prep[sculling]

who knew the arkansas river actually got used, let alone was home to wichita's own "frostbite" regatta.

i was amazed to find out wichita held a regatta every year, and was embarrassed to hear it was the 19th annual one at that! i egotistically pride myself in the fact i usually know everything going on in this small community, but this regatta thing took me by surprise. i guess i just don't run with the regatta/rowing/boating crowd here in town....probably because they''re all athletes. upon hearing about the regatta, i was bound and determined to check it out.

the whole event was very surreal. with all the spectators on the river banks, the boats in the river, and hundreds of rowers preparing to race, it almost didn't feel like wichita. it felt like i had accidentally step onto the campus of some ivy league school. the trees in riverside park, with their autumn wardrobes on, completed the effect. the only missing piece would have been a group of friends, named buffy, muffy, and todd, dressed in lacosta shirts, blue blazers, and topsiders. we would have strolled the shores, drinking our cape cods, discussing where we were to summer next year....

so here's to you wichita, for surprising me with a new and classy side of yourself. now, if you could, please hold another similar event, so i can wear these madras shorts one more time.