My 34th Birthday in Hollywood: A Nice Shirt and “Casablanca”
Wednesday, September 12th, 2007
I had had some cake the night before at The Smoke House courtesy of my friends, but other than that, I pretty much forgot that Sunday, October 2, 2005 was even my birthday. The day was packed with things to do so there wasn’t time to think of such things. We kicked off the morning with a nice hearty breakfast at the Burbank Airport Marriott Hotel & Convention Center where we had stayed the night. We had a great buffet, but best of all, we dined with two former Our Gang members Patsy Barry and Joy Wurgaft Lane, whose husbands treated us. Read the rest of this entry »
Washington D.C., Colonial Beach, Pope’s Creek, Stratford, Port Royal, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Spotsylvania, Richmond, Charles City, Williamsburg, Jamestown, Roxbury, Brookneal, Appomattox, Lynchburg, Lexington, Staunton, Charlottesville, Stanardsville, Barboursville, Montpelier, Orange, Culpeper, Arlington, and back to D.C. If it exhausted you to read all of these Virginia cities, imagine how I felt after visiting all of them over the course of one week. Tiring, yes, but never dull. My friend Bob and I had a fabulous time touring historical Virginia as well as taking in a few sites in Washington D.C. from August 4-12, 2007. I must warn you now, the postings pertaining to this trip will likely linger on into 2008. 
Most people thought I was crazy to travel all the way to Los Angeles for only three days, but the purpose of my trip was to take part in the festivities of the Way Out West Tent’s 40th anniversary celebration – which included a mixer, banquet, and two extensive Laurel and Hardy locations tours. I had exactly two days of unused vacation; I decided to use it here. And I’m certainly glad I did. As with my previous seven journeys to the west coast, this one too provided me with a lifetime of memories and good times with my many great friends from this neck of the country. 
Following our enjoyable afternoon with Lois Laurel Hawes, Jimmy and I rushed over to Mori’s Teppan Grill, a Japanese steakhouse, where we were to meet up with the elder Wileys, the Duffs, and David. This was to be my very last evening with my California friends. As vacation time nears its end, it seems the clock is set into rapid-rotating motion. It felt like I had been out West for a month with all of the activity we had packed in, but now it was down to the wire – a relaxing evening with my friends at the steakhouse and then dessert at Dave’s place. Dinner was good, and everyone seemed chipper -despite our tardiness. John ate like three bowls of rice which seemed an incredible feat to me. 
Saturday, February 16 was the last full day of my California trip. I had been to Vegas, been to Palm Springs, met up with Lisa, met a monkey, met tons of celebrities, ate sushi, scouted Laurel and Hardy locations, been to the Hoover Dam, seen “The Tonight Show” live, visited Jack Hanlon, been to the Nixon Library, scouted some famous graves, toured the Disney Studios, been to the Magic Castle, seen Penn & Teller, seen (some of) “Love,” saw “Phantom,” been to Disneyland, visited Randy Skretvedt, spent money, shopped ’til I dropped, and ate like an out-of-control lumberjack…and now it had come down to this, the last day.