[Hyack]

A polar bear is seen walking along the road as the Olympic Flame arrives in Churchill, Man.

[Hyack]

Gavin Ayalik runs the flame in Kugluktuk in the Northwest Territories

[Hyack]

A horse and carriage carry the Olympic torch in Grande Prairie.

[Hyack]

Aileen, 12, the daughter of Lac La Ronge indian band Chief Tammy Cook-Searson, sings O Canada in Cree at a blessing ceremony Saturday, in Northern Saskatchewan on Day 9 of the Olympic torch relay

[Hyack]

Day 13 of the Olympic Torch Relay through CFB/BFC Goose Bay

[Hyack]

Leading Seaman Valerie Boyer, a Naval Communicator, working with the Visits and Protocol Office in the Maritime Atlantic Headquarters, stands with the Olympic Flame and the Minister of National Defence and Minister for the Atlantic Gateway, the Honourable Peter MacKay, on a cool November morning in the courtyard of the Halifax Citadel National Historic Fort with members of the Olympic Torch Relay Team.

[Canadaka]

Here is a series of amazing photos of the torch relay so far, very cool
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/1 ... _to_v.html

[Hyack]

Protesters disrupt celebrations marking the arrival of the Olympic torch in Old Montreal on Thursday

[kitty]

i was at the mall today in Oakville. i heard that the torch relay was going through town today but i did not expect to come face to face with it.

Ann Mulvale, the former mayor of Oakville was a torch bearer and she came by the mall and hung out by the salvation army kettle greeting people and taking pictures. i took a picture and i even got to hold the torch that was sooooo cool.

[kitty]

i was at a party on the weekend and i told a friend about my Olympic torch experience and he got very animated as he told me about his own experience. Apparently the relay ran right past his house in Grimsby.

[Hyack]

Ontario woman says yes to love on torch run.

$1:

This is most likely the best day of Sara Bergami's life.

The Ontario woman started out her day by carrying the Olympic torch through Corunna, a small town just south of Sarnia. She appeared breathless with excitement in the last leg of her run as hundreds of proud Canadians cheered her on from the sides of the St. Clair Parkway.

But a special man in the audience would be the one to really take her breath away.

Her boyfriend Luca Bertacchi stepped out from the crowd and onto the road to embrace Bergami as she finished her leg of the race.

He whispered something in her ear as they embraced. Then in front of news cameras and cheering crowds, Bertacchi dropped down on one knee and asked for his girlfriend's hand in marriage.

[Hyack]

Canadian hockey icon Gordie Howe carries the Olympic torch through the streets of Windsor, Ont., on Wednesday

[kitty]

Shania Twain carries Olympic torch

[Alta_redneck]

Well the torch made it's way through town this morning, not bright but early, and found out I suck at taking action night time pictures. I wasn't concerned about anything but this one shot. I thought I had the right setting but obviously not. You can see the flame but no people, damn maybe they were all vampires.




I ended up 20 miles and an hour later down the QE 2 and finally got some day light and pictures.

These rigs lead the parade, about 5 minute ahead of the torch, getting people revved up.








I think this mini bus drops the runners off as they make their way down the route...



because this old fella and his wife appeared, seemingly out of no where. He was looking a little up tight.



As soon as other people noticed him, he was swarmed by parents dragging and pushing their kids in for a picture. Thats all it took to loosen him up a bit. He was ready to go after that.











The exchange of the flame.







As the next runner continues on, the previous runner's torch is turned off.



And that was my time with the Flame. They say it's a once in a life time thing, well thats twice for me. If I get a third chance, maybe I'll have it figured out by then on how to take night time pictures.

[Alta_redneck]

Olympic torch weaves through small town Alberta en route to Calgary

Weird, wacky and wonderful. That sums up the Olympic Torch Relay experience on Saturday, as it returned to southern Alberta for the first time since the Calgary 1988 Winter Olympics.

As the morning sun began to reveal itself behind the hazy Chinook clouds that have kept Alberta’s rolling foothills basking in above zero temperatures all week, the fire made its way into the tiny hamlet of Torrington, Alberta. Home to the World Famous Gopher Museum, a bizarre attraction featuring stuffed gophers in various period costumes, Torrington takes pride in its eccentricity.

The hamlet’s four hydrants, painted with gopher faces, have names like Homer GoFur and Auntie Mame GoFur; nearly every shop has a sign in its window bearing a gopher pun. And on Saturday, townsfolk like Betty Brisson — a.k.a. “Granny Gopher” — mingled among the farmers and Hutterites from the nearby Torrington Colony. “We only have about 200 people in the area, and there are double that today,” said Brisson, her face painted like a gopher. “We see a lot of gophers, but never this many people.” The residents can hardly believe their luck. “I don’t know how we lucked into this,” says farmer and volunteer firefighter Doug Fretz.

Jenson Kerr, one of three torch runners to jog down Torrington’s main street, couldn’t believe his luck. “When I was told Torrington, I thought it was a suburb in Calgary,” said the 22-year-old Calgarian who works at an Earls Restaurant and won an in-house torch relay competition by starting a recycling program at his workplace. “I didn’t realize that in a small place like this, you’re treated like a movie star.”

http://www.calgaryherald.com/entertainm ... story.html