Had a great trip with Dad and Shirley. We got home about 7:15 last night and had to do our homework for the Financial Peace University Class that we are in. Funny story there. Darla and I are both 100% in on this class and getting our finances in order so that I can retire at a relatively young age. We get to the class and listen to the lessons by Dave Ramsey and get all fired up. The last class was on Dumping Debt and the Debt Snowball and how to become debt free. We were so inspired, we came home and cut up all of our credit cards. Oops, we had a trip to Canada and I had to rent a car. The last time I rented, they wouldn't let you use a debit card to rent. I didn't realize the error of my ways until Friday and it was too late to get a replacement card. We went off to Bodega Bay and returned Friday night and pieced the card back together and taped it on a copy of the bill.
Luckily, when we got to Seattle, the rental car industry has recently changed and will not put a hold on your debit card as long as you show them a return flight reservation. I didn't have to go through the embarrassment of handing them a credit card that had been cut up. Live and learn.
It was a whirlwind weekend, with Darla and I leaving for Bodega Bay and the Links at Bodega Harbor on Thursday afternoon. We stayed in the small town of Valley Ford in an Inn built in 1869. It was all of 7 rooms with no televisions. The Inn was quaint and the rooms were surprisingly comfortable with newer decorations, beds and bathrooms in the hotel. They had a bar on the first floor that we availed ourselves of before heading in to Bodega bay and dinner at the Tides Restaurant. We met Neil and Lilly and Bob and Vicki at the Valley Ford Inn and had a great time getting caught up.
We took our truck on the ride over to the restaurant and it seems that Jennifer or Sam had spilled some sort of chocolate drink on the third row of seats and Neil sat in it and said nothing. On the ride back, Darla took the back seat and was appalled to find the spill. We got that cleaned up post haste when we got home. The third row of seats aren't used very often, obviously. we had a great meal and then headed back to the hotel.
Friday, we were up early and the guys all piled into our Explorer and we drove out to Bodega bay for breakfast. The restaurant at the golf links were only open on weekends, so we headed back over near the tides and found a little place called the Dog house and had breakfast before heading to the course. The Links at Bodega harbor is a tough course built along the shores of Dillon Beach and stretching up into the hills above. It is tight and narrow and rewards good shot making. Alternatively, it penalizes wayward shots. I managed a 43+42=85 on the par 70 layout. Bob shot 92 and Neil had 97. Ken Olmstead, who drove up from Sac that morning and met us at the course shot 39+42=81. He had an accident about 18 months ago with UPS and just got a settlement from them and is still suing the driver of the car that ran a red light and hit his truck. He has had lots of time to work on his game and it shows. We had a quick drink after golf, meeting back up with the ladies and Darla and I were off for home.
We were up at 3:30 (or Darla was) for our flight to Seattle. We used our air miles and had to fly through Phoenix, change planes and then on to Seattle. Our flight out of Sac was 6:00 AM and I was out as soon as my head hit the seat on the plane. I woke up on descent in Phoenix. Darla and I grabbed some breakfast and jumped on the next plane for Seattle arriving at 1:45 PM. It was a turbulent flight and the captain never did turn off the seat belt sign as we were rocking and rolling through the sky. When I got to Seattle, I nearly sprinted to the men's room. A stall opened up before the urinals as I danced in line and I dove in there. The guy before me had left his i Pad behind, but by the time I saw it I was beyond the point of no return (so to speak). I had hoped he'd realize it and be waiting by the stall, but no. I took the i pad and turned it into the US Airways Customer Service counter.
By the time we got our luggage and shuttled over for the rental car and got that all squared away, it was after 3. We drove through Seattle, stopped for a quick bite in Everett and were in Dad's driveway by 5:20 PM. The border patrol agent asked me why I didn't have a Canadian Passport and looked none too pleased when I told him I was a US Citizen. He told me, "You know, you can have both as you were born in Canada." Yep, I could pay for two passports or punch myself in the nose, too.
Dad and Shirley had set up a meal for the ages with Roast Turkey AND Roast Ham. I felt like the Prodigal Son in the Bible, but I'm sure I haven't squandered any inheritance. I told Dad to plan on spending his last dime right as he breathes his last breath. Randy, Darryl and I are all in good places in our life and don't need any inheritance to live well. Both Cam and Sherry and their whole families came over to have dinner with us. I was honored, although if they had been invited after dinner, we likely wouldn't have seen any of the boys. They are all great kids and we had a ball with everyone.
Dad was still in his boot and hobbling around in his short pants like one of the boys in Oliver. He had a doctor's appointment on Monday and I'll get to that.
Sunday, we woke to a huge breakfast made by Shirley with eggs and ham, a huge cinnamon bread concoction called Crazy Bread, toast and fruit. We over ate the entire weekend, but didn't complain until we both got on the scale when we returned. They have rye and ginger each afternoon with appetizers and wine with each dinner and it all caught up to us rather quickly. I really enjoyed Sunday watching the NFL games with Dad. He doesn't really have an interest in the NFL, but his cable provider has nearly every NFL game on you could wish to watch. We watched the Baltimore- Carolina game followed by the Philadelphia-SF game. We had dinner (leftover turkey and loved every bite) and then sat down to watch the Saints take on Dallas on Sunday night. I thoroughly enjoyed the game, but especially watching it with Dad. That was FUN.
Monday, we were up, had another too big breakfast and took Dad over to his doctor's appointment in Surrey. He had another x-ray and was in with the doctor for awhile. Dad was hoping to get out of the boot and brought his tennis shoe in a plastic bag. When they came out of the doctor's office he was carrying his boot and kind of limping along. After little use of his foot for six months, he was a little tentative and it took some walking to get him comfortable on his feet. He has to wear the boot off and on and do some walking to strengthen his foot and ankle before they leave on their cruise in two weeks.
We headed home, relaxed, had more appetizers and drinks (I ate more cheese this weekend than I have in two months), and then got ready for a trip in to town and dinner at the Keg restaurant. Both Darla and I and Dad and Shirley split an entrée, but we had soup and salad and tons of bread. No cheese, though. We complemented the meal with a nice bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon and then Dad out arm wrestled me for the bill. He said I can pay when he comes to California. The dinner was great and we got some nice pictures. I uploaded them to the computer last night, but I can't find them today. I will add them later.
We were up at 6:00 AM on Tuesday, had a quick meal with Dad and Shirley and were on the road with a bag of almonds to keeps us company at the long wait at the border. It turns out there was NO WAIT at the truck border and we pulled right up to an empty booth and were out of there in minutes. The traffic was light until we hit Everett and then it picked up. We were able to use the HOV lanes and cruised into Seattle, where we switched to the Express Lanes. All went well, until I stayed in the HOV lane and was forced to exit on 5th Avenue in Seattle. I realized it too late to move over, but we were able to make a quick left and then a right and were back in business.
We were at the rental car lot by 9:00 and at the airport by 9:30 for our 11:20 flight to Phoenix. We had an early lunch of a pepperoni Stromboli and then caught our plane. The flight was fast and I slept again as Darla talked and made friends with her seatmate who complained about her marital problems to Darla. Darla told me this later as I mercifully slept thru it, but perhaps her eagerness to spill her marital problems to a complete stranger might have some effect on the quality of her marriage? We grabbed an early dinner in Phoenix and relaxed at the large table and rested, finally ordering a cheesecake s=dessert as we had been sitting for an hour after our meal was complete.
It is a small world and I was reminded of that by the sight of Theresa from my office in the airport. She was returning from a company seminar that I sent her on and was on the same flight as us heading home. She couldn't quite wrap her head around what we were doing in Phoenix if we had flown out of Seattle, but, hey, free is free.
It was a whirlwind weekend, but I am so glad we made the trip. Dad is healthy and happy and he and Shirley make the perfect couple. She is pretty good at making sure he eats well and toes the line from a health standpoint and that is all good. I hope you all had a good week as well and we will meet again at the Blog in a week's time. Ciao.
No comments:
Post a Comment