Our Trip to Kansas City for Our 9th Anniversary

We had a great time in Kansas City! We got home yesterday afternoon after 3 days & 2 nights. We really missed Mason a lot, but he did great staying at my parent's house.

We took 222 pictures and you know I always have trouble parring them down! I tried my best to show just the highlights, but this is still one of my longest posts ever!!

DAY ONE
We got into town after a quick 3 hour drive, checked into our hotel and walked down to the Plaza for lunch at the M&S Grill. We had reserved a tour at the Boulevard Brewery for that afternoon (as far as beer goes, Wayne only drinks Boulevard Wheat anymore) so we drove straight there after lunch. It was neat to see all the equipment it takes to make beer. (spoken like a woman) There was a tasting at the end of the tour and although I'm not a beer drinker, I tried a small glass of the Summer Ale.
After the tour, we stumbled upon the National World War I Liberty Memorial but they were closing, so we got some pictures outside and vowed to return the next day.

J.C. Nichols Fountain



Having lunch


Boulevard Brewery



Outside the WWI Liberty Memorial




Dinner (we were tired!)


DAY TWO

After breakfast, we headed straight to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. I had been there before, but it was about 10 years ago. It was one of the big highlights of the trip for me! (imagine that) We got to see pieces by Monet, Van Gogh, Rodin, Gauguin, Rembrandt, Kandinsky, Caravaggio, Seurat,and Warhol, just to name a few. I was in Heaven! We then ate lunch at Fiorella's Jack Stack BBQ (rated #1, and rightly so!) and then went back to the WWI memorial. We went up in the tower (don't know how many stories, but it was very tall! Picture is above) and got a great view of the city from atop it. We had dinner at Houston's then walked around the Plaza and went on a gondola ride on the river (another highlight of the trip!)
Here I am with "Water Lillies" by Monet

Wayne browsing the European Gallery

Me with "Olive Grove" by Van Gogh

Pondering...

My Knights in Shining Armor :)

Wayne really liked this one for some reason...The Three Graces

Me with "Ra-wer" from ca. 2400 B.C.!

Anyone up for a (large) game of badminton?


The museum itself is beautiful!

"The Thinker" by Rodin

My yummy lunch

The only picture of the both of us together--the nice waiter took it!

And then he brought us this as a surprise!

On top of the Liberty Memorial




Union Station

inside Union Station

The beautiful ceiling

Some of the fountains and sculptures...

We even found a razorback in KC!



Our gondola ride on the river


I felt the urge to take a pic of the Betsey Johnson shop!


DAY THREE
We walked across the street from our hotel to the Kemper Museum of Contempoary Art. We came to realize that we aren't big fans of contemporary art, but found some neat things as well.

"Crying Giant" outside the museum

The Spider out front

Waterford glass


Almost home...


If you're still with me at this point, congrats! You made it! The longest post in history is over!!
As you can see, we really had a great time! We found ourselves saying over and over that if we ever HAD to move, that we would actually enjoy living in Kansas City! I have never said that before about anywhere! It was a beautiful city, filled with art, fountains, sculptures, and things to do. I can see us visiting again in the future...