GDB Homecoming!

Okay, so get ready. This'll be long, and I'm sorry if some of it ends up out of order.
I'll try to see what I remember from the busy, exciting and amazingly awesome weekend!
Okay well first, Pasta and I got an Access ride to the airport. Not too eventful
and we got there super early, but that's much better than late. But, what's funny
is that when I checked in, the guy took me through security fine and then was all
in a hurry. I asked him why and he said they were in the final boarding. I knew
this couldn't be right since it was about two hours before I'd need to board, and
it didn't seem like he believed me that I wasn't on this flight to SFO. He was like,
well, you came up in this flight when I put your name in, and I told him I booked
the later one. So, out of security we went and back to the computer. And, wouldn't
you know, I was right and was on the later flight. I guess there was somebody else
named Megan Miller on the earlier flight, but she was flying with someone. Too funny.
But the bummer was I had to do security twice. Oh well. After the first time, I knew
to take the nylabone out of my suitcase since they had had to run my bag through
twice before and look inside since they didn't know what the heck it was! But other
than that, it was good. Plus, the TSA agent called me beautiful, which was flattering
but highly unexpected, especially from TSA.
Okay, so we got on the plane, Pasta fell asleep and I actually dozed for the first
15 minutes or so, too. I always fall asleep on the plane. The flight was only an
hour, so then I waited in the airport to meet up with Sarah and Rafferty from the
list. Once their flight got in, we went in search for the Airporter and ended up
finally finding it and taking it to the airport. There was a ton of traffic so we
probably arrived and got checked in around 9:00.
Then, we walked over to Round Table Pizza near the hotel and ate. Let me just brag
on Sarah's Rafferty, too. He is an amazing dog, and my bet is he'll make an amazing
guide for somebody. He is super sweet, very calm, focused and happy. He's very tall
and very cute, and again, he's really sweet. Pasta and he were fast friends, and
we got lots of cute pictures of them together.
So, Saturday we had breakfast. It started around 7:30 and probably went for almost
two hours. The volunteers were all really nice. There was coffee, tea, water and
I think juice. There were scrambled eggs, sausage, potatoes, fresh, yummy, juicy
fruit, yogurt and I don't remember what else. A very good breakfast. Then, the panel
discussions started in another room. The first had several listers as well as a breeder
keeper and gosh, I don't remember who else. It talked about breeding, oh yeah, it
was the breeding director lady that I don't remember her name, puppy raising and
the changes in GDB over the years. It was nice hearing Janine speak about her experiences
raising puppies and Diane's experiences over the years. The second panel had several
people from San Francisco's Vicious and Dangerous Dog Unit. They talked about their
Doggie Court, how they handle dog attacks and will continue to treat them as important
even after the guy who had been in charge retires, and how they will be working to
educate other police officers. They even said they'd talk to departments across the
country if we needed any help getting our police to understand why it is important
to have a plan and to know what to do if a guide-dog is attacked. That was really
helpful information they gave, and Emily Simone gave lots of good advice for deterring
dog attacks, too. I hope the recordings come out well so you all can hear them and
so I can have it on file.
The afternoon didn't have anything scheduled, which ended up being great. Sarah and
I met up with Jen and Nixon, her interpreter, who is a very nice lady, and another
lady named Holly and her super tiny guide. Her doggie is only 44 pounds! Super cute.
Also, Nixon is a very, very handsome boy, too, and the bandana the Red Cross made
him is very nice, too. We all walked over to the mall and ate in the food court together,
and I had a great time talking with everyone. I was really glad I had more time to
talk with Jen this time than I did at the last reunion. It was lots of fun.
Then, we walked from the mall to campus and sat in the grass under a tree and talked.
We got pictures of all four doggies together and some with us people in there, too.
I like the pictures Jen posted on Facebook and can't wait to see one Sarah posts,
too. I need to post the couple I got, also. All in due time.
Then, Sarah and I took the class bus back to the hotel. They were on the way to pick
people up, but we wanted to go back so she could grab her wallet. So, there, I think
we saw a couple of the same nice people we had met at breakfast that morning. Oh
yeah, I also got to see one of the ladies that was in class with me and Pasta, so
that was really cool. That actually happened the night before, though.
So anyway, then we took the bus back to campus. Let me just say, Pasta recognized
the bus and was very happy about it. I couldn't understand what she had been staring
at, wagging her tail at and almost whining at under her breath while we had been
relaxing on campus earlier, but it turns out she was staring at the bus. How cute!
Once we got back to campus, we took a tour, got to hear about the breeding program,
walk through the kennel, pet an adorable fluffball of a golden retriever puppy and
got to go into the puppy kitchen and operating room area. It was very educational
and super fun to pet the tiny puppy!
Then, Sarah and I went into the super crowded gift shop and I bought a ton of stuff.
Sarah is awesome, let me just say. She helped me find so much stuff in the right
sizes and everything, and she, through the whole trip, was really good about telling
me how stuff looked and if anything cool, funny or just weird happened, especially
later in San Francisco. I ended up getting myself three T-shirts and a yellow rain
slicker, a navy slicker for Anthony, a T-shirt for my friend, a LED light for Pasta,
we'll see how it ends up working but I like it so far, a calendar for me and one
for Dad, and a stuffed puppy in a puppy coat. I plan to take the coat off and put
the harness I have on it, the harness from the puppy I had before that my exroommate's
dog chewed on. Then, we met Leslie and her husband, and a girl I have met several
times before bumped into us, too. So, they let her and her doggie sit with us at
one of the list tables, and we started going up.
I was so happy to be able to sit by Roxanne. It was great to talk with her and to
meet Carnation. She is beautiful! I love how light her face is but then how her ears
and rest of her head are a little darker. Gorgeous! And, of course, she's a really
good girl. Andrea and Cardigan were also at our table, but I didn't get to talk to
her much since it was kind of noisy. Cardigan looked handsome from what I could tell
from where I was sitting, though. Also at our table was Leslie and her husband and
their very well behaved pup in training, as well as Sarah and Rafferty. I feel like
I'm forgetting someone. Sorry! Oh, and I got to hold Stephanie's Vienna! She is super
cute and cuddly, and she gave me bunches of puppy kisses! I have to sadly admit,
though, I was the one who had been holding her as she yelped. Maybe she just didn't
want to leave me? (smile) Hahaha. I felt horrible when she did that, though, even
though I don't think I did anything wrong. But boy, she was a cutie pie, and I was
so glad Stephanie let me hold her! I got to meet Mary Beth, too and her handsome boy.
The awards ceremony was great. I cracked up at Morgan and his wonderful stories,
and I was super touched at the giving of all the awards. I felt really honored to
be able to sit beside Roxanne when the night started, so when they announced her
name for the award, I thought it was super fitting. I couldn't think of anybody else
that could have gotten it, and I love how surprised she and all of the recipients
were.
After the dinner, I introduced myself to Morgan and got to pet Wil. Boy, he is a
gorgeous red golden. Morgan is just as nice as I thought he would be, too. I wish
he'd stay on as the President and CEO. I think he is perfect for the job.
My friend, Sarah and I ended up going inside and I snuck into the music room and
sat where I had been introduced to Pasta on dog day. I got all teary-eyed and just
hugged her. She has done so, so much for me since I got her, so much more than I
could have ever imagined, and the last time I sat in that spot, I was without her
as I had left her in the kennel for the medical eval. So, this was a very sweet moment
for both reasons, because that is where I first saw her and got her famous kisses
and because the last time I sat there, I was without her and was afraid she might
have to retire or something.
Then, we were lucky enough to meet Marilyn, Don and Wispy. What wonderful people!
I really enjoyed talking with them, and Wispy is gorgeous and so calm. She is very
much a lady. She's very soft and much smaller and lighter colored than her brother.
We relieved our dogs at the relieving circle, and then Sarah, Rafferty, Don, Marilyn
and Wispy, Pasta and I walked back to the hotel together. For some reason, Pasta
had a ton of energy and wanted to lead most of the way, but boy, later than night,
she knocked out.
After going to the room for a little, Sarah and I and the dogs went to the hospitality
sweet. The place was packed and Pasta ended up getting trapped somehow, so Sarah
rescued her for me. After that, Pasta slid herself under a coffee table looking thing
and fell asleep. We got to meet lots of nice people in the hospitality sweet, too,
and I got to talk to Judy and Sachet again, too. We probably stayed until about 11:30
and then went upstairs and crashed.
Sunday, we had another yummy breakfast and got to meet more people. I got to meet
Mandy and Cancoon there, and that was really cool. He is a very handsome boy and
very well behaved. It was really cool to meet him, too, because his sister was raised
in the club I go to. After breakfast, we packed, checked out and took a van ride
to the transit center in downtown SR. We took a bus from there and went downtown.
The order of stuff there gets fuzzy, so hopefully Sarah will remember better. But,
we did ride on these cable car things that were built in the 1920's, and that was
cool, and we had a quick visit at Peer 39. Pasta loved watching the sea lions, and
we got a ton of pictures of her and Rafferty together that I can't wait to see. We
also rode BART, which I never did in training since I never ride anything like it
down here. It was really fun! Oh, and I'm taking Sarah's fun away here, but the quote
of the trip is "So, where'd you steal those dogs from?" What? So, he repeated it
and followed up with "because you aren't blind." I think my reply of "Yeah I am,"
surprised him. Too funny! I'll let Sarah talk more in detail about the other goofy
things she saw downtown and told me about if she wants, but let me just say, its
way too busy for me to want to live there, but I had a blast visiting!
We took BART to the airport, checked in and ate some super expensive but surprisingly
yummy airport food. They gave Sarah a pass so she could go through security with
me, but I still feel bad since she had to go through again later for her own flight
since it was in a different terminal. After we ate, we went to my gate and they preboarded
Pasta and I. It was so cute, Pasta didn't want to leave Sarah and Rafferty. She had
known the whole time to follow them and had loved trying to walk beside them, too,
that she was sad to leave them behind.
The flight home was quick and uneventful and I took a cab home since I had forgotten
to make an Access ride the day before. It was nice though since I didn't have to
wait and could just go right home. I did my paper last night, turned it in a little
late and it was too short, but oh well. That'll teach me for not doing it before
i left!
So, I told you it'd be long! I had an absolute blast meeting so many awesome people
and dogs. And little miss usually doggie distracted Pasta did really well considering
all the doggies. She was a little goofy Friday, but she settled down so nicely and
was so well behaved. If she ever got distracted usually a no got her back on track.
I was very impressed by how well she did with everything, especially since it was
hot and she doesn't handle heat well. Sadly for both of us, today was worse back
heere. It was 109 degrees F today! Ugh! So, needless to say, we've both been very
hot and tired today, but again, we had so, so much fun. I can't wait until the next
one, and I am hoping I can come to fun day and get to hang out with Sarah and her
friends from Utah next year.
Megan, Pasta and Tofu who was very happy when we got home!
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