Wes & Erica's trip to Kansas City, KS. (pt.1)

My actual wedding anniversary is April 27th... my more important "El-versary" (aka when Wes & I took a road trip to Las Vegas to get our vows renewed by an awesome Elvis impersonator) is October 8th. A few weeks ago, we decided to take another road trip to celebrate our El-versary. We didn't go as far as Las Vegas, though. Instead we drove to Kansas City.

Wes saw an episode of Anthony Bourdain's show that highlighted a bar-b-que restaurant in Kansas City, KS. The restaurant was Joe's Kansas City (formerly Oklahoma Joe's) BBQ. One of their star attractions is a plate of burnt ends of brisket. Wes was sold & I'm always up for going out of town, so off we went!

Looks like I'm at the airport but it's just a gas station.

Kansas City was a very manageable five-hour drive. (words I never thought in a million years would be put together: "manageable" and "five-hour drive" LOL) Maybe it's because I've never driven to Kansas before so the scenery was interesting. Or maybe it's because the Kansas Turnpike has zero cops so everyone got to drive 90 mph. Or maybe it was the Travel Plazas we encountered every 20 miles or so. They are ginormous gas stations with a connected Dunkin' Donuts/Hardees. I got a raspberry iced coffee at one of these Travel Plazas. One of Wes' friends is always talking about how tasty coffee is with raspberry syrup added. No one believes him but I had to try it for myself. It wasn't bad. It tasted like raspberry iced tea. I don't know what happened to the coffee flavor.

Anyway, we finally got to Joe's around lunchtime and the line was out the door! It was totally worth it when we got our food. We both got the lunch special- a plate of burnt ends on toast and one side. I got it with their Kansas Caviar, which was a cold vegetable salad with lime dressing. I actually liked my Kansas Caviar more than the burnt ends. But the burnt ends were still really good. I had some leftover and it was still good when I reheated it a few days afterward. Wes enjoyed the food, too. (I asked him for his insight and his opinion and he just answered with "It was good.")

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We finished lunch around 2pm but our hotel check-in time wasn't until 4pm. What to do for two hours? I wanted to go to the Farmer's Market but it closed at 2pm. I also wanted to go to the Overland Park Arboretum & Botanical Gardens but it was 1. hot outside, 2. half an hour away, and 3. closing in a few hours. We decided to drive the five minutes into Missouri and hang out at the Country Club Plaza. When we drove across the border, the GPS on Wes' phone welcomed us into Missouri. I found it amusing.

The buildings are modeled after architecture of Seville, Spain.

The Country Club Plaza is a huge 15 block long shopping district. This is where people with money go to buy their wares. High end retail shops EVERYWHERE... Michael Kors, BCBG Max Axria, kate spade, even a Tesla Motors with fancy cars on display on the sidewalk. I enjoyed window shopping but was not in the financial state to splurge. The Customer Service office offered out-of-towners a Passport shopping guide that promised a free souvenir tote bag if $150 in purchases were made.  I bought a few things here and there but only spent $100. 

We walked around and explored a good handful of stores. I didn't buy anything crazy or exotic. A few of my favorite stores was Three Dog Bakery (because I am obsessed with buying things for Sadie & Athena) and Better Cheddar. The Better Cheddar had sooooo many samples of cheese and it took so much will-power to not try them all. Luckily, we had just finished lunch so I wasn't very hungry. The store was filled with meats & cheeses, jellies, salsas, chocolates and wine. I wanted to buy some of everything but I figured nothing in that store would travel well. 

 Oh the delicious cheeses!!

Delights for Sadie & Athena at the Three Dog Bakery. I got them some "RRRRRRibs."

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After our afternoon of shopping, Wes got himself a coffee at Scooter's (and I placed a business card on the bulletin board, see above) and we headed to the hotel. Wes booked us a room at the Intercontinental... a really plush hotel literally across the street from the Country Club Plaza. There were at least two weddings and another formal event being held at the hotel that same weekend. We were the most casually dressed couple. LOL  

A complaint I always get is that I overbook our vacations. I'm always trying to do and see every tourist attraction and the vacation no longer is a vacation because we're never relaxing. For this trip, I barely planned a thing so we got to spend the rest of the afternoon and into the early evening in our nice hotel.

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Later that night, we headed back out to the Country Club Plaza to grab dinner and explore the night life. Warning: there is no night life. LOL All of the retail stores closed at 7pm and all that was left was a few restaurants and coffee shops. We grabbed a quick dinner at Potbelly and took an evening stroll. Even though all the shops were closed, the streets were still lit up and beckoning window shoppers. We also managed to catch some live music. 

There was a group of performers named Battery Tour. They were a DJ, MC/beatboxer/singer and a few dancers. They performed "professional karoke" (I believe that's what the lady at the Customer Service desk called it). They basically did cover songs and danced around and got the audience moving. It was a fun show & they were talented kids. Being an old lady, I was sleepy by 11pm and we walked back to the hotel. It was an easy-going day of food & shopping. El-versary Day 1 complete, Day 2 to come next week!