West YMCA and Zumba Update
Posted on August 25, 2025 by Ching under Health, Zumba.
It’s been a while since I posted about Zumba. I’m still teaching classes. Currently in my 13th year in the Zumba Instructor Network (ZIN). However, I’m only teaching one class a week right now. It’s at West YMCA on Wednesdays at 6:30 PM. The time slot works perfectly for me because Wednesday night is when beginner open play is at West YMCA so I can invite my friends who are new to pickleball to come for beginner open play at 5:00 PM and join me for Zumba at 6:30 PM. When I rejoined the YMCA group exercise team a couple of years ago (because I quit the Y for a while – well, technically I didn’t quit – when they laid everyone off during COVID, I didn’t didn’t return like many others did because I was super into pickleball at that time and I didn’t want to be too busy to play), that was the time slot that was available. Things just kind of lined up with the pickleball schedule because it was meant to be. LOL.
Incidentally, I get a break from my Zumba class this week because they are refinishing the studio floors. Our Group Ex Coordinator at West, Sheila, offered to let me teach in the Pickle Center (old basketball gym that is now being used for full-time pickleball) or the turf, but I passed. The pickleball floors in the Pickle Center and the turf are not idea for all the twisting and turning that happens in Zumba so I decided to the much-needed break.
Here’s the group exercise schedule at the West YMCA this week for those who, unlike me, DO NOT want to take a break:
Speaking of West YMCA, I actually have the best parking this year. I had the winning bid for it in the silent auction last year so I get to enjoy this awesome parking until June 30, 2026. I didn’t realize they put my sign up until I went back to teach class after our cruise. Since I’m really only at the West YMCA on Wednesday evenings, I told my friends they could use my parking on the other days. Although, I don’t really know that anyone has taken me up on this offer.
I extended the same offer to anyone subbing my class, on days that I can’t teach. Obviously, I’m not going to be there and won’t need my parking spot. LOL.
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Sharps Scratch Kitchen
Posted on August 18, 2025 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.
Final day in Seattle was pretty uneventful. Some of the folks in our group opted to go to the Space Needle. The rest of us just chilled at the hotel. Mom and dad went to lunch at Sharps and then did some sight-seeing after. Brian and I did a late lunch/early supper at Sharps with his parents.
It came highly recommended by hotel staff and had great Google reviews. Also, the hotel could shuttle us to the restaurant for free to that was definitely a helpful deciding factor. We opted to go for an early supper because that mean happy hour prices and, if you know me, then you know I love a good deal.
Here are some food pics…
I guess that’s it for all the food we ate on this trip. Our last vacation meal was breakfast on the flight home the next day, which was actually not bad and worthy of its own photos.
Flying first class is a luxury that I wish we could afford more often. But hey, at least we are getting to travel, which is a luxury that is not afforded to most so no complaints here. Till the next trip!
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Victoria and then Back to Seattle
Posted on August 11, 2025 by Ching under Travel.
I know. I can’t believe I’m still posting about our Alaska cruise a month later. I promise this is the last installment. I just couldn’t fit everything into a single post and so here we are, five weeks later, still talking about our trip.
Victoria, British Columbia was our final port before returning to Seattle. It wasn’t really a sight-seeing port because we were only docked there for three hours, and we didn’t even get there until 8 PM. There were excursions offered to the Butchart Gardens but, after considering the time it takes to get there, you really would only have 15-20 minutes to explore the gardens before they closed for the day. We didn’t think it would be worth it so Brian and I just opted to do our own exploring. I saw on the map that Fishermans Wharf was only a 15-minute walk from the port so we did that instead.
We thought about not even getting off the ship, which is what my mom and dad did. They just stayed on a the ship and had a nice dinner. We wanted to get off the ship to get our passports stamped but they don’t even do that. I don’t think they even looked at our passport on our way back. At least we got a stamp from the Yukon Suspension Bridge when we were in Skagway. We were really hoping for some more passport stamps, though.
So we got off the ship and walked over to Fishermans Wharf. It’s not a bad walk but it got pretty chilly as the sun set. Neither of us were dressed for the cool weather because the forecast was 73 degrees, but that was the high. We were ding dongs in not taking into account we would be there in the evening and we failed to consider that the temperature would drop significantly once the sun was gone.
We got there just as shops were closing.
The house boats were really cool though.
The water taxis also looked cool. I wish we had ridden in it. I don’t even care where it went. It would have been fun just to ride.
We wanted to try this Mexican seafood place and this crab shack but both were closing up already. Plus, it was getting colder and colder. So, after poking around the wharf and snapping a few pics, we decided it was time to walk back.
It seemed kind of silly to only stop somewhere for three hours so Brian and I looked into this. Apparently, there is a US law called the Passenger Vessel Services Act (PVSA) that requires foreign-flagged ships traveling between US ports to make a stop in a foreign port. For cruises from Seattle, Victoria is a convenient pit stop to meet this requirement.
It’s super close to Seattle also. After leaving Victoria around midnight, we were back in Seattle by morning for debarkation. Debarkation was pretty smooth and we were off the ship in no time. I feel like waiting for the shuttle to our hotel took longer than actually getting off the ship.
Okay, so I lied. I probably will have one more post because I want to tell you about this really good restaurant close to our hotel that we ate dinner at the night before flying home. So come back for that post.
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Ketchikan, Alaska
Posted on August 4, 2025 by Ching under Travel.
View of Ketchikan from our cabin balcony.
First stop – coffee.
Then shopping.
Then sightseeing.
One of my favorite parts was finding the bar, which Jay couldn’t even remember the name of the bar at first, where Jay had left a sticker on a previous trip years ago. We found it just by them remembering its location. It turned out to be Totem Bar. He left a few more stickers there and other spots in Ketchikan. It’ll be fun doing a little scavenger hunt and looking for his stickers on future trips.
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Juneau, Alaska
Posted on July 26, 2025 by Ching under Travel.
We didn’t get to spend a lot of time in Juneau but we got the experience of a lifetime with our helicopter and dog-sledding tour (see video above for highlights).
We started the day with a hearty breakfast from the dining room.
We did a little bit of sight-seeing off our cabin balcony before heading off the ship.
Our group actually went on a few different excursions at this port. Most of our group, including mom and dad, went on a whale-watching excursion with Jay and Becca. The Culvers went on a helicopter tour and glacier walk on Mendenhall Glacier. Brian’s parents and Brian and I went on a helicopter tour and dog-sledding adventure. We all had to wait in the same area for our tour guides, though.
Hanging out with the Culvers (Sandy and Lorin), while waiting for our respective helicopter tours… Theirs was through Temsco Helicopters and ours was through NorthStar Trekking.
You basically just look for one of these guys when you get off the ship in order to find your transport for your excursion.
We followed him to the bus and, after a short 10-minute ride, we arrived at NorthStar. Most of the tour employees/guides were practically kids. Here’s the guy who gave us the safety briefing…
Here’s our cute helicopter pilot…
They crammed 6 of us (7 if you count our pilot) into a tiny helicopter. You forget how cramped you feel while looking at the amazing views, though. I’m not even going to bother posting pictures we took from the helicopter on here because the pictures just do not do the landscapes any justice.
Here are a couple of pictures of Brian as we were getting ready to hop on the sleds.
Here’s a picture of us with Redman, our guide.
It was a great experience overall, despite our sled crashing. The sled in front of us was holding Brian’s parents and Redman and then they attached another sled with a seat, which is where I was, and then Brian standing behind me. I guess Redman couldn’t counter-balance Brian’s parents (both seated on the sled with him standing behind them) so their sled ended up toppling over. Thankfully, no one was hurt. We ended up re-configuring with me in the front sled and Brian’s dad in the back sled with Brian before continuing and it was better after that.
Brian tried to get GoPro footage of the experience but the GoPro was acting up. We didn’t get much of the excursion. But it’s all in my brain so I’ll remember it forever. What an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience!
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