I left the house at a little before 7 pm to head for the airport. I had a nonstop flight out of LAX Airport. Per the usual, I opted for parking at the LAX Economy Parking which I had prepaid for $76.79. My flight was an American Airlines flight out of Terminal 5. There was a slight delay to the flight, but it wasn't too long. During that wait, a fellow passenger asked me about the Dopey Challenge as I was wearing last year's shirt. When she found out that I was a perfect Dopey, she asked me how many years will this year be. I had to look it up, but this year will be year 12. One of those years, 2021, was held virtually and it counted.
LAX Economy Parking
Terminal 5
I had purchased a basic economy ticket so a seat was assigned to me when I checked into my flight. I was assigned a seat way in the back of the plane. Normally for basic economy, I would have to board in the last boarding group 9. However as an AAdvantage member, I get to board in group 6. I don't mind sitting in the middle seat, so I almost always will purchase a basic economy ticket. In fact, most of the time, the Main Cabin Extra seats will be the only seats remaining once I go to check-in as I believe they cost at least $20 more for the extra leg space. Once everyone around me got situated, I started streaming Joker: Folie à Deux. From a psychological standpoint, this was probably the best and most accurate version of a mentally unstable Joker. However, it was just not very entertaining for a movie that's over 2 hours. Hard to even imagine if this version of the Joker would be a worthy villain to Batman. The late Heath Ledger probably struck the best balance of realism and villainy for the role of the Joker. As for Lady Gaga, she needs to stick to singing as she did not make for a very good Harley Quinn. Unfortunately, acting involves a different skillset.
Light snacks and drink
Wednesday 1/8
The plane landed at MCO Airport at around 7 am. Once I got off of the plane and used the restroom, I started heading over to the baggage claim to meet up with my friend. I didn't check any bags, so we headed straight into the parking garage to pick up our rental car. From the airport we drove over to the Cracker Barrel in Kissimmee to get breakfast. As we were being seated, I noticed that they had refreshed this restaurant, mostly the dining area. It looked brighter and the menus were sturdier and in brighter colors. It might have been too much food, but I ordered my usual favorite, the Country Boy Breakfast. I got it with sirloin tips, grits, and hash brown casserole.
Christmas tree still up in MCO
Moxie soda
Coffee
Country Boy Breakfast
For this trip, I booked a unit at the Club Wyndham Cypress Palms which just happened to be located right behind this particular Cracker Barrel. It was way too early to check-in, so after finishing our breakfast, we drove over to the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex for the race expo. Even though we had arrived early at about 9:15 am, we were definitely not the first ones there. A long line had already formed. Before getting into the line, we went to the front to make sure that it was for race packet pick up and not for the official merchandise. For the merch virtual queue, we only managed to get group 64.
Dopey Challenge!
ESPN Wide World of Sports
At about 10 am, the gates opened and the line sort of dissolved as everyone started heading towards the State Farm Field House for race packet pick up. Once inside, we entered into a queue before we actually got inside for the packet pick up booths. Unfortunately, our line was by far the slowest. It was a trainee that was having issues checking people in on the tablet. Eventually, another person came over to assist her. Along with our 2 bibs for the Dopey Challenge, we also received a plastic replica of Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge medal luggage tag as it was the 20th anniversary of that challenge.
State Farm Field House
Slowest line ever for bib pick up
Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge luggage tag
After that, we headed over to the VISA Athletic Center to pick up our race shirts and to check out the vendor booths. We were then able to use other people's virtual queue QR codes to get into the official merchandise inside the Wide World of Sports Cheer Arena ahead of our own group. My friend bought a singlet. I thought about buying a cap as the quality and design has gotten a lot better. In the end, I decided to wait until either the 15th or 20th year of the Dopey Challenge before I bought something. We went through the packet pick up and merchandise arena with our friends a second time to take pictures.
VISA Athletic Center
5k race shirt
10k race shirt
Half Marathon race shirt
Marathon race shirt
Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge shirt
Dopey Challenge shirt
Expo samples
Wide World of Sports Cheer Arena
Ted! A fellow Perfect Dopey!
Marcia
Mickey & Minnie with friends
We eventually left at about 1:30 pm. Fortunately, our unit was available for us to check into when we arrived at about 2 pm. We were assigned to unit #357 in the 10th building. However, the closer elevator was not working, so we ended up lugging our bags up the stairs to the 3rd floor.
For dinner, my friend went out to meet up with her old high school friend that she hadn't seen in over 40 years! Since I was on my own, I walked over to Martin's BBQ. The staff seemed to speak mostly español. I could understand them, but they were having a somewhat difficult time understanding me. Eventually, they got someone that understood what I wanted. It was pretty simple, 1/2 rotisserie chicken combo with fries. It came with a drink. I got lemonade from the drink dispenser, but it tasted strange as they obviously were using good old Florida tap water. The chicken was good. Along the way back, I stopped in at ALDI to buy a couple cans of Campbell's soup and a gallon of water.
1/2 rotisserie chicken with fries and lemonade
Water and soup from ALDI
Another friend joined us just for one night. She had her own rental car and accommodations for the rest of the trip. I took a shower, laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's race, and called it a night. As I get older, it's getting tougher and tougher to rebound and recover from these red eye flights!
5k flat runner
Thursday 1/9
We got ready and left the unit at about 3 am. As we were getting to our car, I saw a very friendly cat wandering around the parking lot. During the drive over to the race, I realized that I had forgotten my phone. After saying good morning to my friends, I had forgotten to go back to my room to get my phone as I had plugged it in to charge while I was getting ready. I swear, if my head wasn't attached, I would forget that as well! I felt rather naked without my phone. This would begin the first of four early morning starts out of the EPCOT parking lot.
Before entering the 5k starting corrals
5k Corral A
5k race schedule
5k course map
5k finish: 24:28
Click here for my Garmin data.
While I did run a decent time in a brand spanking new pair of Nike Pegasus 41s, that race felt harder than it should have! The shoes felt great, but I certainly felt the extra holiday pounds that I was carrying in the gut! My right leg was definitely fatigued and struggling with the pace near the end of the race. Part of it was that I had been a slave to my Garmin and had been doing way too many hill training leading up to this weekend just to maintain a daily streak! I felt slightly over-trained. After collecting my finisher medal, a bottle of water, a bottle of Powerade, a mylar blanket, a banana, and a snack box, I went to my gear truck to get my gear bag. I then headed over to the stage area to take pictures with characters. Since it was cold, I put on my jacket, pants, and gloves.
5k finisher medal
Post race water bottle, Powerade, snack box, and banana
5k, I did it!
Big Bad Wolf!
Ugly Duckling
1 race down
Pluto
After taking pictures with each of the characters, I used a nearby portapotty and waited for my friends at the bleachers near the stage and character photo ops. This would be for the most part, the routine for the next 3 sleep-deprived days.
Back at the unit, we showered before heading over to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. It wasn't planned, but we each ordered a slight variation of the Old Timer's Breakfast. I got my eggs sunny side up with bacon and grits. Our food was slow to come out. Our waitress apologized when she informed us that there was a confusion with the kitchen.
Old Timer's Breakfast with bacon, grits, and coffee
After breakfast, my friends headed to Hollywood Studios while I headed back to the unit to put in some work. This was one of the few times where I actually had to pack my work laptop and do work while I was on vacation. Even though my friend left me keys to the rental car, I decided to just stay in and eat what I had on hand. Between the post race snack box and one of the cans of soup, that was enough to tide me over to dinner.
For dinner, we drove over to Animal Kingdom to eat at Sanaa. My friend and I both fondly remembered the Indian-style bread service. Last time I had the Grilled New York Strip. It was an adequate steak, but not very memorable so I decided to try something new. This time, I went with the Grilled Lamb Chops. The presentation was much better than the steak. However, I did not like the very hard coconut black rice. For my drink, I got the pomegranate lemonade.
Pomegranate lemonade
Indian-style bread service
Naan
Grilled Lamp Chops
Dessert menu
Another Christmas tree still up
Back at the unit, I watched some TV while laying out my flat runner for tomorrow's race. Then I took a shower before calling a night.
10k flat runner
Friday 1/10
Man, my friend really saved my bacon! It would appear that I had gotten up from my usual 3 race alarms and had started getting ready. Then I went back for a quick snooze which turned out to be about an hour when I heard my friend knocking on my door! Perhaps, subconsciously I did not want to continue being a perfect Dopey or this aging body was just plain tired. I quickly drank some water, threw on my clothes, wore my shoes, and off we go for race #2!
10k start corral
10k race schedule
10k course map
Goofy
10k finish: 50:11
Click here for my Garmin data.
Surprisingly, my legs felt fresher today compared to yesterday. I should've been just under 50 minutes, but I couldn't pass up a photo stop with Goofy near the boardwalk! After collecting my finisher medal and all of the usual post race goodies, I went to collect my gear bag. It didn't feel as cold as yesterday, so I didn't put on the jacket and pants while taking the post race photos with characters. Just as I had finished taking pictures with Chip & Dale, I realized that I had grabbed the wrong bag! Before getting in line for a picture with Dopey, I went back to the table near Jiminy Cricket and found my bag. I told the cast member that was there that I had taken the wrong bag. Sorry, man! I hoped that that runner was reunited with his stuff!
10k finisher medal
Miss Bunny
Jiminy Cricket
Chip & Dale
2 races down
Once I was done with the character photos, I started checking out the stage area while listening to the tunes being played by the DJ dressed as Alice. I thought that she was one of the better DJs for this race weekend. As I was waiting for my friend at the bleachers, I bumped into my other friend, Heather, dressed as Chip. I think her friend was dressed as Dale in a Hawaiian shirt. Back at the rental car, I noticed that the car next to us had Band-aids or domino stickers over a little bit of fender damage. I supposed that was a cheaper option than fixing it.
My friend, Heather, dressed as Chip
DJ Alice!
Band-aids or domino stickers?
Along the way back to the unit, we pulled into Cracker Barrel to get breakfast. Once again, we both went with the tried and true, Old Timer's Breakfast. I am definitely a creature of habit, so I got my eggs sunny side up with bacon and grits.
Old Timer's Breakfast with bacon, grits, and coffee
After getting cleaned up, I got out the laptop and continued doing some work until it was time for lunch. We walked across the street to check out the collection of food trucks. There appeared to be 2 collections of food trucks along Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway in Kissimmee. This one was the Food Trucks Heaven next to the Big Orange (Eli's Orange World). The other was the World Food Trucks further west. My friend and I had never been to either location. We only came here because it was the closer location to where we were staying. After doing a lap to see what was available, we saw that the majority of the choices were food from Latin countries. Eventually, we decided on getting food at The Point Grill. It was mostly because the guy here gave us a sample bite of their grilled beef and their menu had both of the items that we wanted. I went with their picaña with elote as my side while my friend got the chicken wings. The beef was good, but my friend was not impressed with the chicken wings. We made a pitstop inside the flea market buildings to use the restroom before heading back. On the way back, we stopped in at ALDI as my friend wanted to buy some water and yogurt for breakfast.
Doing some work
The Point Grill Steakhouse
Picaña and elote
I resumed working once we got back to our unit until it was time to head over to Disney Springs for an early dinner. My friend had made a reservation at Enzo's Hideaway Tunnel Bar. Per the usual, we parked at the Orange Parking Garage. We ordered the Polpettine as our appetizer. I ordered the Pasta Della Nonna for my meal. It was house-made fusilli, short rib, meatball, sausage, salsa rosa, parmigiano. I liked it as fusilli is my favorite pasta and it had a good variety of meat to satisfy someone that identifies as a carnivore. The sauce also had a little bit of a spicy kick to it. I'm glad that my friend came along for this trip because this type of restaurant wasn't one that I would normally consider. While I do like trying new things, I tend to stick to the familiar and what I've liked in the past.
Orange parking
Enzo's Hideaway Tunnel Bar & Restaurant
Polpettine
Pasta Della Nonna
Since I sure as heck did not want a repeat of this morning, I tested my phone's alarm to make sure that it was working before I laid out my flat runner, took a shower, and went to sleep. I also packed a rain poncho as rain was definitely in the weather forecast for tomorrow.
Half Marathon flat runner
Saturday 1/11
After yesterday, I made sure to just get up after the first alarm. I texted my friend to let her know that I was awake. As a precaution, I gave her permission to come pound on my door if I failed to text her by a certain time. As we were getting into the car, I saw that same friendly cat wandering around.
Friendly cat
It was humid and felt warmish when we arrived at EPCOT. The rain held off until we started making our way to the corrals. We jogged over to the portapotties. After we were done, we put on our ponchos before going inside the corral to wait for the start of the race.
It was rain poncho weather
Ted!
Half marathon start corral
Half marathon schedule
Half marathon course map
I had trouble getting good traction on the wet asphalt. It felt like I was expending way more energy for the pace that I was running. I eventually gave up on time as I made a photo stop for Mickey and Minnie. Near the finish line, I also made a stop for Darkwing Duck.
Mickey & Minnie
Half Marathon Darkwing Duck
Half marathon finish: 2:06:54
Click here for my Garmin data.
While I was hoping to be well under 2 hours for this race, I was okay with just finishing it as I knew that my body was just not cut out for running in humid conditions. Per the usual, I received my beautiful half marathon finisher medal and continued along the finisher chute where I got the normal post race goodies.
Half Marathon finisher medal
While I did not have a good race, I was glad that the weather did not lead to either a race cancellation or a modification to the course. In the years that I've run during the Walt Disney World Marathon weekend, only the half marathon was ever affected by the weather.
Since we both started in corral A this morning, I didn't have to wait too long for my friend to meet me at the bleachers. While she didn't really care for the post race photos with characters, she did join me in line for the post race characters photos with Donald & Daisy and Dopey.
Winnie the Pooh
Half marathon Donald and Daisy
3 races down
Per the routine, I got cleaned up and got the laptop out to do some more work until it was time to head out for brunch. Once again, we drove out to Disney Springs. This time, we ate at my favorite restaurant, Raglan Road Irish Restaurant. If you ask me where I want to go eat while we're in Orlando, this will be my answer 100% of the time. While I almost always get the Full Irish, I decided to try something new. I went with their Steak Agus Eggs. For steak on waffles, it was not bad, but I think I would go back to the Full Irish. I got a non-alcoholic Guinness to go with my meal. I've been sober since August of 2016 and I must say that that beer has to be the best non-alcoholic beer out there!
Orange parking
Steak Agus Eggs
Live entertainment
Before heading back to our car, we made a stop at Starbucks. My friend got her chai tea and I got my usual grande blonde vanilla latte. I really needed the coffee as I had more work to do as soon as we get back to the unit.
Starbucks
Grande blonde vanilla latte
For dinner, we didn't really have any plans, so we went back to Disney Springs and decided to eat at Morimoto Asia. Since we didn't have a reservation, we opted to eat in the bar/waiting area right behind where people checked-in at the entrance. I'm not a fan of Asian fusion restaurants, but I knew that they do had an unique duck ramen that's actually not bad. We also ordered their edamame to share. Unfortunately, they were overcooked and quite mushy.
Orange parking
Morimoto Asia
Edamame
Duck ramen
Orange parking
I did not do any work after we got back as I needed to get my butt into bed and get as much sleep as possible! I gathered up all of the pieces to my Russell outfit for tomorrow's marathon before taking a shower and calling it a night.
Marathon flat runner
Sunday 1/12
Today was the 4th and final day of waking up at dark o' clock to head over to the race. It was also the earliest as the race was scheduled to start a whole 30 minutes earlier! I mostly waited near the back of corral A for my friends to show up. While I was hoping to run around a 4:30, I knew that that was just a very loose goal as today would be a picture day for me.
Before heading into corral A
Found Marcia in corral B
Mister Perfect Marathoner!
Gretchen found me in the starting corral
Marathon start corral
Marathon schedule
Marathon course map
My apologies to those running right behind me as I was a bit gassy all day! Also I had gained some girth in the gut so I was in between belt holes which most definitely contributed to the gas issue. I made sure to look over my shoulder if I had to do a little bit of crop-dusting. :)
Jessie and Woody
Mulan and General Li Shang
Aladdin and Jasmine
Let the Wookie win!
Ted Lasso!
One of the best changes for this year's marathon race course was the stretch towards Animal Kingdom. This stretch used to be quite boring, but they turned it into the battle on Endor with multiple Star Wars character stops.
Anakin! You were my brother!
Captain Phasma
Dug and Russell x2
Tarzan and Jane
Donald Duck
Lilo & Stitch
Lotso
My man, Frozone
Honestly, I was headed for about a 5:18 finish time. However, for some reason with about a 5k left, my Garmin started alerting me that the battery was running low. I didn't want the watch to die and fail to record the run, so I discontinued with the walk breaks and picked up the pace just a little bit.
Choir
Marathon finish: 5:11:03
Click here for my Garmin data.
Since returning to in person races after the COVID pandemic, I had been running the WDW Marathon in my Russell outfit. This was my 4th time doing so and my fastest. The outcome depended greatly on the weather. Regardless of the weather, I hope to make some more improvements for next year!
2024: 6:26:09
2023: 5:52:54
2022: 5:31:48
I thought that the designs for this year's batch of medals were one of the best! I first received my marathon finisher medal before continuing down the finisher chute. I got the usual post race goodies. Then I got my Mickey Ears. Further down the chute and off to the left, there were cast members looking out for challenge and perfect runners to give out the extra challenge medals and the coveted perfect lanyard.
Marathon finisher medal
Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge medal
Dopey Challenge medal
It opens!
All 6 medals
Once I reached the exit, I headed over to the truck to get my gear bag. It took them a while to find my bag, but I was really in no rush as the Dopey Challenge had been completed! Once I put my post race stuff away and had gotten the additional lanyard on Dopey Challenge medal, I started heading towards the characters to get in line for pictures. This year was year #12 for the Dopey Challenge. I'm not sure just how many more of these I can keep doing!
Marathon, I did it!
Genie! You ain't never had a friend like me!
Goofy
Mickey & Minnie
Perfect Dopey Trio
Dopey Challenge #12
I was getting text updates from my friend as to where they were on the course. I thought that they would be finishing soon as they were just 3 miles away. I hurried over to the finish area to see if I could catch them in the chute where they were passing out drinks. While waiting, a lady walked by and asked how I liked being a scout. I felt bad telling her that I was dressed up as a character from the movie, UP! I think she felt bad as well and ended up taking a picture of me. My friends were way behind schedule, so I walked over to the bleachers near the final stretch to the finish line. I couldn't get very close to the railing, but I actually saw them run by. So I hurried back to the original location and was able to get a picture of them.
So it turned out that the reason it took them so long to cover those last 3 miles was because they had gotten in the lightning lane to ride The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. While my friends got in line to take pictures with Dopey, I wandered around the stage area. Mostly, I wanted to keep the legs moving. I overheard the DJ interviewing a couple of Perfect Dopeys, so I swung by to meet and say hi to them. Fortunately, on the way out, we bumped into my friend, Shawna. She's also a huge runDisney fan and we almost went the entire race weekend without seeing each other. She told me that she saw me exiting Blizzard Beach just as they were entering.
My fellow Perfect Dopeys!
Shawna
Back at our unit, we got cleaned up and didn't go out until it was time for an early dinner. Per the usual, we went back to Disney Springs. We decided to check out T-Rex Cafe as we had seen it yesterday while we were heading over to Starbucks. We didn't make a reservation, but we were able to grab seats at the bar. It pretty much had the same ambiance as the Rainforest Cafe which made sense as the same folks had designed both restaurants. I ordered their New York Strip. It came with mashed potatoes and green beans as the seasonal vegetables. It was not bad. I'm normally a slow eater, but I inhaled that bad boy! We both agreed that the loud clapping for everyone's birthday was really annoying after about the 3rd time. There had to have been 10 birthdays while we were there!
Orange parking
New York Strip
After getting back from dinner, I only did a little bit of work before going to sleep. I was pretty wiped out from the marathon! I had to rest up for my one and only park day for this trip!
Monday 1/13
I got up at about 5 am and put in some work before we headed to Magic Kingdom. It was kind of funny how after 4 consecutive days of getting up so early where getting up at 5 felt like sleeping in! I opened up the other can of soup as breakfast #1. As 7 am rolled around, we hopped on the Walt Disney World app to join the virtual queue. We thought that we needed to join the queue for the Tron Lightcycle Run, but they had already done away with that back in September. However, we did join the queue for Tiana's Bayou Adventure (formerly known as Splash Mountain) and got group 8. Once we were ready, we headed over to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. We both went with the tried and true, Old Timer's Breakfast. We ate here enough times that we earned a free Barrel Bites item on her mobile app. She redeemed it for loaded casserole tots.
Joined the Tiana's Bayou Adventure virtual queue
Loaded hash brown casserole tots
Old Timer's Breakfast with grits and coffee
Hello Kitty
Bluey!
We arrived at the Magic Kingdom arch at about 9:15 am and parked in the Peter Pan section of the parking lot. While I did mention that we could walk over, we eventually opted to wait for the next tram to show up and take us over to the Transportation and Ticket Center. From there we got in line to catch the monorail. I thought that it was a bit too cold of a morning to take the ferry.
While most people were scanning in with their MagicBand, I scanned in at the ticket gate with my old digital park pass in my Google Wallet that I had added during my 2022 trip. Once inside, we walked towards Cinderella's Castle to take our customary post race medal Monday photos as well as to meet up with our friends. The PhotoPass guy that took our pictures was quite thorough.
Dopey Challenge medal at the Magic Kingdom
Post race Dopey medal in front of castle
Perfect Dopey lanyard
Another Dopey finisher's photo setup
Here were the places that we've visited and rides that we went on:
- Tron Lightcycle Run: Although it was pretty cool going on it for the first time, the ride seemed very short and somewhat underwhelming in the daytime.
Near the loading
Off they go!
Time to load
Lightcycle at the exit
- Main Street Bakery serving Starbucks: After the ride and reconnecting with our friends, we walked over here to get some drinks. Although they served Starbucks coffee, the menu was quite limited. I got a caffé latte. With coffee in hand, we swung by City Hall to get a celebration button.
Main Street Bakery
Caffé latte
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
- Restroom break
Wanted posters
- Haunted Mansion
Haunted Mansion photo
- Aloha Isle: Since I've never had it before, I ordered the pineapple upside-down cake with pineapple vanilla swirl.
Aloha Isle Refreshments
Pineapple Upside-down Cake
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Peter Pan's Flight
John, Wendy, and Michael Darling
Tinker Bell!
- It's a Small World
Eiffel Tower
- Tiana's Bayou Adventure: For most of the day, the mobile app listed the ride as being down. At about 3:30 pm, our group was finally called. I ended up in the front row. It was a fun experience, very similar to having someone throw a bucket full of water into your face! My glasses fell off of my face, but luckily into my lap.
- Country Bear Musical Jamboree: I cannot remember when was the last time I had been at this attraction, but they had updated the music. It was still funny and just a nice attraction for older folks to rest a bit.
Henry
Five Bear Rugs
Bunny, Bubbles, and Beaulah
Romeo (Liver Lips) McGrowl
Gomer, Wendell, and Teddi Barra
Big Al
- Tron Lightcycle Run: This ride was much better at night!
Tron
- Tomorrowland Speedway: Man, these lawnmowers need to be replaced with EVs!
Her car reminded me of McDonald's!
- Be Our Guest: The castle was really cool all around from the outside to the inside. They had a huge area with comfortable seats for you to wait for your table to be ready. We were seated in the beautiful ballroom along the perimeter. It was a pretty standard 3 course prix fixe menu. For my appetizer, I went with the mixed greens salad. For my entrée, I went with the grilled filet mignon. As for my dessert, I went with the dessert trio. The salad was good and the steak was perfect! I didn't care too much for the dessert. During our meal, The Beast would routinely make an appearance, randomly waving at people and then leave. It was awkward really as no one was to approach him for a photo. Unfortunately, the service from cast members in general was poor. Quite sad as that's usually where Disney excels. Our server looked distracted as if he didn't want to be there. He would go missing quite often. That was not the case with other servers in the vicinity. After dinner we were checking out the west wing when one of the cast members ushered my friend right into the path of a server and then proceeds to tell us that we were in the way and sternly told us to leave. Overall, it was a nice dining experience if you love Beauty and the Beast. However, with the way it's currently run, it doesn't really have a huge return value. Perhaps, Belle and/or The Beast should make an appearance at each table like they do at other character dining restaurants.
Ballroom
Menu
Bread
Mixed greens salad
Grilled filet mignon
Dessert trio
Chip!
The Beast!
Gaston's Tavern
- Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid: Our last ride before calling it a day.
Tuesday 1/14
We packed up our stuff and checked out of the unit at about 4:30 am to head over to the airport. Google Maps took a weird route where it had us drive through the southern entrance of the airport on our way up to the Wawa to gas up the rental car.
We drove over to terminal B to drop off the rental car. After my friend checked in her bag at the Alaska Airlines counter, we went through TSA screening to head over to the American Airlines Admirals Club in airside 3. She was able to bring me in as well. It was pretty crowded inside when we got there. We located a small vacant table downstairs before getting our breakfast.
Alaska Airlines check-in counter
American Airlines Admirals Club lounge
Breakfast
Eventually, we found a vacant space in the quiet room upstairs. My friend went off to catch her flight while I remained to do some more work. After an hour or so, pretty much everyone had left the lounge and I had the whole quiet room to myself.
Doing work in the quiet room
Empty quiet room
I had to leave a bit early as I needed to head over to airside 2 for my Southwest flight. I had to go through TSA screening a second time. Even with that inconvenience, it was worth it. My flight boarded at about 10 am. Once I found a vacant aisle seat, I started streaming the news. It was the NY news feed so I got a preview of the weather for my upcoming trip.
Weather forecast for NY
The plane landed at Denver Airport at about 12:30 pm local time. Along the way over to gate C45 to wait from my next flight scheduled to board at 3:20 pm, I stopped at the Starbucks to pick up lunch. Originally, I was going to cash in 200 stars for a trenta sized coffee. However, I ended up cashing in 300 stars for a turkey, provolone & pesto on ciabatta. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to downgrade my coffee back to a grande. During the long layover, I found a vacant spot near my gate and got out my laptop to finish up a few more modifications. Just let me tell you that no one should ever need to drink a trenta sized coffee! Boy, was I pretty twitchy and wired from ingesting so much caffeine in one sitting!
Turkey, provolone & pesto on ciabatta and trenta salted caramel cream cold brew
Turkey, provolone & pesto on ciabatta
Doing some work
Fortunately, the flight wasn't very full, so I had the row to myself. During the flight, I noticed that the older couple on the other side of the plane were both speaking primarily Taiwanese. They only spoke Mandarin Chinese when they were talking to their granddaughter. The plane landed at LAX at about 5 pm. As we were getting ready to get off of the plane, I struck up a conversation with them. At first, they were a bit surprised that I was speaking to them in Taiwanese. I spoke mostly to the grandpa. He told me that they were from Beitou. I was not familiar with that area as I had come to the States when I was only 6 years old.
Ready to leave Denver
Flying over the Rockies
Watching some TV with some light snacks
After getting a ride back to my car at the economy parking structure, it was time to make the drive home. Unfortunately, the gate arm would not open even after I scanned my prepaid QR code. The employee stationed there helped me out by pressing the button to call for assistance. Shortly, after reading him my reference code, the gate was raised. The drive home was terrible as I was just in time for the evening rush hour traffic. I used to make this drive every day when my work was located near the airport.
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