Christie Pink in Wichita
Posted on August 19, 2024 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.
This post is dedicated to my friend Christie Pink who I first met over three years ago when Erica Case (then Lopez/Davis) played in the Middle States regional pickleball tournament. I think, at the time, this was my first every regional tournament experience.
That tournament was in May 2021 and then I saw her again in January 2022 when I traveled to St. Louis for the Dink In the New Year pickleball tournament with Tiffany and Donnie Lesperance. I played women’s doubles with Tiffany and mixed doubles with Devon Fuller. We arrived a day before the tournament and we ended up connecting with Christie and her crew at Missouri Pickleball Club.
My next notable Christie sighting was at the Minto US Open in April 2022. It was my very first US Open experience.
I got to play against Christie again in the 2022 Middle States Regional, and I think we’ve been at the same tournaments a few more times during the two years that I was playing a ton of tournaments. She was a skill level above me in women’s so, except for that first year, I hadn’t really had to face off against her in women’s but I tended to “play up” a division in mixed so I was more likely to run into her there.
Fast forward a couple of years later, she ends up going to Wichita on a business trip and reaches out to me out of the blue. She was so gracious to let Tiff, Donnie, and I play with her and her friends at MPC all those years ago so this was my turn to return the favor. She arrived on Sunday and, to make the most of her visit last month, I arranged for a couple of play sessions for us.
Our first stop was Chicken N Pickle for mixed doubles with Ramon Lozano and Ryan Kellenbarger.
I purposely chose Ramon because they had met before at the 2022 Middle States Regional. He was my partner when we played against Christie and her partner in that tournament, and so I figured they would remember each other. I invited Ryan because I needed someone who would be fun and balance Ramon.
Our next stop was open play at the Pickle Club from 5 to 7 PM with Susie Ternes and Greta Siemens. Neither of them had met Christie before but I thought they would be a good fit, and they both just happened to be available. Schedules can be difficult to coordinate sometimes.
A couple of weeks ago, when Christie was back on another work trip, her visit coincided with PickleCon, PPA Kansas City Open, OKC Picklemania so the folks that I got to play with us on her first visit were all out of town but the nice thing about Wichita is that we have an abundance of fun pickleball players so it’s pretty easy to put together a great group.
Not to be left out, Karen Fox decided she would host her own PickleCon at the Pickle Club. LOL. Our group that day consisted of Chris Wilson, Mark Armstrong, Donnie Lesperance, Tami Racine, Kimberly Howe, Tiffany Lesperance, Karen Fox, and Janelle Lindeman.
Brian brought us some Wichita Brewing Co. pizzas and a cooler of bevvies so we ended up hanging out and having a little picnic afterward which was a nice end to the evening and play session.
The next day, Christie and I had a mixed doubles session at CNP with Dustin Herman and Noi Sourinthone. For dinner that night, Brian and I took Christie to Stearman Field in Benton (sounds far but it’s really not that far from Wichita) and then we drove out to the Keeper for the Plains for iconic Wichita photo ops.
It’s been such a pleasure entertaining Christie on these two visits. I can’t wait for her return trip!
Comment on This
2024 Wichita Heart Walk
Posted on August 13, 2024 by Ching under Community.
I got invited to do the warm up for the Wichita Heart Walk this year. I remember doing the warm up for them over ten years ago so I was excited to do it again. There was a bit of miscommunication because the warm up wasn’t on the script. They had the walkers preemptively line up so we didn’t have a lot of participants but KAKE News’ Deb Farris and Jay Prater were good sports and did the warm up with me.
The best sport of all was Brian. He is the real MVP. He took me to the ballpark so I wouldn’t have to worry about finding parking. For his good deed, I took him to his favorite breakfast place. We had brunch at HomeGrown after.
Here are some pictures of our breakfast that day.
I think I got a little drunk on my breakfast beverage because I talked Brian into taking a photo of me with the Naftzger Park sign. I couldn’t help it because my outfit matched!
Comment on This
2024 Picklepalooza
Posted on August 13, 2024 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.
Pictures from this year’s Picklepalooza charity event benefiting Senior Services of Wichita. This year we had me, Chris Wilson, and Jeff and Anita Harris (as usual), and we had some new participants — Margie Happy, Ian Bosmeier, and Michael and Tish Habbart. I didn’t get photos of everyone but I did get a few.
Comment on This
More Omaha Food
Posted on August 10, 2024 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.
As we are getting ready for our trip to Colorado next week, I’m reminded that I still haven’t caught up on posting about our Omaha trip a couple of months ago.
Here are a couple of pics from Centi, a gelato shop in the Old Market District. Brian had the chocolate absolute flavor (obviously) and I had the taro flavor (purple one).
We also went to check out Lisa’s Radial Cafe. It is this diner that is kind of like a hole in the wall but had really rave reviews. It wasn’t in the best part of town but all the positive reviews outweighed Brian’s usual paranoia and we ended up going there for breakfast one morning.
The restaurant is popular with both locals and tourists alike and, having read all the fantastic reviews online, we were not surprised that there was a 30-45 minute wait when we arrived.
I think part of the appeal of the restaurant is that they offer your usual diner fare at very reasonable prices, which you don’t really find in some of the fancier areas of town like the Blackstone and Old Market districts. I think this was the cheapest meal we had during our entire trip.
And now for some food pics…
I feel like we ate a lot on this trip. Another restaurant we had the pleasure of trying was Twisted Fork Grill & Saloon.
Here are some more food pics…
Alright, that’s it for this installment. Come back next time for more on what’s going on in our lives. I’ll try to keep you all better updated going forward. Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!
Comment on This
Jackson Street Tavern
Posted on August 2, 2024 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.
The Jackson Street Tavern in the Old Market District of Omaha is one of several restaurants we got try while we were there for Brian’s birthday last month. The Old Market District is really neat. It reminds me of Wichita’s Old Town but bigger. And they have carriage rides there.
Brian and I walked around a bit after dinner and found ourselves at Fairmont Mercantile Hollywood Candy Treats & Amusements. It’s a cool, little retro candy shop with kind of a flea market vibe inside.
Not only did they sell retro candy there, but they also had all sorts of novelty items like these fun signs.
Brian and I had a ton of fun browsing the store and walking our dinner off. I highly recommend checking this place out if you’re ever in Omaha’s Old Market District.
Comment on This
