Garden of the Gods
Posted on July 8, 2021 by Ching under Travel.
Brian and I really wanted to check out Garden of the Gods because he hadn’t been there since he was a child and I hadn’t been there since the early 90s when my family first moved to the US. The weather made it a little tricky though because of the rainy weather forecast. We made it to the Garden of the Gods Trading Post just as the rain started to really come down.
We decided to wait it out by having lunch at the Trading Post. We were sure that the rain would eventually stop and the weather had pretty much been like that all weekend. It was start and stop throughout the day but it was really coming down hard right at that moment.
We shared chicken tenders and frieds, which were just so-so, and I got Brian a big truffle for dessert. For myself, I got a double scoop ice cream in a chocolate dipped waffle cone. I got one scoop of French silk ice cream and a scoop of cappuccino ice cream – something for me and something for Brian because I was sure he would want to share my ice cream with me.
Brian enjoyed his milk overload truffle.
I thoroughly enjoyed my ice cream. The best part of the ice cream was my chocolate-dipped waffle cone which actually had chocolate coating all over the inside. Sometimes on these dipped waffle cones the chocolate is only at the top part. This one had chocolate all over the inside. It was so good!
We ventured out once it stopped raining. I was amazed at how many people were out despite the weather.
We just went to the popular sights so maybe that’s why there were so many people around. We didn’t bring any hiking shoes, and Brian isn’t much of a hiker, and I really didn’t want to go hiking if the ground was wet so there was no hiking in the cards for us this trip.
We just went out and took some selfies. That’s pretty much the extend of our Garden of the Gods adventure. I’m sure there will be other tournaments in the area and we will be more prepared when we return. We will have to set aside time for hiking. Brian won’t be thrilled but I will make him go hiking with me next time.
Until then. GNG.
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Miramont Castle Museum in Manitou Springs
Posted on July 7, 2021 by Ching under Travel.
Here are some pictures from our visit to the Miramont Castle Museum in Manitou Springs. The weather forecast called for rain for most of the day so we were looking for things to do indoors. We settled on visiting Miramont Castle in nearby Manitou Springs because it looked interesting.
Here’s a great view of the mountains from the parking lot.
The parking lot in the back is elevated so you have to walk down some steps to reach the castle’s front entrance. Here’s a photo I took in the tiered garden out back as we were walking down to the entrance.
It’s very peaceful and quiet back there and they have a nice sitting area. I’m not seated all the way because the chair (and pretty much everything) was still wet from the rain. I just sat on the edge of one of the chairs for a quick photo.
Here are some pictures of the patio.
Lots of steps to get all the way back down.
There is a firefighter museum on the first floor.
Here are some pics from the second floor.
Brian.
There is a chapel inside.
The grand staircase.
Look at this amazing view!
One of the bedrooms.
Another bedroom.
These aren’t all the pictures. There are a few more in my Flickr album. This is all for now though. Until next time. GNG.
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Another Day, Another Brewery
Posted on July 6, 2021 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.
After leaving the player social at Lulu’s Downstairs, our group decided to go to Oskar Blues in downtown Colorado Springs.
The feel of the place reminds me of the Iron Rail in Topeka.
Time for a group pic!
Brian and I ate at Lulu’s Downstairs so we weren’t hungry but Janelle and Karen hadn’t eaten since their late lunch so they both ordered food which are the next two pics here. First one is Karen’s turkey croissant.
This is Janell’s meatloaf.
We already had dinner but I’m never too full for dessert so I got a brownie.
Brian was on a porter kick so he got Death by Flapjacks. He said it tasted like pancakes with maple syrup, literally breakfast in a glass.
I don’t drink beer so I was obviously scoping out the cocktail menu. I got the Colorado 75 but no pic, unfortunately. We will probably return at some point and I will get a pic then.
That’s all I’ve got for now. Until next time. GNG.
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Player Social at Lulu’s Downstairs
Posted on July 5, 2021 by Ching under Events, Travel.
There were a lot of complaints about the recent USA Pickleball Great Plains Region regional championships in Colorado Springs last weekend because of the choice of location and the issues that went along with it. However, they did something kind of fun that we didn’t get to do at Middle States in St. Louis last the previous month. Great Plains Region hosted a player social.
The player social was held at Lulu’s Downstairs in Manitou Springs. It’s a really neat event venue. I’m glad we went because I probably wouldn’t have gone out of my way to check that place out.
Lulu’s Downstairs has a speakeasy feel and really interesting decor. The front area has a nice bar and then if you go into the back they have a stage with ample seating for shows and such.
I think the social was meant for you to meet other players but, silly us, we pretty much stuck to our own group. We found the “mob booth” and spent most of the time hanging out in there visiting with our Wichita pickleball friends plus our friend Ben Paquette from Texas.
Bruce Meyer said he also went to the social but we never saw him. I think he arrived after we left. We left about the time that they decided to close the downstairs portion and made everyone move to the bar upstairs.
Some people skipped the social altogether but it wasn’t a bad turnout overall.
Here are some pictures of the “upstairs” otherwise known as just Lulu’s.
That is all for now. Until next time. GNG.
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Fun Pictures from Great Plains Regionals
Posted on July 3, 2021 by Ching under Hobbies, Travel.
Here are some fun pictures I took at Great Plains Regionals last weekend. Friday was women’s doubles day.
Here’s a pic of Eldonna and her sister Theresa.
Janelle and Karen = Fireball X5.
They won gold in the women’s doubles 3.5 35+ event.
With my partner Kimberly.
Kimberly and I earned silver in the women’s doubles 3.0 35+ but there is no golden ticket for second place. We still had a lot of fun, though.
Kimberly and me with (from left) Chandi, Michelle, Sharon, and Kim.
Chandi and Kim won gold in the women’s doubles 4.0 50+ event.
Saturday was mixed doubles day. There were so many rain delays and they sent so many confusing emails that my partner Ryan and I almost forfeited our first match.
Mixed day was a bit of a bust except for Michelle and Ramon winning gold in 3.5 35+ and Dave and Lori (#TeamBelew) winning gold in 4.5 50+.
Speaking of rain delays, this was Brian pretty much all weekend. On mixed day, it was both wet and cold. Thankfully, Michael brought a nice cozy blanket.
This pic actually remind me of the pic below from St. Louis. At least Brian is smiling in the above photo. Maybe because we are in Colorado. Just kidding!
Anyway, we stayed for Kimberly and Eric’s mixed doubles event. I think they were the last ones in our group who were still playing late in the afternoon.
Although mixed was a bust, we did meet this nice lady Natalie. She shared her wonderful booze with us.
I got a vodka and soda drink while the guys got some unique beers. Natalie had a great beer selection. She was super nice and told us to help ourselves to the cooler.
Anyway, it took quite a bit of convincing to get the guys to move over to the courts where Kimberly and Eric were playing because the guys didn’t want to venture away from the cooler full of booze.
The funny thing is, we had talked about going to the liquor store to buy some booze but then we weren’t sure what the rules were on that with us being at a public park and a college campus. I guess we were meant to have some court-side drinks because the universe brought Natalie and her booze cooler into our lives.
Sunday was men’s doubles day. Since I wasn’t playing, Brian and I spent most of the day sight seeing. We did go back to watch some men’s doubles action later in the day when we found out that Matt (Conrad) and Dave (Belew) were still playing. They would have been finished a lot sooner but there were, once again, multiple rain delays that day.
Monday was men’s and women’s singles day. I ended up taking silver in 3.0 35+. The Canadian lady Pam, who got silver in 3.5 35+ with her husband, ended up beating me. There were six of us in our pool so we were playing a round robin format of one game to 15, win by two (which actually is better for me because singles is a lot of work and best 2 of 3 games to 11 is killer). After four rounds of play, Pam and I were both undefeated. She was my final match.
It was kind of like a championship match, I guess, because whichever one of us won that match would take the gold medal and the other would take the silver. She was way better than me. It wasn’t even a case of I just made more unforced errors than she did, her shots were better – period. She was way better than all of us in that bracket skill-wise.
In hindsight, I wish that I would have played 3.0 19+ because the girl who won gold (Christina) was someone I had beaten in Arizona earlier this year (11-6, 11-2). She got bronze and I got silver. There were only two girls signed up for 3.0 19+ so even though she was 35+ she played in the 19+ bracket. Super smart. Since there’s only three of them competing, everyone was guaranteed a medal. I kinda wish I would have done the same and switched to 19+ also, but then I had no idea I would run into Pam. I feel like I am a pretty good contender in 3.0 35+. I just get really unlucky that I am constantly running into players who are better than me.
I’m going to get a gold medal at one of these big tournaments one of these days. But for now, I suppose I’ll just have to settle for silver.
Speaking of medals, Brian and I finally got tired for hanging them on our stair post and ordered me a display hanger off Amazon. It looks puny right now because there aren’t many medals hanging on it but once it’s filled up I’ll take a pic and post it.
I had a tournament pretty much every weekend last month. I’m taking a break this month and maybe only doing a couple of charity ones. Until next time. GNG.
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