Archive for "Things to Do"
Illuminations with Mom and Dad
Posted on December 8, 2021 by Ching under Things to Do.
Brian and I were sick with COVID around this time last year so we missed Illuminations. I’m so grateful that we have both been vaccinated and have managed to avoid getting COVID (again) so we were able to go to Illuminations this year. Each year they do something slightly different so it’s always worth going. Plus, when you go, you’re supporting Botanica and helping them stay open for our community to enjoy throughout the year.
This year we shared the experience with mom and dad.
Here are some of my favorite pictures from that night.
Mom and I rode the carousel (twice). Dad and Brian didn’t really care to do it. They just watched us and took pictures.
I really like how they did the one-way flow for the walking path. It made the process so much smoother and more organized. Despite being somewhat scaled back from previous years (I suspect because they were offering a walk through and drive through option), Illuminations is still a really cool experience and I highly recommend it as a “must do” for the holidays. The display will be available through January 1 and you can get tickets here.
That’s all I have for now. Until the next post. GNG.
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Snowbound Trip #3
Posted on December 5, 2021 by Ching under Things to Do.
Last Friday’s trip to the Snowbound Ski Lodge is seriously the most fun I’ve had in a long, long time. We had so much fun on our last trip that Debbie Fanning arranged for us to go back after Friday night pickleball at Nahola. Kimberly Howe got Ryan Kellenbarger to sub for Eric that night so I told Ryan about our plans and encouraged him to get a table for four and go with us.
So we were all set, sort of. I started a group message with Ryan along with Parrish Gumeringer (his long-time mixed doubles partner and usual plus one) and also Brandi and Ty Richardson to help Ryan fill his table. I messaged the four of them because they usually hang out together. By Thanksgiving Day, people were still on the fence so, even though Debbie’s group of ten was confirmed, Ryan’s foursome was still somewhat uncertain.
So I’m relaxing at home on Thanksgiving night and I decide to send a “Happy Thanksgiving” text to Patrick Smith and also, since I figured Ryan would have room at his table that is largely still vacant, I invited him to join us. I didn’t think he would actually say yes but, much to my surprise, he said he would come.
I told the gang that Patrick “might” come but I wasn’t really holding my breath because people say they will do things all the time and don’t come through. I checked with him on Friday and he was pretty nonchalant. I talked to Ryan on Friday and the only confirmed guest he had was Bryan Nguyen. Ty and Brandi didn’t really want to come out because they said our reservation time of 9:45 pm was “so late” and they had a busy Saturday planned. The thing is, we all play pickleball on the West side of Wichita from 7-9 o’clock so 9:45 pm was perfect for our group. It would give us all enough time to get from Nahola to Chicken N Pickle on the East side.
I’m thinking Ryan still had two empty seats so I asked Dan Kautz who plays with us at Nahola for open play if he would like to go. I figured Dan plus Patrick would complete Ryan’s group. But, when Ryan arrived for 7 pm pickleball, I found out that he managed to convince Ty to commit to going over beers at Twin Peaks that afternoon. I guess once you get enough drinks in someone, you can pretty much get them to do anything. Since Brandi and Ty are now in, I told Dan all the seats are taken so he is, unfortunately, out. I didn’t worry about Pat because I wasn’t really sure if he would show up and, if he did, I’m sure the Chicken N Pickle people wouldn’t care because he is a handsome pickleball celebrity who could probably do whatever he wants.
We finished playing pickleball and all head to Snowbound. Once we get there, Ryan tells me that Bryan backed out so now he has a vacancy again. I asked Dan to come and luckily he was able to make it.
Debbie’s group consisted of Debbie, her husband Dave, Tiffany and Donnie Lesperance, Karen Fox, Melissa Burgess, Greta Siemens, Kimberly Howe, Brian and me. Ryan’s table consisted of him, Dan, Brandi and Ty. We went up first because Ryan was still waiting for the rest of his party to arrive. Luckily, there was an open table for four next to our area so we asked the staff to make sure that Ryan’s group got seated there. Our group of twelve pretty much had the entire back of the room. It was perfect.
Here are some pictures from that fun night with the pickleball crew (put Pat and Jamie) at the Chicken N Pickle Snowbound Ski Lodge.
Brandi Richardson and Kimberly Howe.
Patrick Smith and Karen Fox.
This is Pat trying to keep Karen from molesting him. LOL.
Dan Kautz enjoying the Fogged Goggles peppermint martini.
Got some fun pics while goofing around with Pat. Love the look on Brian’s face.
Tiffany and Donnie Lesperance and Debbie and Dave Fanning.
We had such a great time at Snowbound that night.
Kimberly Howe and Melissa Burgess.
Cinnamon Toast Crunch shot ski.
Ryan gives the Snowbound Ski Lodge a thumbs up!
You can’t go to Snowbound and not get a gondola pic!
Our group totally shut down the Snowbound Ski Lodge that night. But the gang wasn’t done partying. All of them went to the Stop for an after party and they shut down that place too. Brian and I went home after Snowbound and called it a night because I had an early wake up the next day for my Aqua Zumba class. Besides that, Brian was such a good sport that night. I did not want to push my luck with him. We were the only two (and Greta who left Snowbound a little early) who didn’t go to the Stop. Even Brandi and Ty who originally felt like 9:45 PM was too late, went and stayed out until at least 2 AM!
I love hanging out with my pickleball friends. They are so much fun! I can’t wait until our next outing. Until next time. GNG.
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Snowbound Ski Lodge at CNP
Posted on November 25, 2021 by Ching under Date Ideas, Food and Drink, Things to Do.
Snowbound had only been open a week and I’ve been there twice already (will be going for a third time tomorrow). When they first unveiled it, they had a special preview for employees which Karen invited me to attend with her as her plus one. We went on a Thursday and I met her there after my Aqua Zumba class.
I gave Brian a heads up that I would be home late because I was swinging by Chicken N Pickle after class. The funniest part is, after texting him some pictures from Snowbound, he texted me back immediately with “Where are you? Thought you were going to CNP?” LOL. Their goal was to completely transform the CNP rooftop into a merry ski lodge and, given Brian’s response, I would say they completely succeeded.
If you’ve ever spent any time on the rooftop at CNP, you really won’t recognize it. They did such a great job with the ski lodge decor. I’ve never been skiing before so I guess I wouldn’t really know but, I got a total kick out of the the reaction they got from Brian. Here are some more pictures.
They have these fun ski boot shot glasses that you can get various shots in. Karen did a cinnamon toast crunch shot with the guys — Dan Leddy, Rick Nutt, and Lauren Rezac. The shots are presented on skis. It’s super cute.
I got a video of the four of them doing the shot which you can watch by clicking here. Besides the fun shots in the ski boots, they have the prettiest drinks at Snowbound. They’re also very yummy and strong.
Here are some drink pics.
The avalanche is cool because of how it is lit up and everything. The interesting part about it is sometimes it is blue and sometimes it is purple. I just depends on who makes it, I guess.
That Thursday night that I went with Karen, she got the avalanche while I got the free rider. I love my drink except I wasn’t expecting the sprinkles which I don’t really like that much (not even in cookies or cupcakes).
The next time I order the free rider, I will ask them to hold the sprinkles.
This next one is the ski ya later drink.
Then this next pic is of white out with an empty ski boot shot glass next to it. I was told you now have to take the ski boots off the ski first before taking your shot because you can’t make drinking too much fun and game-like. Seriously? Who comes up with these crazy rules?
The drinks at Snowbound are yummy but the food is equally fabulous. These are two of my favorite things to get:
This is the salmon dip. They give you a generous amount served in a jar.
This is the pork belly and brussels which is amazing.
Here’s a picture of the Snowbound menu. I seriously cannot wait to go back tomorrow and try all the other food and drinks I haven’t tried yet. I highly recommend checking out Snowbound before the season is over. You can make reservations here.
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Wild Lights at the Zoo
Posted on November 8, 2021 by Ching under Date Ideas, Things to Do.
Over the last couple of years, Brian and I have opted out of the whole handing out candy on Halloween night. When we first moved into our neighborhood, we were so excited. We would have buckets of candy to give away only to have a handful of trick or treaters. It never failed that we would find year old candy in our pantry from the previous Halloween that we would just throw away because, even though we fully intended to consume the candy in the coming weeks or months, we would inevitably just forget all about them only to find them months or sometimes years later. It just seemed so wasteful.
Our neighborhood just doesn’t get enough trick or treaters because it’s not as cool as College Hill where they have several streets of homes with super elaborate Halloween decorations. So we decided over the last few years to just turn off all our lights and opt out of the whole thing. Typically, we would hide in our basement and watch movies all night.
This year I decided we should do something different. I purchased tickets for us to see Wild Lights at the Sedgwick County Zoo. Some of my friends had gone and posted really cool pictures on Facebook and so I thought it would be fun for Brian and I to check out. I figured Halloween night would be perfect because then maybe it wouldn’t be quite as busy as a normal evening.
Here are some of our favorite pictures from that outing.
We tried to take pictures of everything so it’ll feel like you were there with us too. I hope you all get a chance to check out this exhibit, though. It is pretty neat.
Until next time. GNG.
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Wicked Brew Tour Challenges
Posted on July 16, 2021 by Ching under Food and Drink, Things to Do.
Brian and I are normally done with the #WickedBrew tour by now but we started a lot later this year. We typically complete the drink tour which usually starts after Memorial Day during the month of June. Part of it is I can walk to to several coffee places that participate in the tour from my office downtown. However, this hasn’t been possible since I’ve been working from home.
Also, the tour didn’t happen last year because of the pandemic so I didn’t realize it was happening this year until much later. Anyway, we didn’t get started until after we returned from Colorado a couple of weeks ago.
I tried to get Brian to complete the tour with me over 4th of July weekend (we would have 3 days to get 10 stamps) but he was worried that his liver wouldn’t be able to handle it. Besides that, most of the places were closed on the 4th of July. We did manage to get four stamps on Saturday, July 3, though.
We started our tour by having lunch at the East Central location of Wichita Brewing Company. As East-siders, that location is most convenient for us.
We got our cards and first stamps and we were on our way.
Our next stop was Il Primo, a cute coffee shop across the street on the other side of Woodlawn. The coffee shop has been around for 20 years and yet, amazingly, Brian had never been there.
Look at this handsome guy!
I took a few pictures of the inside.
Also, I solved the “Riddle in the Dark Roast” and got a couple of extra punches on my Il Primo card. Go me!
They had one of the shirts on display at the counter.
We kind of did a beer-coffee-beer-coffee pattern, so our next stop was the PourHouse ICT, Walnut River Brewing’s taproom at Union Station.
Cheers! BTW, did you notice that Brian had on his 2018 Wicked Brew shirt?
My old fashioned wasn’t very good but our server was nice and still gave me a stamp for it. Not a lot of places can make cocktails as good as the Belmont.
We had lunch at WBC and some light food the PourHouse so then it was time for dessert, which was perfect because our next stop was Cocoa Dolce. Brian had never been to their downtown location.
The Cocoa Dolce Sweet Lounge is super cute inside!
I had a tipsy gelato which typically vanilla ice cream with salted caramel whisky poured over it but they actually let you pick your own spirit. I opted for Bailey’s to be poured over mine.
It kind of looks like a bowl of mashed potatoes and gravy but I promise it’s gelato and it was amazing!
I highly recommend grabbing a friend and enjoying some coffee or one of the many flavors of hot chocolate they offer. And of course, trying some of their decadent and delicious artisan chocolates and gelato.
Brian got his usual black coffee and a couple of Wichita flag truffles and then we also got an Oreo cheesecake to share.
The Wichita flag truffles were almost too pretty to eat. Almost.
When this location first opened we got a bunch of free cheesecake from my coworker Amir’s friend who was the manager. That was my first experience with these amazing cheesecakes. Brian had never had it so I wanted him to get a taste. So even though we weren’t really hungry and didn’t need extra food, we got a cheesecake. We ended up taking most of it home.
They have the cutest cheesecake to go boxes!
We managed to get four stamps that day and that was Brian’s limit. The next day was 4th of July so then all the places were closed. It took several days before we could get our next stamp.
Stamp #5 was at Leslie Coffee Co.
I went to play pickleball with some friends after my Aqua Zumba class last Saturday. Then a bunch of us decided to have lunch at Merle’s after. Leslie Coffee, which is within walking distance of Seneca Park, is just down the street from Merle’s so it worked out perfect.
On Monday, I tried to talk Brian into getting a few more stamps so we planned to have dinner at River City Brewery after my Monday night Aqua Zumba class. Unfortunately, they were closed. So then we drove down the street to Norton’s. They were open but there was no food because there were only open because of the art show. Norton’s is normally also closed on Mondays.
So then were were like, “What about Hopping Gnome?” Piatto’s is next door and they have great pizza. They were also closed.
At this point we were just hungry and we didn’t even care about getting our cards stamped anymore. We ended up eating at Dempsey’s Burger Pub. Neither of us had been there in a while and they have great food also.
We were so hungry that we ordered way too much food. Brian got the beer cheese dip with pretzels and fries.
He also got a burger for himself because that’s what you get at Dempsey’s.
We shared a big basket of truffle fries, which were completely unnecessary after the regular fries which we didn’t know came with the beer cheese dip.
I got a couple of sliders, which were the perfect size. I told Brian that we should just get sliders and truffle fries next time to minimize all the wasted food but it’s kind of hard not to order one of the gourmet burgers when you’re at Dempsey’s because that’s kind of their thing.
Dempsey’s kind of reminds me of the Burger Stand (in Topeka and Lawrence) except I like the food at the Burger Stand better. I think it’s the closest thing to the Burger Stand that we have here. Dempsey’s burgers are pretty good — they are just not as good.
Anyway, the experience made me miss the Burger Stand. Brian has never been there so I’m hoping we can go one day. They have pickleball tournaments in Topeka sometimes. In fact, the Sunflower State Games is this weekend. I didn’t sign up for it though. Maybe I can sign up next year and then Brian and I can hit the Burger Stand while we are there.
Anyway, we still have a long way to go on this Wicked Brew tour. I’m hoping to get the rest of our stamps over the next few days because there are only a limited number of shirts and we don’t want to miss out.
Until next time, GNG.
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