It’s Been a Wonderful 22 Years
Posted on October 3, 2024 by Ching under Life, Relationship, Travel.
Can you believe that Brian and I have been together for a quarter of a century? Neither can I. When we first met in 1999, I had no idea we would be here in 2024. It’s been (and continues to be) an amazing ride.
While we’ve been together for 25 years, we’ve only been married for 22. For our anniversary this year, we decided to go to Colorado. Why? First, Brian doesn’t really like leaving the United States so while my first choice would have been to travel somewhere exotic that’s not really Brian’s jam. Second, we wanted to visit Garden of the Gods because neither of us had been there since we were young (or so we thought).
You know you’re getting old when you start forgetting shit. We were so excited to go on this trip because we thought we had never been. I don’t know if Brian knew it all along and just didn’t want to let on because he didn’t want me to veto the idea. On the trip up, things started looking familiar (mostly to Brian because I can’t remember anything). While we’re pulling into the hotel parking lot, Brian makes a comment about how we’d stayed there before. I just chalked it up to all Hyatt Place hotels looking the same but Brian was convinced we’d been here. To settle the debate, I looked up my emails from years past and, lo and behold, sure as shit, I had a receipt from that same hotel from three years before. I guess we had stayed there for the Great Plains Regional Tournament at Monument Valley Park in 2021. I felt sure that we stayed closer to the tournament venue but I guess not.
Looking back, we probably picked this hotel because of its proximity to Garden of the Gods and we figured that we could check out the park on my non-playing days, which we actually did and I had just forgotten about it.
I looked up past blog posts and here’s what happened – it started raining on the day we went to check out Garden of the Gods so we took a picture in front of balanced rock and then we spent the rest of the time having lunch at the Trading Post because we didn’t want to risk walking/climbing on the wet, potentially slippery rocks. Since we didn’t really spend a lot of time there and didn’t get to do much exploring, I guess the visit didn’t register and completely got erased from memory. This recent trip turned out to be our do-over.
Brian isn’t really much of a hiker. Actually, he doesn’t care much for walking. So when we were at Garden of the God, we decided to take the trolley tour. I found it amusing because it was the two of us and a bunch of old people. By old people, I mean people way older than us — because I suppose now that we’re around 50 we technically fall under “old people” category as well.
I looked at the other people who seemed to have difficulty walking and such and I felt like the two of us really should have walked/hiked instead of taking the trolley. But, hey, it’s a park donation.
After the fact, we did the free, self-paced, guided audio tour of Garden of the Gods in the Travel Storys app which turned out way better than the trolley tour. First, because you can stop at the various parking lots strategically placed throughout the park to do some exploring and then, as soon as you get in the car and start moving again, the guided tour just picks back up where it left off. You really couldn’t get off the trolley so you were just stuck there. And second, because it is absolutely free. We totally could have saved the $50+ (before tip) that we spent on the trolley tour. Anyway, we just chalked it up to a donation but, if we ever do this again, we are totally skipping the trolley tour and just doing the Travel Storys audio tour instead.
Here’s our Garden of the Gods highlight reel:
We also drove to nearby Manitou Springs to check out the Manitou Spring Penny Arcade. They had all sorts of old school games that didn’t cost hardly anything to play. You could get a $5 roll of quarters and be entertained for hours.
Hands down my most favorite part of this trip was our visit to the Convergence Station (aka Meow Wolf – Denver). I am officially obsessed and want to see all of the Meow Wolf exhibits all over the nation.
Brian and I also got to drive through the Glen Eyrie Castle property. You’re not allowed in the castle unless you have an appointment so these highlights are all we got.
The most underwhelming activity of this trip was the Ghost Town Museum, which I thought would be more like Old Cowtown Museum but sadly it wasn’t anywhere close. I joked to Brian that I can see why it’s a “Ghost Town.” LOL.
Anyway, this was a great anniversary trip. I’m glad we got to go.
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Making New Pickleball Friends
Posted on October 1, 2024 by Ching under Life.
It’s interesting how pickleball brings people together who wouldn’t normally meet otherwise. Several weeks ago I got a random text from a strange number. It was a guy who recently moved to Wichita who was looking into getting more into pickleball. He said he got my number from Brian Harshman. So then I text Brian and ask him if this guy who just texted me from a strange number is legit and he sends me a screen capture of Joan Grosset, new Assistant Tennis Coach at Wichita State. Brian was pretty much like, he’s legit but I probably wouldn’t Venmo him any money just to be safe. LOL.
Since Brian, who I respect and think highly of, vouched for him, I happily set up a couple of games for him that same weekend. Joan Grosset, who goes by Jay, turned out to be a friendly, super nice, French guy. We played with Tiffany and Donnie Lesparance at the 13th Street Sports Park in Andover on Saturday morning and that same evening we played with Krystal Fosnight and Trung Ho-Nguyen at the Wichita State courts.
With Donnie and Tiffany
With Krystal and Trung
I somehow managed to convince Jay to sign up for the IPN mini tournament at Riverside on Sunday and, as luck would have it, Ariana Raga (also an assistant coach at WSU) and Brady Matthews (assistant coach at Newman) also signed up to play the same day. They all knew each other but Brady and Ariana, who signed up together, didn’t know Jay would be there and Jay certainly didn’t know that the two of them had signed up to play as well. It was a wonderful surprise when they all saw each other on Sunday morning. The wildest thing about that Sunday morning IPN session – Ariana and Jay ended up getting paired together for the bracket play and obliterated everyone. As one would expect.
Sunday IPN at Riverside – September 1, 2024
A couple of weeks ago, we had space in the Chicken N Pickle ambassador open play. None of the guys RSVP’d so we turned it into an all ladies session and opened it up to others (non-ambassadors). I invited Ariana so she could meet the other ladies. It turns out she knows a couple of pickleball players like Anna Le (who played with us that night) and Laryssa Booth (from the KC area) because they all went to Newman together. It truly is a really small world.
With Yokkie at 13th Street Sports Park
Speaking of meeting new people, I also recently met Yokkie Mahajaroenkul. This was super exciting because a few years back (maybe three years ago now), Tiffany was telling me about her and how amazing she is. Anyway, she ended up moving back home to Thailand so I never had the opportunity to meet her. She recently moved back and I ended up meeting her when another pickleball friend, Sam Tope, set up a session at the 13th Street Sports Park. I told her that I had heard so much about her from my friend Tiffany so I was super excited that we finally got a chance to meet. She truly is amazing. I just love how pickleball brings people together!
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Who Doesn’t Love Thai Food?
Posted on September 30, 2024 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Well, actually, Brian doesn’t so we rarely (if at all) go to any Thai places together. I usually either have to get it on GrubHub or just go by myself. Recently, I got to check out a couple of Thai restaurants.
A few month ago, my favorite Thai restaurant that I’ve never been to, Chiangmai, opened a location in Andover. I’d actually never been to the original restaurant, which is located on the South side of Wichita. I have only ever eaten their food by ordering through GrubHub and having it delivered to the house. I was so obsessed that, when I was working remotely three days a week, I was ordering Chiangmai at least once a week. I was so excited when they finally opened a location in Andover, which is less than ten minutes from our house.
Of course, Brian isn’t particularly into Thai food so I had to go check it out by myself. Here are some pics.
The other Thai restaurant I recently tried is Tuptim That, next to the Best Buy on Rock Road. I went last month when I took my friend Susie Ternes out for a birthday lunch treat and asked her to pick the location. I was so excited when she chose a Thai restaurant because I rarely ever get to eat Thai food.
Here are pics of the menu to browse a head of time for when you decided to go.
It’s super easy to tell which is Susie’s and which is mine because I always get the same thing every time I go to a Thai restaurant (except for Thai House because I have a different favorite there). I always get the yellow curry with chicken and potatoes. So good!
For dessert we got sticky rice with mango. Sticky rice is like suman, a Filipino dessert thing. I actually have a tough time calling suman dessert because we eat it for breakfast too. Anyway, it brings back memories so it was nice to be able to have it for dessert during our lunch.
If anyone ever wants to go grab some Thai food, hit me up. I know I want to go to Thai Tradition soon because I haven’t been there in ages. Let me know if you want to go and let’s make it happen!
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Social Tap
Posted on September 30, 2024 by Ching under Food and Drink.
The Social Tap Drinkery on the WSU campus is one of our absolute favorite spots. It’s specially nice when the weather is beautiful and you can sit out on the patio and enjoy the sunset. Here are some pictures of some of our favorite things to get there.
You can find more of our faves here.
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Greater Grounds
Posted on September 23, 2024 by Ching under Food and Drink.
There’s a brand new coffee shop downtown that opened earlier this year called Greater Grounds. They don’t have the best coffee but the coffee is pretty good there. What I do like best about this place is the interior decor. It is hands-down the cutest coffee shop in all of Wichita. If you are thinking of going on a coffee date, catch up with a friend, or just a nice new spot to work remotely, you must check this place out! Here are some pics…
The fake trees are not just cute and decorative but they also provide a touch of privacy to each table. So it doesn’t feel like you’re shoulder to shoulder with the people next to you.
Here’s the menu:
Here’s the WiFi password for those who want to do some work:
And a selection of coffee cocktails for after work (or your day off):
This place is THE cutest place to have coffee in Wichita. If you’re not in for a quickie and actually have a bit of time to spare, then go check this place out. At least go now while downtown parking is still free. LOL.
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