Scenes from the Special Olympics

I'm spending this week in McCall supporting the Special Olympics World Winter Games, and this post tries to share part of that experience. First off, I'd say that if you have time, you will enjoy spectating at the games. I've only been at the McCall venue, 2009, so I can't report beyond that. But, man, folks are having fun in McCall. They have a fun announcer, they play stimulating music, and when something like "The Macarena" comes up, lots of folks start dancing.

It's not all that serious, like a big money sporting event might be. People wear funny hats, they dance, they swap pins, they hug the competitors, and they take pictures of everyone. It's hard to walk the length of the course (half a football field) without getting roped into 2 or 3 photo ops. It's a lot of fun.

I had one fella, from Indonesia, come up to me and say "Pin, pin, pin," I don't have any pins, so I had to gesture, shrugging, palms up,  sorry, no pins.

Anyway, speaking as a former skeptic, you ought to go, it's a ton of fun. I keep saying "fun." Sorry, but it's the best word to describe the experience. Here's some pix.

The Canadian contingent are a happy group. Check out the joker hats. Click to enlarge.



Here's a shot of the one version of the showshoes used by the competitors. The shoes vary; this is only one example.



The Bolivian contingent.  Who knew Bolivia had winter sports?



The start/finish line.





Connectivity ain't all that swell, so I'm not sure about future posts. I'll be there all week (try the veal! har!), and I'll try to post more.

And in the mean time, Speaker Denny continues to refuse to allow a local option tax bill that doesn't contain a constitutional amendment. Power mad jerk.