a.m. Then she looked at me and asked me what time I had gotten up . . . after I answered that I hadn't gone to bed, she said, "Oh my goodness sweetie, you're pregnant and you haven't slept all night . . . you make sure to drive home carefully, and thank you so much for coming to see us all." Seriously . . . I know they get paid big bucks, but you can't buy that kind of sincerity and genuine appreciation for fans. A shot of the fire pit area . . .

The biggest difference from visiting the TODAY show in New York versus Grouse Mountain was personal space . . . there was NONE. None of the crew ever asked anyone to back up or give the hosts room, and neither did Matt, Meredith, Al or Anne. They were extremely gracious, kind, funny and genuine.

We were back on the road for home a little after 7:00 and I picked up Grace at about 10:30 . . . it was a fast and furious morning.

Family moments aside, this was one of the most EXCITING days of my entire life . . . I am so glad I got to come along on this crazy adventure.