Dorothy Piotrowski’s blog

Today was our last day here.  We got our suitcases packed up and then headed with Darren to see 3 weddings.  On our way home, we stopped at a car wash and picked up some BBQ.  These were probably some of the best ribs that I have ever had.  These two guys were BBqing the Memphis way - low and slow.  We enjoyed our last dinner in Las Vegas by the pool.

We packed up the Jeep and then had to say goodbye to Allison and Darla.  We wanted to catch one last show and Darren was able to get us in once again.  After the show, we got to hang out for a few minutes in the lounge before we had to leave.  We said our goodbyes to Darren and made our way to the airport.

When we checked in, we asked if there were any seats available in business class.  The attendant informed us that there were none and that the flight was full.  Travel tip … never sit at the very back during an overnight flight.  Flight attendants make way too much noise and you won’t be able to sleep.  We landed in Detroit at 6am and were home by 9:30am.

We got up and were on the road by noon.  The drive home was uneventful and we were back by 4pm.  As Darren headed off to work, Allison, Karen and I went and did some grocery shopping at the Whole Foods Market and some gambling at the SunCoast Casino.

We ended the evening by filling our faces with the chocolate fountain.  Yummy.

We got up somewhat early and headed over to Universal Studios.  We did the “Back To The Future”, “Backdraft” and “Shrek 4D” rides.  We also took the studio tour which was really cool.  They take you through the back lots and show you where the television shows and movies are filmed.  They were filming “Desperate Housewives” during our tour.

We left Universal Studios and made our way over to the Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills cemetery.  We were on a mission to see as many famous graves as we could before dark.  We saw the graves of Liberace, Freddie Prinze, Lou Rawls and many more.  We couldn’t find Lucille Ball, Andy Gibb or John Ritter.  Unfortunately we didn’t know that there was a website (http://www.seeing-stars.com/) that will tell you exactly where the graves are.  We will know better for next time.

By this time it was dark and we were hungry.  We used the GPS to find us a Cheesecake Factory.  We had an awesome dinner and made our way back to the hotel for an early night.

Today is Karen’s niece Teresa’s birthday.  We went to Freed’s Bakery and picked up her birthday cake.  We found out that Chipotle had a couple of restaurants in town.  This place serves really good Mexican food very inexpensively.  We discovered the restaurant when we visited Washington, D.C. last summer.  We decided to have lunch there and then go to Bally’s to deliver the birthday cake.

Marie was the only one there so we kidnapped her and took her to see Darren’s show.  After the show, we went back to Bally’s and enjoyed the birthday cake with Marie, Teresa and Ron.

We got back to the house and packed up the car for our trip to Los Angeles, California.  We decided that we would go to Universal Studios on Darren’s only day off.  The drive to Pasadena was great … another round of “Shout About Music” (I was the winner once again) and some movies.  We got to the Best Western Pasadena Inn around 4am and then crashed for the night.

We had to be up early since there was a 11am wedding today.  We were fortunate enough to see Shirley & Bill renew their wedding vows.  After the wedding, we stopped at Best Buy, L&L Hawaiian Barbecue for lunch and Freed’s Bakery to order a birthday cake for Karen’s niece Teresa who was also in town.

Some of Karen’s family was also in Las Vegas at the same time, so we decided that we would meet up for dinner and catch The Checkmates.  We met Marie and Teresa (Karen’s nieces), Ron (Teresa’s boyfriend), David (Karen’s nephew), Cathy (David’s girlfriend), Sylvia (Cathy’s sister) and Cathy’s mom at the Peppermill.  Two words describe the food at this place - large portions.

After stuffing ourselves, we made our way over to the Sahara Hotel & Casino to see The Checkmates.  But there was a slight problem, the show wasn’t starting until 11pm.  That means we had a few hours to kill.  Since the majority of the group had not been downtown to Fremont Street, we decided to go there.  Since we had the Jeep (remember very small car), Karen made many trips between the Sahara and downtown.  We got back and everyone enjoyed The Checkmates.