Dad goes home...

After staying here with us for nine days, my Dad left today to go back home. It was quite a bittersweet moment. This is the first time that I have really had time with him. At one point in the process of thanking me for the great time that he had, "something that I am just not able to do" he said, his eyes did start to water up. Tears of joy. It makes me feel good that I was able to show him something that he truly enjoyed.

At the beginning, we took a trip to Reno. Which in a prior blog, I could have just skipped the trip entirely, but he enjoyed seeing my Grandmother.
Last Wednesday, 12th was his 54th Birthday and what better way to celebrate but at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The see otters were his favorite, he watched in amazement how they interacted with each other and those humans that were in awe looking through the glass. The jellyfish he did not understand how none of them became tangled in other jellies tentacles. So long and not one entanglement. Friday we went to The Tech museum and watched "The Human Body" on the IMAX. If you have not had the priveledge of watching an IMAX film at The Tech, it is a awesome experience. Again my Dad was in awe on the size of the screen, and because the theater was pretty much empty we were able to get the best seats. The size of the film and the sound he just could not believe it. While we were there, we did wander through the museum itself, for me, been there done that. But for my Dad, again he enjoyed it.
Saturday, we went to Bark in the Park, a festival for dogs. Ok in reality it is for the pet owners to buy buy buy more stuff to spoil their pets. We had lunch at Tlaquepaque Taqueria, our favorite mexican resturaunt, where Dad gulped down his super chavala before Alx and I were even half done with ours, his words "now I like that" lol lol. Sunday we headed up to the city, parked at Crissy Field and walked down to the Golden Gate Bridge, a great walk on a gorgeous afternoon. Actually went inside the old fort that sits underneath the bridge, that was pretty cool. Next time you are in the city, take the time to enjoy what is in our back yard and walk down to the bridge and truly check it out. Continued to the do the rest of the tourist spots in the city and headed home and made homemade pizza on the grill (thank you Dan). In his visit, there were just things that he did not understand, and as I think now, why would he? He lives in a very small town in Texas, the closest real city is Dallas and that is 2 1/2 hrs away. We did not go to Dallas as we were growing up, so there I things that I had never seen before until now.

I pretty much cooked dinner everynight that my Dad was hear, and each time became more impressed by how and what I cooked. He even took a subscription card to one of my recipe magazines to try at home. The final night, Dad said I was almost as good than my late Mother. That is a huge compliment as nobody cooks better than my Mom.

On Sunday my sister, Kara, called and I had told Dad joking that I was retired. My Dad told Kara that Alx goes to work every morning, and me I am retarted. He couldn't say retired and so it came out as retarded. This still makes me laugh.

Well, that was my Dad's visit in a nutshell, and as I write this I am actually going to mis him. Cheers to Dad.