Adventures in Topeka

The weather was beautiful today, and I’m happy that we got to go out and take advantage of it. Jon hurt his back yesterday and it still wasn’t feeling great this morning, so we were going to hold off on any adventures until tomorrow. Unfortunately, the forecasted temperature for tomorrow is about forty degrees colder than today. Just getting to the car to get to MHK is going to be a challenge.

After taking some ibuprofen, Jon decided he was up to trying to get out and about, even with a sore back. After stopping for a quick breakfast, we rolled along to Topeka.

Our first couple destinations were shopping stops for clothes, first for Jon and then for me. I was in need of a new pair of pants, and I managed to find a pair at Lane Bryant that were the right size and the right length. I probably could have ordered another pair, but I figure one is good for now. I also picked up some frilly, girly items because apparently, I have a girly side sometimes.

We thought about seeing a movie at the second run theater, but there was nothing we wanted to wait around for, so we headed to the zoo. Our original plan was to walk both the zoo and Gage Park, but we ended up just getting through the zoo before Jon’s back needed a rest and some more ibuprofen. The animals were pretty lazy today, but the walk was nice. The highlight was probably the baby orangutan. He was so cute, though his mama didn’t seem too thrilled to be on display.

Our original plan for lunch was to go to Jersey Mike’s for a sub, but when we got to the one downtown, we found that it was closed. After walking down the street, we found a restaurant and pub that was open…and we were the first patrons of the day.

Jon’s lunch: “Bangers and Mashed”

Brisket sandwich and potato soup

Jon’s food was delicious and my soup was really good. I took a chance with the brisket, since I know not everyone makes brisket perfectly. I was a little disappointed. The flavor was good, but the meat was tough. I really need to remember to stick to burgers when I go to a pub. Still, for a serendipitous find, it was a pretty okay meal.

For dessert, we walked over to Hazel Hill chocolates and picked up a few small treats. Not sure if we can do that more than once very so often. It was pricey. Then we made a quick stop at Walgreens and headed back home.

Our adventures didn’t end there, though. We came home and chilled for a bit. I still have some mystery caches that need solving, so I watched a couple Christmas movies while Jon took a nap. We were going to walk to Subway for dinner, but by the time we got around to it, it was dark and I was worried about hidden ice, so we drove instead. Even though we’d walked the zoo, I hadn’t met my step goal for the day, so I talked Jon into walking a lap with me at the rec center. It wasn’t overly cold, but by the end of the walk, parts of the parking lot had started getting slippery again, so we had to proceed with caution.

The walk and the drive home gave us the chance to finally get some pictures of the pretty Christmas lights that Wamego put up for the holidays. Though I didn’t celebrate Christmas in a huge way this year, I love the park decorations the city rolls out for the season.

The extra walk helped me hit my step goal, and I got to enjoy a few more hours of the outdoors before tomorrow’s cold hits again.

All in all, it was a good day. I still didn’t get my whole to-do list done, but I’m okay with that. Tomorrow will be organizing and getting ready for the coming week and the new year. Grocery shopping, laundry, and gym are all on the horizon for tomorrow.

Happy Saturday!

A.

Slots, Putts, and Kicks

I think the days of lazy weekends are officially diminishing.  In follow up to yesterday’s activity, we ended up going out and doing more stuff today.  I was wide awake at 7am but let Jon sleep in longer. Still, we were out of the house before 9.

The plan was to go to Topeka to buy shoes and maybe geocache, but I realized that we’d have some time to kill because the mall didn’t open until later, and I’d only seen a few caches on the list.  I remembered that yesterday we picked up a trackable that came with a message that it “wanted” to visit casinos, so I suggested we go out to Prairie Bend.

We decided to each spend 20 dollars, and I hit the quarter slots per the usual. My money disappeared in a hot minute.  When I was done, I went to find Jon. In the tradition of his lucky streak, his machine was going nuts. He hit for almost 400 bucks. We cashed out and ran, not even tempted to stay and return it. We decided to use the winnings for the day’s spendings, deciding that whatever was leftover would go into our travel account.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to find any caches in that area, so we still have the trackable, but hopefully we’ll get that way again. I should clarify – there are caches that way, but our signal was bad and we hadn’t had the foresight to save any beforehand.  We did find a couple caches near the mall, and we pinpointed where a couple other ones were, but there were too many muggles. For our next trip to Topeka, we’ll go super early again to hit those ones up, then kill time at the zoo or something.  The ones we found were micros…no room for a trackable.

The stores in the mall hadn’t yet opened when we got there, but the mall itself was open so we walked around and got a snack. We split a cinnamon roll from Subway. It wasn’t great and probably not worth a recommendation, though maybe other Subways have better ones? I won’t recommend them from the Subway in the Topeka mall, at any rate.

When things finally did open up, we went and played a round of Lunar Golf (located on the second floor of the mall, if anyone is interested).  I won, which was my one victory for the day since Jon was the casino winner and spotted both caches.

 

We only played one round (even though you can play up to three on one admission) before heading to the shoe store and picking up new walking shoes for both of us. I did some looking back in Instagram to pinpoint when I’d bought my last pair, and it had been about 18 weeks. To me, that felt like a really short time, but it was about average for walking shoes, I think, and I had put a lot of miles on those ones. I probably don’t need to justify how long I had them…they were starting to hurt my legs and feet because they’d worn down so much…but it’s kind of interesting to know how far they’ve come.

For my new shoes, I went with New Balance runners. They’re really light and comfy. I wore them to the gym today, which wasn’t a long time to break them in, but I’m not sure if they’re going to need a lot of breaking in.

 

Jon was also able to find a good pair of walkers on clearance. They’re one of the minimal types, which works for him since he hates wearing anything on his feet other than flip flops…and if they’d let him walk barefoot everywhere, I’m pretty sure he’d ditch those too.  Unfortunately, the store didn’t carry any hiking type shoes, but I think we’ll be okay with what we have.

From there we headed to Red Lobster. I went with the maple glazed chicken and roasted veggies. Not sure why I went with the veggies…I hate veggies. But I was craving them, and they were okay when eaten with pilaf and chicken.

We controlled ourselves and managed to not eat three baskets of cheddar biscuits…but it was tempting. It was a good meal and I didn’t overstuff, so that was good. The only iffy part was that RL has little booths, which I generally avoid for obvious reasons. But the working out and activity was beneficial because sitting in one was not bad at all.

Jon ended up taking some of his meal to go, so we stopped back at home to drop it off before heading to MHK to do laundry and go to the gym. The laundromat was busy, likely because the students are back for the fall semester, so our plans of playing Dungeon Roll while we waited for our clothes was thwarted.  To kill time, we went to Radina’s on the Hill and had drinks: lemonade for him, an iced cafe mocha for me.  I was in my own little world and didn’t notice my friend, V, sitting there reading until she noticed us on our way out. We chatted for a bit, but we had to go get our laundry and I have a phobia of leaving our clothes too long unattended (if you’re reading this, V, we’ll have to get together and catch up soon!).

Due to the fact that the evening was getting later, we ended up going to the gym while the clothes dried, back to get them when we were done, and then back to pick up some things at the store. Yeah, it was extra driving, but it didn’t seem like a huge deal considering all the driving we’ve done anyway this weekend.  Once we made it home, I played DI:R for about an hour, then put the clothes away, finishing in record time. Once this post is done, I’m going to have watermelon and some cherry juice for dinner and watch a little more of The Missing, then it’s shower and sleep.

Next weekend probably won’t be as active since it’s Fall Juice Fast 2013 weekend and we’re going to stay safely put in the house for the most part. However, there will be house cleaning and extraneous item purging and probably some gaming…all in the air conditioned back room if this heat keeps up. We’ll make the most of it though. We always do.

A.

 

Some People Do Go for the Wings

Allergies and all, I survived my day in Topeka yesterday. I messed up and threw myself even more of a challenge when I got starry eyed over some medicine deals at Walgreens and completely forgot to look for something non-drowsy. Luckily, I remained functional and didn’t fall asleep at the wheel.

We hit a local joint called Juice Stop for a smoothie breakfast and a stuffed pretzel (because I never get the opportunity to indulge in those) and I tried a shot of wheatgrass. It was grassy. I showed my ignorance by originally asking for it in my smoothie, but the staff was nice and set me straight on the fact that most people do shots and it would make a fruit smoothie taste like the ground. I’m glad they gave me the info.

Sadly, this was the only adventure I was able to catch a pic for on this trip because I forgot to charge my phone overnight (this really isn’t my best weekend, mentally). Not really a big deal, though, since Topeka is a short drive and we’re already planning on going back to the Topeka Zoo, which was our second stop. I’ve heard mixed reviews about this zoo, and they all have merit. It was nice seeing some of the animals we don’t have in MHK, but everything felt a little dirty. Then again, it was raining and hot and muggy, so that might have contributed to it. All the animals were out, lazing around and doing as little as possible. We got the once over from a gorilla named Tiffani, and even though the zoo said we might be lucky enough to see it via a “sign” on their window, we missed out on seeing the mating of the tigers.

The third stop was to buy clothes for Jon. Nothing especially exciting happened there.

Our fourth stop was unplanned and mostly a means to kill time until the movie theater opened, but it was well worth the side trip. We checked out the Kansas Museum of History which included an exhibit on retro and antique furniture, a huge train that triggered my claustrophobia when I tried to walk through it, and all kinds of neat historical stuff. I’d actually like to go back and get pictures from there sometime.

We had lunch at Hooters, another new food experience for me. The food was delicious. I had one of the best grilled chicken sandwiches I’ve ever had. I realize people make Hooters jokes and all, and I guess I thought it would be a little more risque than it was. But it wasn’t uncomfortable and the service was good.

Our last Topeka stop was to the West Ridge 8 second run theater. It has been years since I’ve been to a “cheap seat” theater. Jon and I opted for different movies. He went with the newest Fast and the Furious flick and I went to see The Purge. In my last post, I complained about people talking , but for  two dollars, a lot can be overlooked. I was lucky in that there wasn’t a lot of talking in my theater, and what there was seemed fairly appropriate, including the moment when the theater was silent and after a pivotal scene in the movie, another movie goer said “Moron” out loud in reference to one of the characters. It was funny because I’m pretty sure everyone else was thinking the same thing. There was also a scene at the end of the movie where everyone busted out laughing. Humor aside…especially because it wasn’t supposed to be a funny movie…I enjoyed it. I didn’t so much enjoy the theater seats which leaned back way too far, but again, for two bucks, I dealt with it. And we’ll probably go back.

We drove home in more rain, made a Baskin Robbins stop, and came back to the house where we watched “Knocked Up” and part of “Sharknado,” which I’m sure will get its own post. Overall, it was a fun  and active day and even though we did a lot of walking, my soreness and stiffness is at a minimum.

A.

Friday Night Storms and Weekend Allergies

I’d debated going to see The Conjuring last night, but it didn’t happen.  The main reason was that once I got to my friend’s house, the AC and her super comfy couch were so inviting, I didn’t want to leave. The secondary reason was that it was opening night and I usually try to avoid crowds at the movie theater. Besides the social anxiety (which hasn’t been much of an issue as of late), watching the movie with a crowd leads to a greater chance of sitting near someone who does nothing but talk the whole movie.  When I went to see “Mama” several months ago, I actually moved seats because the people behind me wouldn’t shut it. I could still hear them five rows up. Last week at Pacific Rim, there was a parent who’d brought their  child to the theater. Don’t get me wrong…kids at a certain age are fine, and it’s actually kind of funny when they’re into the movie and get caught asking a question out loud about it. This kid? Not into the movie and not even of an age to say actual words.  Toddler babbling during a movie does not add to the experience in a positive way.

It’s also sad when a person pays for a movie and then can’t leave their cell phone off or pocketed for two hours. Yes, that’s directed at you, Guy Who Sat A Few Seats Down From Me and Had Their Phone Out Almost the Whole Time. Sorry to nitpick, but the glare from your screen was annoying. You made me want to throw something at your face.

So it seemed easier all around to stay at the house, and it was nice. I finished a book, I took a couple videos of the hail storm that came out of nowhere, and I played on the internet. My revised plans had loosely included going to the gym before picking Jon up at the game store, but then I had a flash of brilliance. My friend has Zumba DVDs, and I figured that the training video would be okay. I’d be moving and learning and no one would be around to see how silly I look trying to do Zumba. That happened for about 15 minutes before I gave up to watch the ending of the movie “Twister.”  Like eating kale, I will eventually either come to terms with Zumba and own it, or I will stop trying and accept the fact that it’s not meant to be. This may be a lengthy process.

The storms were rolling in while I was driving to town to pick Jon up and they hit their hardest just as we got back. They lasted for five minutes and then rolled away. Fairly anticlimactic, but I guess that’s what happens. I think they’re calling for more today, so it’s still debatable whether or not we’ll make it to the zoo.

This morning is rough. My cough seems to be getting worse and my throat itches. Before we head to Topeka, I’ll be stopping at Walgreens to get some Benadryl and cough drops. I want to enjoy my day, not spend it hacking up a lung. Oh sure, I could just stay home and rest and recover, but I’m a glutton for punishment. Besides, I’ve been looking forward to this weekend for a very long week. Come hell or high water, I’m going to enjoy it.

A.