The Aftermath

Ok, so I just added several blog entries about my dad and stepmom's visit to see me in San Diego. But they are listed in reverse order, so you have to scroll down a few entries and read up. If you haven't read them already, do so now.

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Are you done? Good. So the results were: 1) I had a great time while the folks were here, and really enjoyed seeing them and most of San Diego county; and 2) I got dreadfully sick with an evil virus the day after they left. I wasn't feeling too good before they arrived, but Thursday night I had a fever, and I left work early on Friday. I spent all of Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday on the couch watching daytime TV. I didn't think I could get sick of that, but did I ever. The quality of daytime programming has really gone downhill - too much Tyra, not enough CHiPs. But to be fair, can there ever be enough 1970's Eric Estrada in highway patrol uniform garb? Maybe so. But I digress. I'm feeling better today, but decided to stay home to recoup a little more and get some real rest (and blog). Pictured below are my new best friends from the past few days:

Oh, and if you're sick and haven't tried them - Puffs Plus with Vicks is the best. Kleenex with lotion and menthol scent? Woo hoo!!!

Three and a half days of sick leave: 14 weeks of work to make up for it (for real, since I earn four hours of sick leave for every two weeks worked).
Getting reimbursed for my doctor's visit copay and all the medicine I bought with my Flexible Spending Account: Priceless (actually, it sums to $50.50, but who's counting?).

Dad and Mom's Visit to San Diego, Days 4-5

Like I said previously, my dad and stepmom timed their trip to San Diego perfectly. Just after the rainy season and before the heat, that is! It's a perfect time to head out to the desert, so that's what we did. We even took Teddy Bear, who loves the desert, but who does not like riding in cars because it makes him nervous (where are we going? the vet? the groomer? oh no...whine whine whine...). We made a big loop going north and east on 76 out to Anza Borrego Desert State Park, where we toured the visitor's center and had lunch at Borrego Springs' only Western BBQ / Chinese restaurant. I had sesame chicken, and the folks had burgers (I think). After that, we drove out to see the wildflowers, which were spectacular, north of town and then south in Little Surprise Canyon. Click HERE to see all of my desert pictures. We had to go back to town to pick up some guide books that I put down on a bench and forgot, but I was lucky that they were still there when I remembered about them. Either the people in Borrego Springs are nice honest people, or they have no interest in San Diego native plants and southwestern dragonflies. I think it's probably the former. Anyway, we drove back through Julian on 78, stopping by the Julian Apple Pie Company for warm apple pie and ice cream. Yum!

To make things easy, I ordered a pizza for dinner, and we spent the evening chowing our pie and watching Aliens in a pooped-out daze. The next day, I had to take the parents to the airport, but we drove to Old Town San Diego (near the Presidio) for brunch at a really nice little Mexican place, El Fandango. I ordered the huevos rancheros, but I think Dad won with the chorizo. Fresh tortillas! Home-made salsa! Champagne! Dad asked for mimosas, but I don't think the waiter understood, so he brought us a separate glass of fresh-squeezed oj, which mostly ended up spilled all over the table. Honestly, I can't take these guys anywhere!

But really, I had a very good time and was so happy that Dad and Mom came to visit me. It was nice to spend one-on-one time with them, and I hope that we got to know each other a little more. I think they enjoyed their visit too, and returning home to flooding in St. Louis probably was not too fun, compared to the warm sunshine of SoCal. Man, I really am getting spoiled here, I guess.

Dad and Mom's Visit to San Diego, Day 3

Now I LOVE the Wild Animal Park, located right here in Escondido. I even worked there for a summer as a guide. But I don't think that I've ever seen so much of the park at one time as I did on this day. We went everywhere! The weather was great, and I had free admission tickets for everyone. It was the perfect time of year to go, too, because flowers were blooming and the butterflies and orchids exhibit, which shows only a few weeks of the year, was on display. We walked around Mombasa Lagoon, checked out the gorillas (which kind of freak me out - I'm not a big fan of primates), then saw the butterfly exhibit in the Hidden Jungle. Butterflies were everywhere! We were swarmed by rainbow lorikeets when we fed them nectar, and I got some really great pictures. We then hoofed it over to Lion Camp, where I got to see my old lion friends. It's the best exhibit in the park, I think. That day, both moms (Mina and Oshana) and Dad (Izu), and all seven cubs were out. They were initially just snoozing (trying to make sure they fulfilled that 20 hours of sleep per day quota), but as we were waiting in line for the safari tram, Mina caught a duck that had decided to fly into the lion's enclosure. So, I took about fifty pictures of the lions running around with the duck - it was really fun to watch (although I'm sure the duck didn't enjoy it).

After the safari tram thing, we ate lunch and walked back up through the Heart of Africa, then walked out to the tiger and elephant exhibits. We made it up to Condor Ridge, which shows some of North America's most interesting critters (although the burrowing owls were no longer on display - boo hoo), and even walked through the Baja botanical garden and Bonsai house. By then we were pretty beat! But we managed to drag ourselves over to the Petting Kraal and through the gift shop. When we got home, Dad grilled up some salmon on the miniature BBQ that they bought for me on Saturday - it was delicious. Mmmmmm.

Click HERE to see all the pictures from the Wild Animal Park, including the lions having fun with the duck (which won the 2008 waterfowl division Darwin Award).

Dad and Mom's Visit to San Diego, Days 1-2

Wow - Mom and Dad came to visit me from St. Louis and we did SO MUCH that I have to break my blogging up into three parts! Plus, I'm staying home sick, so I have plenty of time to do so, but more about that later.

I picked up the folks on Saturday (March 15) and we had lunch at one of the best places to eat in Escondido, the French Bakery, downtown. It was tasty! After that, we went back to my apartment and just chatted for a while, which also included Teddy Bear barking his head off for about a half hour. They stayed at the Best Western, just down the road from where I live, and I was relieved to see that it was relatively nice (not charging by the hour was among my first criteria for selecting a hotel in the area, which ruled out a lot of places). Amazingly, we did not take any pictures this day!

Which brings me to day 2. Let the whirlwind begin...

We had plans to go to my cousin Beth's (and her husband OB's) house for lunch in Oceanside, so we decided to first drive out to Encinitas. We walked down to Swami's beach memorial (just ask me about Finnish sisu), toured the Self Realization Fellowship's Meditation Garden, and tried to find a flower shop that was open. During our ride over to Oceanside, my odometer passed the 150,000 mile mark! Woo hoo!!! Beth and OB served up some delicious fish tacos (a California favorite), and from there we went to Sea World. Mom and Dad got free tickets from a friend who works at Anheiser Busch, so that saved us a TON of money. We saw the Shamu show, checked out the bat rays, the penguin exhibit, and the Arctic Exploration exhibit, which is my favorite part of the park. Below are a few pictures, but click HERE to go to my picasa web album to see them all.