OK so finally! I have added my pictures so here goes...
Well, it was inevitable….the Brothers going to Disneyland for a half marathon. This trip was long in the making and honestly it just sort of fell together. Coast to Coast medals were in the works!
Mary and I had talked with some friends that live exactly 6 miles from DL. They were more than pleased to host us, in fact afterwards they told us that there’s no way in heck that they would have let us stay at a hotel. Then after NaCler decided that he was in, they insisted that he stay there as well. The funniest part of all this was that our hosts weren’t even going to be home! They had prior plans (it was Labor Day weekend after all) out of town. So, we would see them Thursday when we arrived and part of Friday. They left us Friday night and came home Monday. We left to come home on Tuesday AM. They set us up with their house, plenty of food and beer and a vehicle to get around in. Man this was awesome!!
NaCler and I decided to hit the parks for two days, but Mary wasn’t interested---she spent all her free time poolside (oh did I mention that they had a pool?). Mary’s brother gave us two free standby airline tickets, which was awesome, but the flights were looking full, so I was nervous about that.
OK, so here was our itinerary:
Leave Thursday AM—meet up with NaCler in Denver (just dumb luck our flights both had layovers in Denver), then fly into Orange County.
Friday was chill out day.
Saturday was adventure day—we wanted to hit the beach.
Sunday was the race and afterwards NaCler and I were going to DCA.
Monday was DL! My first time!!
Fly home Tuesday.
Thursday August 28th 2014
***Some of the pics might look familiar as I posted some in my quick update in the SSR Running Club Area.
So the real drama started when we landed in Denver and they told us that they had one open seat for the two of us (NaCler did the right thing and bought a seat—no stress for him). It was hit or miss and at the last minute they told us that someone didn’t show up and we could both fly…and then they rescinded the offer. The person was onboard and their boarding pass was never scanned. Ugh!
Mary and I decided that if we got split up, I was to go with John. If it all worked out right Mary would be on the next flight and be only like 30 mins behind us anyway. She didn’t and she wasn’t…lol
Here is NaCler and I waiting for Mary to arrive:
We landed and poor Mary was stuck in Denver. She finally got a flight to Phoenix and then onto Orange County but she didn’t arrive until 8pm or something, which to our bodies was like 11pm.
We finally got her and went out to eat at a Hibachi place that our hosts frequent quite regularly apparently…the wait staff knew what their orders were, called them by name and came out to visit them often. It was great to see our friends---it had been about 12 years! Too long.
When we finally fell asleep it was like we were awake for 22 hours or something close to it.
Friday August 29th 2014
Today we slept in and chilled out. We went to the Expo for packet pickup once we were up and showered.
We ate an early lunch at Earl of Sandwich—our bodies were all messed up with the time. But it was nice to sit there and eat, this close to the DL Hotel
We hit In and Out Burger for later lunch. (My review: It was ok, yes just ok—I don’t get all the hype, it wasn’t bad mind you, just OK). Our hosts asked us to go to a street fair they were having in a neighboring town—it sounded like fun so we agreed. Here’s the kicker: One of our hosts works in the downtown area where the fair was being held. So she brought beer and food to her office and (of course) they had bathrooms, so we used it instead of the porta johns and went in there for beer runs instead of buying ones on the street. It was perfect!
Here is NaCler eating a brat with extra kraut!
Here we are on a beer break (one of many):
And here’s me in front of one of the stores—it was a quaint downtown area.
Saturday August 30th 2014
Our hosts left early this morning for their place at the lake—so we had the place to ourselves. We decided to do a little exploring. We went to the beach and walked around:
Then we drove all over southern CA, I swear. Mary wanted to look at a Wal-Mart for cheap Disney souvenirs—no dice. It wasn’t like FL where all the stores have that stuff. We did some grocery shopping and then it was pool time!
The pool was very nice, but very COLD. I think NaCler was the first to go in—he’s crazy. I just chilled out poolside and, yes, drank beer.
We ordered some pasta for dinner, so NaCler and I drove to get it and the place was like and old western town—and someone had even ridden their horse there! We mayyyy have had a beer here.
It was an early night—we had to get up crazy early for the race.
Sunday August 31st 2014
Early rise and some peanut butter toast and we were out the door. There was ZERO traffic at that hour—lol. Plus we stayed so close—it was nice.
We were way early, but it was OK, we sat in our corral and stretched and talked. It was still dark out. It was very cloudy and low humidity, something we were not used to.
The obligatory pre-race pic:
You start out running around the block and into DCA. It was my first time in a CA Disney park
After a short while, you end up in DL! Yayyyy! We took a few pics in front of the Castle of course.
Matterhorn Selfie:
After you leave DL it’s a lot of street running, up and down city blocks. So different from WDW where you are 100% on Disney property. Then you head over to and around the Honda Center and out onto the “Santa Ana Trail” which was really just one of those aqueduct looking things you always see in southern CA for flood control.
Then it’s up and into Angels Stadium! This was cool—lots of people in there cheering you on. This (and the Castle) was a “Wow” moment. NaCler got his second wind in there---I think this is about mile 9 or so. Not far to go!
We finished and got our two medals
Coast to Coast and DL Half. It was a great run and we ran together, all three of us.
The plan was to hit the pool, take a nap and relax then go to DCA. Mary was going to stay poolside all day. She mentioned going to Target or something, but I don’t think she ever did.
NaCler and I eased into DCA a little stiff, but not too bad. Honestly I have no recollection of what we did and when except a few highlights. NaCler will have to fill in the blanks. I know we hit the Muppets with about three other people (empty!). We went on ToT, Monsters Inc, California Screamin’, Cars and we stopped for a beer at some point. That was a nice break from the sun—it was full on sun at this time of the day. I took a pic of the beer fridge lol
Then we ate and rode Soarin` single rider, which was a mistake! We should have just gone in the regular line. Then we left. I had enough—I was wore out and was feeling melancholy for some reason. I offered to leave NaCler the car or come back and get him, but he declined and left with me to prep for tomorrow’s assault of DL.
Here is NaCler with his new friend: