Trip to San Francisco

Darrell and I (Cindy) flew into San Francisco and were met by two people from the Guide Dog for the Blind School. There were a total of eight people flying in that morning from all over the U.S. to join in the program. It took sometime for everyone to get to San Francisco but within three hours everyone was off to San Rafael to the school. San Rafael is twenty miles north of San Francisco, it's a beautiful area with the redwood forest trees and the bay. Once they arrived at the school they had an orientation and were settled into their rooms. Darrell has a 24 year old roommate. There is also a 19 year old and one more twenty year old. The others are in their thirties, fifties and sixties. Everyone has some vision except for Darrell. He said that everyone is real nice and helpful.

That evening they were treated to prime rib for dinner. There is a cafeteria where everyone is assigned a seat and they are served their meals. This cafeteria is available all day long for them and has an area for quick snacks, like peanut butter and jelly, there is also fruit at the tables and vending machines. For breakfast the next day they had pancakes and for lunch there was a choice of minestrome soup with a sandwich or a caesar salad and lasagne. Needless to say, he is provided with an abundance of food.

On his first day at the school they were taken to a downtown area to navigate through the streets and cross sections. They were also allowed to utilize a dog that is still in training so that they could also learn how to give commands to the dog. He was also issued his leash for his dog and a bag of doggie snacks. On Thursday, he should be assigned his dog. They will match the dog to his personality and style. He has requested a female golden lab but he doesn't know what dog he will be matched with. He is also hoping he gets a dog with an easy name. We'll soon find out.

There is also optional classes in the evening like yoga or a music room that he can utilize. Darrell did not take his computer but they do have a computer lab on campus but Darrell did say it was at the other end of the school. Since Darrell has limited time to communicate to all and the computers are not too easily accessible, we decided to create this blog for him to communicate to everyone. Whoever talks to Darrell, please leave a message on the blog so that everyone is up to date on his time at school. Please also feel free to leave messages for Darrell so that whoever talks to him can read them to him.