If your backyard entertainment is starting to get stale — you're bored of endless rounds of corn hole and bocce ball doesn't hold the allure it once did — I think you'll enjoy perusing our picks for some new sports to try. Perhaps in a bit of desperation, our family took up pickleball last spring during the pandemic. The teams were not even. One team (born in the last century) consistently lost, usually badly. But it was actually a lot of fun for both teams and surprisingly invigorating, given that viewed from afar, pickleball looks like giant, rather slow ping pong.
Writer Will Maupin shares the details on pickleball and three other lesser-known sports (page 8) that have a low bar for entry and can provide, depending on who's playing, either pretty vigorous exercise or a whole lot of laughs.
We also check in with homeowners who are stewarding some of Spokane's historic homes into the future (page 16). With temperamental carpentry and decades-old masonry, these old buildings often require a gentle touch when it comes to making them livable for today's families. As Carrie Scozzaro writes, for those willing to offer that care, there can be financial advantages.
For our Food section, we were lucky to catch up with chef Travis Dickinson just as his restaurant, Cochinito, co-owned with Justin Curtis, nabbed "Best Tacos" in this year's Inlander readers poll. He shares a rich and satisfying recipe for elote, a Mexican street food (page 31) — perfect for savoring that end-of-summer corn on the cob.
Cheers!
