Another great weekend in Kansas City. Then again, aren’t all weekends in Kansas City great? At least when you’re visiting there. This trip was made more fun by it being the first full-family trip to KC in over three years. For my readers who weren’t involved in the weekend festivities, here’s a little run-down of what we did.
We drove over Friday. Had great weather and easy traffic the whole way. We marveled at how quiet our girls were when everyone has their own screen in front of them. The girls were basically silent for the first half of the trip, until we stopped in St. Louis for lunch. Then they remained quiet until we reached Concordia. Then they started getting a little antsy and ready to get out of the car.
We cruised into our hotel on the Plaza, relaxed for a bit, then headed straight to the original Joe’s barbecue location.[1] The girls had Joe’s three years ago, and were excited to have it again. But this was their first trip to the 47th and Mission gas station location. Luckily, since we rolled in at about 4:45 local time, there was a minimal line and we were able to snag a table big enough for us all to sit comfortably. Both S and M had pulled pork sandwiches, but C and L decided to split a half slab of ribs! Which actually meant they split half of a half slab and I knocked out the rest after finishing off my Z-Man. All-in-all, it was a fine meal enjoyed by all.
We walked around on the Plaza a little after, the girls got some dessert, and we made a stop at Rally House so the girls could get some gear for the Royals game Sunday. L really wanted a jersey. I was pushing a shirsey, pointing out if she got a t-shirt she’d likely get something else over the weekend. Nope, she wanted a real jersey. Then we had to pick a player. The kid options in light blue were Eric Hosmer, Salvador Perez, and Alex Gordon. She was leaning toward Hosmer until I told her he wouldn’t be a Royal after this season. She debated between Salvy and Alex before picking Alex. I didn’t have the heart to tell her he’s having a terrible year. She loved the jersey and that’s all that really mattered. Then we headed back to the hotel so they could swim for a bit.
Saturday the girls wanted to go to the Nelson Atkins museum. Kind of an odd request, no? Well C and L follow some YouTube family that lives near KC and had visited the glass maze at some point. The girls just made the connection a couple weeks ago, when I was explaining the shuttlecock statues to them, and suddenly they wanted to go to the museum. They thought the maze was pretty cool, didn’t really get the shuttlecocks,[2] and weren’t nearly as impressed by the Asian temple exhibit inside as I was when I was their age and visited on school field trips. Oh well, I was just excited they wanted to go to an art museum. And I think it’s awesome the Nelson is still free. It would be about $50 for me to take them to our local art museum if we don’t go during the four hour free entry window each Thursday.
After the Nelson we met an aunt, uncle, and cousin for lunch at Ponak’s on the Boulevard. We drove them by the Roasterie and Boulevard plants on the way. They thought the plane outside the Roasterie was pretty cool, but didn’t seem as interested in the location where a significant percentage of the beer I drink comes from. They loved Ponak’s, though! “THAT WAS SOOOOO GOOD!” Back in the day I would have put Ponak’s 4th or 5th on my list of favorite spots on the Boulevard. When I told them that, it just confused them.
After that, off to our first big group gathering at our friends the B’s, who moved out to Lake Quivira six months ago. Good times in and around the water well into the evening.
Sunday, we had brunch with a couple of S’s friends from residency and their families. More good food and catching up.
From there it was out to the K for the girls first Major League Baseball game with a group of 20 or so. Thank goodness we picked seats just under the overhang, because we got stuck in a two hour rain delay and only got a little water blown our way. That delay challenged all the kids that were there, especially since they kept the tarp on a good 30 minutes after the rain stopped. But today L told me she liked the delay, because we got to walk around and do some other things during, and it made our stay at the K last longer. But the game kind of sucked. 8–0 losses are tough to sit through regardless of your age and the weather. The girls had fun, though, and no doubt will be telling all their friends here about going to an MLB game.
On our way back to the hotel I stopped and got Planet Sub for dinner. Which meant I had to bore the girls with the story of how I had Yello Sub for the first time in August 1989, ordered a Yello Sub with no Dijon, and other than a brief stretch in the early 00s when I dined there frequently and varied what I ordered, the Yello/Planet sub minus Dijon has been my go-to meal there for nearly 30 years now. Hey, just because they don’t enjoy hearing the story doesn’t mean I’m going to stop telling it! A little more swimming topped off the night.
Our drive home Monday was uneventful. Thankfully all the big slowdowns on I–70 were westbound and we made it home before the evening rush hit in Indy.
As always, it was too quick of a trip. It was great seeing so many people, but the conversations never feel as deep or long as they would be if we didn’t have 150 kids running around and yelling the entire time. The girls had a really good time. M seemed to pick right up with the her two seventh-grade-to-be friends she hadn’t seen in several years. Some of the younger friends followed C around and thought she was the coolest. And L slid right in with the older boys, playing basketball with them[3] and sitting with them at the game Sunday.
For those of you we got to see, thanks for making time to hang out with us. I wish our conversations could have been longer and with fewer interruptions. For those we missed, hopefully it won’t be too long before we make a return visit and we can try again then.