Kansas City, June 12-14

Another quick weekend trip, this time the two of us headed up to Kansas City. Had an early morning flight, got in, got our rental car (thanks, Priceline!), and headed to Arthur Bryant's for a somewhat early lunch. Pulled in the parking lot, and there was not a single license plate from either Missouri or Kansas, which amused me. Our car had Illinois plates, so we fit right in.

It was just as well we'd got there early, cause within 10 minutes the place was packed. More than a few Cards fans (the Cards were in town playing the Royals). Got piles of pork and sauce with white bread and pickles and really good fries. Not Texas BBQ, but if you know that going in, it's good. It's all about the sauce in KC (and in TX, sauce is anathema most places...an afterthought at best). But hey, my mom's from Iowa, so I'm not totally betraying my roots by liking sauce.

After lunch, we swung by Arrowhead / Kauffman Stadium...P was looking for a Chiefs team shop, but since they're doing massive construction right now there was nothing going. We stopped in at the Royals team shop so we didn't have to try to go when we went to the game the next day and then carry the stuff around with us. Got baseball cards for the nephew, a baseball for the brother-in-law, programs for the husband. Pretty much the standard baseball team shop shopping list for us :) The lady at the register said they'd stripped Kauffman stadium down to the concrete superstructure as soon as the season ended and redid everything. It's a very nice stadium.

Then we headed over to the WWI museum. We went the last time we were in KC, but they were still renovating it and hadn't opened the new section yet. It is a very well done museum.

After that we tried to go to the Boulevard Brewing Company, but the tours were all booked up and apparently you can't go in the gift shop unless you're on a tour or something...it was highly disappointing.

We headed over to our hotel to check in, Four Points by Sheraton by the airport. It was a decent hotel with really comfy beds. P got it off of Priceline. Took a nap to prepare us for the evening.

We drove out to the town of Weston, MO, to go to O'Malley's Irish Pub. They have a restaurant upstairs and a bar in what used to be an underground storage cellar with stone walls. It's a fabulous atmosphere for an Irish pub. Unfortunately for us, the pub was closed because of a wedding reception. So we settled in at a table outside at the restaurant. There was a band outside, so it was fun. O'Malley's has got into the brewing business, and we had some excellent beers from them. Their beer menu had a little description about each of their beers, and then under Guinness it said "If you need a description of this one, you're at the wrong place."

Our main quibble was that our waitress was either slammed or indifferent, cause it took absolutely forever to get refills and our food. 3 tables around us with different servers all got their orders well before we did, and only one of them had been seated before us.

After dinner we headed back toward KC and went to Harrah's. Harrah's likes me cause I visit their properties all over and lose money. It was like Harrah's just about anywhere with the exception that if you sit at the bar and play video poker you still have to pay for your drinks. Which was disappointing. We called it a night after a short visit.

The next morning, we got up and met up with Lindsay and Morgan to tailgate before the Royals game. We got out there about 10am and proceeded to talk and drink beer for hours before the 1pm start. What didn't occur to us geniuses was to put on sunscreen...so we fried just a tetch. Well, as the resident pasty white girl I did anyway. But it was a good time! Kauffman Stadium has a great baseball atmosphere.

Before we went back to the airport we had to seek out a few things: water, aloe vera, and Maid Rite. Patrick has a soft spot in his heart for them from his days in college in Iowa, and KC has one. I thought it was just ok, Patrick was in heaven. It was a good way to end the trip.

Even if I looked like this when we got back:

NOLA June 6-7

This was a quick trip, flew out Saturday morning and came home Sunday night. It was fun! Hamlet the wonder-schnauser gave us a warm welcome at the airport and we were off.

Went through the pictures from my friend's Ireland trip...I was thoroughly jealous. Then we went and had lunch at La Petite Grocery. I do not believe they are capable of serving anything bad. It was fab, yet again. Then we went over to the Quarter. I had to run into Harrah's to earn a Total Rewards point so mine didn't expire, and they found parking and looked around the aquarium while I did it. Managed to promptly turn my $20 into $100 before I'd even earned my point, so I just had to keep playing, and walked out with $150. My friends promptly declared I was buying the drinks :)

We wandered through the Quarter, stopped in the So Good jewelry store. Lots of fun flashy inexpensive stuff there. Went and got a round at Pat O'Brien's. Wandered some more, got pralines at Evans Creole Candy Factory. My best friend says to skip Aunt Sally's and come here, it's better, and I agree. Picked up Juan's Flying Burrito for dinner, had some interesting and tasty pork & pineapple & mango salsa nachos. Finished out the evening by trying out the excellent aged Jameson's my friend had brought back from Ireland and whipping out the N64 to play Tetris and Mario Kart.

Got up and went for Sunday brunch at Dante's Kitchen. I got the corned beef hash and it was very very good, but I was glad for the seemingly small portion because it was very rich and filling. We had a round of mimosas made with freshly squeezed orange juice. Ahh.

It was a good trip but short...but I'll be back there before long :)