Here, There and Everywhere: Kansas City, MO

This week were were in Kansas City, MO. I have spent time here in the past, and it's a pretty cool place. Lots to do, tons of hotels, restaurants, jazz clubs, etc. Kevin and I decided to kind of take it easy, but I still got out and did a few things around town. However, I have become horrible at taking pictures, especially when it's just the two of us.

We went to a few GREAT places to eat that I actually found on restaurant.com. I spend a lot of time (because I have too much of it) looking up the restaurants on the website and then googlemapping them to see if we can walk to any that look decent. This week we went to an awesome old tavern-like place called The Majestic, and a place that only served local food that was a little hipster-ish, called The Westside Local. The Majestic had a Sunday Jazz Brunch we were planning on going back to, but that didn't happen. We had unreal prime rib at The Majestic and amazing steaks and burgers (and deviled eggs as an app?) at The Westside Local.

We stayed at the Hotel Phillips, which I have always liked. We actually got two connecting rooms at this hotel (which we call having an "apartment") and they were HUGE. The two of them together were literally almost the size of my condo. Let me tell you, it was really nice to have my own bathroom for a whole week. :)

On Wednesday, we decided to go to the famous BBQ joint called Arthur Bryant's. It's been on the Food Network, famous people have been there, etc. I had been there before, and I wasn't too impressed going back. It was just OK. Then we walked to the famous 18th and Vine area of the city and visited the American Jazz Museum and the Negro Baseball League Museum. Both for $10! What a deal. 19th and Vine was the area of Kansas City where jazz was "born". At one point in time, there were over 100 jazz clubs in this tiny section of town. Unfortunately now there are just a few, and most of the buildings are falling apart. I actually learned a lot that day, and enjoyed all of the interactive exhibits they had at the Jazz Museum. Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Cab Calloway... it was great. I wish I would have learned more about jazz from Poppy when he was around because I really enjoy it. I guess better late than never!