Without going into details, I was in a car accident yesterday. While it was still drivable, I left it at home as one of the front wheels could not be turned all the way to the right without rubbing the wheel well covering. Instead I got dropped off at the Long Beach Airport to catch an early morning flight out to New York.
Long Beach Airport
Boarding from the rear door
During the flight out, I ended up watching Dune: Part Two. Not sure why I had been taking my time getting into these new Dune movies, but that was a pretty good part 2 and definitely left me wanting more in the next movie!
Watching Dune: Part Two
I had a layover in Chicago Midway Airport. Unfortunately, my flight out to LaGuardia Airport was delayed by a little over an hour. They don't have a lot of good food options at this airport. I settled for a double cheeseburger at the Billy Goat Tavern. I had them add onions, pickles, ketchup, and mustard. It was pretty much a Quarter Pounder with cheese from McDonald's, but more expensive and not as good.
Double cheeseburger with onions, pickles, ketchup, and mustard
While I was walking through the terminal to pass the time, I came across a Hudson Nonstop store that was one of those newer "grab-n-go" stores. You swipe a credit card upon entering, grab your items, and just leave. There were a ton of cameras and scanners on the ceiling to charge you for your items.
Garrett Popcorn
After landing at LaGuardia and getting off of the plane, I made my way out of the terminal to catch the Link Q70 bus over to the Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Ave station where I would catch a F line train into Manhattan. The signage for this public transportation option was top notch and very easy to follow. It had been a while since I had been through this airport, so I had not realized that this bus was fare free since April 2022. Here's a history of this bus line.
I took the F train over to the 34 St-Herald Sq station. Man, it was a bit nostalgic to smell the familiar smell of the subway. From that station, I walked over to the Chick-fil-A at the corner of 6th Ave and W 37th St. I cashed in my reward for a free Chick-fil-A sandwich. I added a large Sunjoy to go with it. I then walked towards the other end of the block to check into the Wingate New York Midtown South/5th Ave hotel. The doors to this small hotel was locked at all times. You either had to open it with your room key or the person at the front desk would have to open it for you. I was checked into room #1703. It had a nice view of the Empire State Building. After I got settled into my room, I ate my dinner, and got ready for bed. I had to wake up pretty early tomorrow for my volunteer shift.
Chick-fil-A sandwich and large Sunjoy
Wingate New York Midtown South/5th Ave
Elevator
View of the Empire State Building from my room
Saturday 7/13
At just before 6 am, I received a text letting us know that there was a lightning strike within 10 miles of the event and that there would be a 30 minute pause. At about 6:20 am, I received 2 more texts saying that we had the all clear to continue with the event setup and to report in at our assigned check-in location. I grabbed my umbrella and hoofed it up to the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park. It rained off and on during my walk. I arrived at the check-in location right at 7 am. The original check-in time was 6:45 am. It would appear that I was among the last ones to check in. We checked in with our QR code and was given a reflective vest and a rain poncho to wear during our shift. At first another volunteer and I followed the wrong group heading out to a course marshal location. We turned around and eventually joined our other post race amenities volunteers. I ended up at one of the water stations. We were given instructions and gloves to wear. Since I was closer to the end of the line, I only needed to fill cups up to 3 levels. The tables closer to the finish line needed to stack up to a 4th level. Once all of the participants had gone through, we had to pour out all of the water and fold up the tables.
Post race amenities
Our volunteer shift ended at around 9:30 am. After turning in the vest, I grabbed a bottle of Gatorade and headed back to check out the Bethesda Terrace and Fountain. It was one of the film locations for the John Wick: Chapter 2 movie.
"You leave me no choice but to declare you excommunicado. The doors to any service or provider in connection with the Continental are now closed to you. I am so sorry. Your life is now forfeit."
Bethesda Terrace
Bethesda Fountain
The Mall and Literary Walk
The Dairy Visitor Center
I walked down to Times Square to eat breakfast at the Junior's Restaurant on 45th St. I got a seat at the bar counter near the TV where it was showing the Wimbledon women's championship match between Krejčíková and Paolini. I got coffee while I looked over their menu. I ordered their steak and eggs with grits and white toast.
Coffee
Steak and eggs with grits and white toast
After I was done with my breakfast, I headed back to my room to veg out for a bit. I caught the end of the Wimbledon women's championship match where Krejčíková pulled out the win. I then caught the men's doubles championship match between Purcell/Thompson and Heliövaara/Patten. The latter was on the brink of losing the match in the second set, but managed to take it to the third set and pulled out the win.
Such an iconic building!
As soon as the men's doubles match concluded, I headed out to go pick up my race packet over at the NYRR Runcenter. Once I got there, I showed them my QR code and was assigned a bib number. Then I went back to the merchandise area to pick up my race premium which was a hat. I think more races should give out something besides another race shirt.
Race premium
I then headed a few blocks south to eat some cold noodles at Hide-Chan Ramen West Side. I've been to their other location on E 52nd St back in 2022 when I was in town for the NYC Marathon. After looking over their menu, I ordered edamame and hiyashi chuka, cold sesame noodle with pork. On the way back, I took 5th Ave which was a mistake as it was clogged with slow moving tourists. Please get out of the f'n way! :)
Hide-Chan Ramen West Side
Edamame
Hiyashi chuka, cold sesame noodle with pork
At about 6:30 pm, I went out to get some snacks at the nearby H Mart. This store was not very big. The aisles were very narrow and it was packed with way too many people. I grabbed what I wanted and got in line to pay for my items. They had a couple of guys managing that line and a bunch of cashiers, so it was pretty easy to pay for your stuff and leave. As to be expected for NYC, the prices weren't cheap, but they were pretty reasonable.
Snacks and drink
Building lit up in different colors
Sunday 7/14
I watched the Wimbeldon Men's Single Championship match between Alcaraz and Djokovic. I'm not a fan of either player. I think Novak is a colossal douchebag, very similar to LeBron James. They're both extremely talented and hard working athletes, but they're both oblivious when it comes to the image that they project from what they say and what they do on and off of the court. It wasn't much of a match as Alcaraz just absolutely steamrolled over Djokovic, winning in straight sets. It was a great feat just for Djokovic to make the finals as he was returning rather early from a right knee injury.
I checked out of my room at just before 11 am. I needed to pass the time until I could check into my next hotel over at Long Island City. First, I headed up to the Grand Central Terminal. After getting a quick picture of the Main Concourse, I went back out and headed over to the Nintendo Store. Since I was carrying my bags, I was sweating up a storm from just the walk over. I was very glad to go inside for some A/C. They were selling very cool apparel, accessories, and games here. Even if you weren't planning to purchase anything, they had your beloved Nintendo characters all around the 2 floors where you could take pictures with them.
Grand Central Terminal
Nintendo NY
Mario
Bowser
Link
Pikachu
Mario
Toad and Luigi
After I was done checking out the store, I headed down a couple of blocks to go to McDonald's for a large iced caramel coffee for 99 cents. I took my time drinking that ice cold beverage as I waited for another restaurant to open for lunch.
Large iced caramel coffee for 99 cents
For lunch, I went to check out Yama Ramen. The restaurant was up a long flight of stairs. I guess that's very apropos with their restaurant name. I seemed to be their first customer of the day as the place was empty. After looking over their menu, I ordered edamame and a bowl of tonkotsu ramen. Overall, the bowl of ramen was decent. The broth was flavorful and the ajitama was properly cooked, however the bamboo was way too sweet and the noodles were a bit overcooked. I prefer my noodles to be firm.
Edamame
Tonkotsu Ramen
Next I decided to head over to the NYRR Runcenter. After walking just a few blocks, I ducked inside the Urban Hawker to take a break as I was in no hurry to be anywhere. Eventually, I exited on the W 51st St and discovered 6½ Avenue. How did I not know about this pedestrian only avenue until now? I took that all the way up to W 57th St. From there, it was a short walk over to the Runcenter.
Urban Hawker
At about 2 pm, I left the Runcenter and walked over to the 57 St station to catch a F train. I got off at 21 St-Queensbridge station. Just as I reached the Wingate Long Island City hotel, I saw a guy and a bunch of kids ready to turn on the fire hydrant to fill a small inflatable pool. Boy was it hot outside! The area was a bit rough as it was right across the street from the Queensbridge Houses. I arrived at about 2:30 pm, a bit early for the 3 pm check-in time. Thankfully, the lady at the front desk was able to check me into room #1501. Not sure why she apologized for the room being on a high floor, but she did say that the room had a nice view. Indeed it did. Since the weather had been hot and will continue to be hot, the hotel provided ice water down at the lobby at all times. I received an email from NYRR stating that as of this evening, the race was still scheduled to take place as planned. However, due to the heat, they were going to give race credit to all registered participants regardless of participation in the race or even having picked up our race bib.
View of Queensboro Bridge
A little after 5 pm, I went outside to go get dinner. I opted for the nearby Wendy's. Along the way, I was approached by people appearing to want handouts. I've learned over the years to pretend that I do not speak or understand English. It's the best option for me if I want to be left alone, but it's not always a fool proof method. In this case, it worked. All I wanted to do was get my burgers and go back to my room. I used a mobile app deal and ordered 2 Dave's Singles for $6.
2 Dave's Singles for $6
Dave's Single
Monday 7/15
At about 7 am, I went downstairs to get some breakfast. I guess I had just missed the early morning rush. The whole dining area was empty and a hotel employee had just brought out a fresh batch of scrambled eggs.
Breakfast
Just as I was about to head out to go get lunch, I checked NYRR's Instagram stories and saw that they had posted that tonight's race was canceled due to the heat. I also received an email notification of the race cancellation.
NYRR Brooklyn R-U-N 5k canceled
I caught the F train down to W 4 St-Wash Sq. I then switched over to the C train and rode it down to Fulton St. From the subway station I headed south on Williams St, arriving at Goku Kitchen on Cedar St at about 11:45 am. If you're remotely a Dragon Ball fan, you need to come and check this place out! The Dragon Ball theme wasn't just a few statues, toys, and busts. It was down to the plates, bowls, and cups! Their menu was quite extensive and most of what they serve were actually very decent! The only complaint that I could find was that the prices were on the higher side even with NYC pricing and recent rise in inflation taken into consideration. I ordered the stewed pork mushroom noodle and pork & cabbage dumplings. I was definitely not disappointed with my visit! I also got 10% off for checking in on Yelp. Unfortunately, there was someone that dined & dashed right when I was in the middle of eating my food. Thinking back, he did seem a bit unkempt when I first entered the restaurant. It was kind of strange and ironic that he was carrying one of those large red DoorDash food containers when I saw him run out of the restaurant.
Goku Kitchen
Yelp 10% off check-in
Stewed pork mushroom noodle
Pork & cabbage dumplings
Back at my room, I caught an episode of History's Greatest Mysteries. It was season 3, episode 12, titled The Chicago Tylenol Murders. That scare took place back in 1982. I was way too young to remember much, however I do remember when they started doing the tamper-proof sealing on OTC medicine.
Tuesday 7/16
Just like yesterday, I went downstairs to get some breakfast. Unlike yesterday, I went down right before 7 am and was in line right at the end of the early morning breakfast rush. I pretty much got the last few scraps of scrambled eggs, so I ended up taking a hard boiled egg as well.
Breakfast
I packed everything up to start heading out. At about 10:30 am, I checked out of my room and dropped my room keys off at the front desk. Then I made the walk over to the 21 St-Queensbridge station to catch the F train over to Jackson Hts-Roosevelt Av station. I then waited with a bunch of people for the next Q70 bus for a free ride over to LaGuardia Airport. I got off of the bus at terminal 2 which was the 3rd stop.
Q70 bus
After getting through TSA security, I stopped at the Starbucks to get some coffee. It was in the food court, right next to The Bowery Bay Shops. Since it was noon time, I went with one of their cold brews. On the mobile app, I ordered a grande white chocolate macadamia cream cold brew. When an employee announced that a drink was ready for Emily, I had to check. I apologized to the actual Emily and explained to her that more than half of the time, my name gets read as Emily. My drink was next up, so she had a little chuckle when I showed her my name on the drink cup. I enjoyed my coffee while looking at the cool Water Feature.
Grande white chocolate macadamia cream cold brew
Water Feature
I thought about getting lunch at Wendy's, but there were no good deals on the app and this airport location seemed to have a limited menu. So I continued on and decided to get a burger at the Shake Shack at the bottom of the escalator. At first, I tried to place my order on their mobile app. However, this location wasn't showing up on the app, so I got in line and placed my order the old fashioned way. I ordered the Double ShackBurger. Once my burger was ready, I went and found an open seat along the way to my gate to eat it. It might be an expensive burger, but they use better quality ingredients and more importantly, they are delicious!
Double ShackBurger
On the flight out from LaGuardia over to Chicago Midway, I got a window seat and sat next to Greg, a retired US Navy veteran. I was planning to watch a movie, but couldn't find one to watch. I tried watching live TV, but the feed kept dropping. He was a bit talkative, so I gave up on the inflight entertainment and chatted with him. He told me that him and his wife were just returning from his very last cruise out to the Caribbean. He told me that he used to work in the gambling industry dealing with slot machines. Once we got off of the plane in Chicago, before going our separate ways, I wished him well for the rest of his retirement.
Hazy Manhattan
Unfortunately, just as before, my next flight was delayed by about 45 minutes. It gave me some extra time to decide on what I wanted to eat. Honestly, I couldn't find anything that looked good. Most places were serving greasy fried food or the prices were really expensive. I ended up eating at America's Dog & Burger which I didn't see on my first walk-through of the terminal. It was kind of tucked in the corner of the Central Market. On one of the kiosks, I ordered a Chicago dog. That turned out to be somewhat appropriate as tomorrow would be National Hot Dog Day.
Chicago Midway
My favorite kind of dog, the Chicago Dog
I couldn't find anything good to watch from the selection of movies, so I ended up watching The Marvels. Yikes. Although, it wasn't entirely terrible, it was like a full length movie of that cringe-worthy girl power scene during the final battle in Avengers: Endgame. It was as if the casting director had one rule to follow where if the character had a penis, his skin color better not be white. I agree that superhero movies have been particularly white male dominant for quite some time, but the pendulum definitely did not need to swing that far in the opposite direction! Two wrongs don't make a right!
The Marvels
For some odd reason, I had a ton of sinus and ear pressure as the plane started to make the descent into Long Beach. I probably should have been chewing some gum. As we landed at the airport at about 9 pm, one of the flight attendants notified everyone that contrary to standard procedure, everyone will have to deplane from the front door. They said that once the plane is done for the night, they don't want to be rolling out the stairs for passengers to get off from the rear door.
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