What exactly was he thinking?

Yesterday afternoon, I picked Hayley up from a play date. As we pulled up to the house, I saw Dad shuffling down the driveway, his only companion his walker.

Hayley and I looked at each other with eyebrows raised. What on earth is he doing? I asked her to take my purse inside while I checked in with Dad.

"Watcha doin', Dad?"
"Walking around the block," he replied as if this was a completely normal activity for him.
"Ok," I replied, more than a little confused. The man can barely make it from the car to the living room. Walking around the block? Not gonna happen.
"Can I come with you?"
"Sure."

And so we walked. Past three houses.
"Maybe we should drive," Dad breathed.
"Ok." Around the block? Whatever.

We turned around and made it back past one house.
"Maybe you should get the car."
"Sounds like a good idea, Dad."

I ran up ahead (thinking all the while how grateful I am for legs and feet that work well), hopped in the minivan and pulled up next to him. He opened the back door and started climbing oh-so-slowly in.
"Do you want to sit in the front, Dad?" What am I? A taxi driver?
"No."
Again, whatever.

Back behind the steering wheel, I asked, "Around the block?"
"No."
Huh? "Ok. Where do you want me to drive?"
"Out."
"Of the subdivision?" I didn't have my purse, license, money or cell, but ok. LOL
"Yes."

So I drove to the main street.
"Turn left."
"Where are we going, Dad?"
No response.
"Go through the intersection."
"Which way should I park?" We were now in the parking lot of Fred Meyers.
"Left. In front of that sign." He points to a pink sign.

Now if you know my dad, you know exactly what I'm talking about... Baskin Robbins.

I pulled down an aisle to park and Dad said, completely easily and clearly, "There's a parking spot opening up right in front." I was kind of taken aback by the comprehensive sentence, but I finagled my way into the spot.

And so we had ice cream. At 5:30 pm. Never you mind that it was almost dinner time. Never you mind that I'd had a piece of Mom's left over birthday cake at 3:30 and was still full. Never you mind that Mom was probably worried and I had no way to call her. We had ice cream anyway. (FYI, I could not even finish my junior scoop. LOL!)

"You need anything at Freddie's while we're here?" I was still fishing for answers as to where he'd actually been heading in the first place.
"Probably."

So we took a walk into Freddie's. Made it as far as the customer service desk where all the Mother's Day flowers are. And the sweet man bought me a beautiful orchid! We paid and slowly made our way back to the car. Five minutes later, we pulled back in the driveway and Dad was just completely happy. He'd had an outing. He'd gotten ice cream. That's all he wanted.

But is that where he was going in the first place? He must have had some sort of destination in mind since he went into the back yard, then escaped out the side gate! We'll never know.