Kansas City. It’s not what immediately pops your head when you think of good vacation spots. If you’re looking for a week or two-week family vacation, …I won’t argue, Kansas City might not be the best idea. However, if you’re just looking for a quick weekend trip Kansas City has a lot to offer. What follows is my advice (as a local) to anyone interested in a weekend getaway to Kansas City.

We’ll assume that it’s a long weekend. You’ve been working hard, so you’re able to take both Thursday and Friday off. You arrange your schedule so that your car or flight arrives in KC around 5:00 or 6:00, …maybe you work half a day Thursday. I’m not going to give advice on hotels, because it would be uneducated advice. But, get to your hotel quickly and get freshened up because your tour has begun.

There are three basic things that Kansas City is famous for. Those three are blues & jazz (that counts as one), fountains, and barbeque. I’ll do my best to see that you get the full experience. Tonight, Thursday night, get ready to be thrown into the thick of it, because I’m sending you to BB’s Lawnside & Barbeque. It’s not the best barbeque in town, but the blues on Thursday nights are hard to beat.

Thursday nights at BB’s you can get a slab of ribs and two sides for under $10. It’s a great deal, not only because of the ribs, but because you also get the house band John Paul and the Flying Circus. You never know what you’re in for when you get step through the doors on a Thursday night. It can be intimidating, because everyone shares long tables, so if it’s packed you might be sitting beside someone you don’t know. Don’t worry, everyone who comes to BB’s is in a good mood and ready to enjoy the blues and some pretty good barbeque.

The music gets better the louder you yell and the longer you stay, so if you’re into the blues, you might want to plan on staying late. Around 9:30, you notice a lot of people coming in with instruments. That’s because local blues musicians come in and jam together a little after 10:00. Some of the best blues I’ve seen happens at BB’s around 11:00 after the local musicians get warmed up. Thursday night could end up being one of the highlights of your trip.

So, you’ve made it back to your hotel in one piece, and now it’s Friday morning. What’s on the agenda for today? Well, here’s my suggestion… If you have younger kids, take the day and go to the zoo. I’m definitely not a zoo connoisseur, but the KC Zoo has always seemed pleasant enough to me.

If you have teenagers, or if you’re young at heart try out Worlds of Fun, our amusement park. It’s slowly improving every year and getting to be quite good. The word I heard is that the people who own Cedar Point bought Worlds of Fun, which is why it’s been improving. You can also get a two-park pass and go from Worlds of Fun to Oceans of Fun in the same day. Oceans of Fun is (…surprise) a water park.

And, if you’re one of those boring people who are into art, you can spend your day gawking at the Nelson Art Gallery. They have a good core selection of artwork, but every now and then they’ll have an exhibit come through that is extra impressive.

In the evening, head out to the ballpark and enjoy a Royals game. The odds are…at least this year (2004) they’ll lose, but it’s always fun, in my opinion, to check out a baseball stadium when you’re in a city.

Saturday morning crawl out of bed a little early and find your way downtown to the City Market. Saturday mornings are quite enjoyable there, because the Farmer’s Market takes place. Trucks and vendors will be everywhere selling their products. You should be able to find something fresh and tasty for breakfast it you wander around a little. Buy some fruit or vegetables to snack on during your day as well.

From the City Market, head south and you’ll run into several Kansas City “must-see” locations. The first one you should check out is Union Station. It’s a free place to park and a good semi-central place for your car to be. (By the way, one perk of Kansas City is that you should never have to pay for parking, there’s always a free spot somewhere.)

There’s a good bit you can see at Union Station, there’s an Imax movie theater (technically, it’s an Extreme-Screen, but it’s basically the same thing), there’s Science City, there’s always some sort of an exhibit, and there’s also a small museum of how they did the renovation of Union Station. This “museum” is easy to miss, so you might have to ask someone about where it is. It’s free, and pretty interesting…I would definitely check it out. Plus, it takes you upstairs, so you can check out Union Station from above.

From Union Station, head south to Liberty Memorial. You can’t miss it, because it’s a huge tower right next to Union Station. Don’t pay too much for the museum, because it’s not that great. But, do pay the 3 or 4 bucks to go up in the monument. You’ll get a great view of the city. It’s well worth the money in my book.

Now you’re probably getting hungry, maybe you’ve already eaten at Union Station. If you haven’t, walk a little east of Liberty Memorial / Union Station to Crown Center. It’s only a block, so you can handle it. There are actually tubes (think of those plastic hamster cages and you won’t be far off) connecting Union Station and Crown Center, which makes it easy to get back and forth.

Crown Center is basically a fancy mall. It has some interesting shops to look at, so it’s worth a quick trip through. And, if you have kids, it has a Crayola restaurant, which I’ve never eaten at, but always had a secret desire to visit.

The whole day you’ll be seeing fountains wherever you go. The fountains at Crown Center will probably have kids playing in them, and if it’s hot, you might want to take a run through them yourself.

Kansas City is Hallmark’s headquarters, and Hallmark has an interesting exhibit at Crown Center. It won’t be the highlight of your trip, but I’ve had a pleasant experience the times I’ve been there.

It’s probably getting a little late in the afternoon, so it’s time to head down to The Plaza for supper. It’ll be a little pricier down there, but you’re on vacation, so go for it. All the restaurants on the Plaza are top notch, so take your pick, there's little chance that you'll end up disappointed. Have desert at The Cheesecake Factory or drive back up to Crown Center and have desert and coffee at The Skies, a fancy circular restaurant on top of a hotel that rotates once over the course of an hour.

If you still have a little gusto left after your big day, finish your night at the 18th & Vine district. Remember the song Kansas City? “…I’ll be standing at the corner, eighteenth and vine…” Yep, it’s that 18th & Vine. Take your picture next to the street sign and walk into The Blue Note for a bit of jazz history. If you’re in luck one of our local legends might be playing, Ida McBeth would make it an exciting night. No matter what, it should be a great experience. There are also two museums in the jazz district that are well worth a visit, The Negro League Baseball Museum and The Kansas City Jazz Museum.

Well, now we’re to Sunday and you’re getting ready to head home in the afternoon. You’re looking for something relaxing to do after your big day of sightseeing yesterday. I have two suggestions for you. Take about a 30-40 drive out to Powell Gardens and walk around looking at their amazing landscaping. That will cost you about $8.00 a person. If you’re looking for something along the same vein, except free, try a lesser know place, the Overland Park Arboretum. It’s only a 20-30 minute drive. It’s not quite as nice as Powell Gardens, but it’s still a very beautiful place to visit.

It’s getting to be around lunchtime now. You’ve experienced blues at BB’s, jazz at The Blue Note, and fountains at Crown Center and the Plaza. What’s left? Ah, barbeque. We’ve saved the best for last. There are 100 places I could recommend to you for good barbeque, but there are two that would seem fitting.

The first is probably our most famous barbeque restaurant Arthur Bryant's. It's been in numerous magazines and featured in television shows, politians and movie stars have eaten there...it's a cool place with great BBQ. The only downside might be the line. I've been there before at 3:00 PM when the line is through the restaurant to the door. In my opinion it's not a drawback because it adds to the charm of the place and it gives you a chance to check out the pictures on the walls of famous people eating their sandwiches. ...plus, it's a very fast line, I promise.

It would also seem fitting that you would end your trip to KC with a visit to the KC Masterpiece Restaurant. Setting in the middle of Overland Park (just south of KC) it’s not the most scenic place, but I can promise you that the food with make up for the lack of scenery. It’s excellent.

So, there you have it. In one weekend, you’ve gotten a quick taste of what Kansas City has to offer. There’s more, but not for this trip. For your next visit you can browse the less touristy sites and become more of a connoisseur of this fine city.

Websites:
Please let me know if you discover any links to be invalid. Thanks.
Arthur Bryant's - www.arthurbryantsbbq.com
BB’s Lawnside & Barbeque - www.bbslawnsidebbq.com
The Blue Room - http://www.americanjazzmuseum.com/?page=showcontent&content_id=14&action=display
The Cheesecake Factory – http://www.thecheesecakefactory.com/
City Market - kc-citymarket.com
Crown Center - www.crowncenter.com
18th & Vine - www.experiencekc.com/18thandvine.html
Hallmark - hallmarkvisitorscenter.com
Kansas City Royals - www.kcroyals.com
Kansas City Zoo – www.kansascityzoo.org
KC Masterpiece - www.kcmrestaurants.com
Liberty Memorial - www.libertymemorialmuseum.org
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art - www.nelson-atkins.org
Overland Park Arboretum - http://www.opprf.org/Arboretum.htm
The Plaza - http://www.palmersguide.com/plaza
Powell Gardens - www.powellgardens.org
The Skies - http://crowncenter.hyatt.com/property/hotelinfo/dining/dining_info.jhtml;jsessionid=R2K0UR1SMH3ZUP5QSETCM4Y?id=5&ssnav=0
Union Station - www.unionstation.org
Worlds of Fun - www.worldsoffun.com

Recommended: Yes

Best Suited For: Couples
Best Time to Travel Here: Mar - May