KC with Jud and Kara

We hadn't been to visit Jud and his girlfriend Kara since they had started their jobs in Missouri last summer. Jud lives and works in St. Joseph and Kara lives and works in Kansas City. He spends his weekends in the bigger city. For some reason, St. Joe hasn't been as appealing to hang out in as KC. Why isn't the birthplace of Jessie James exciting?

Now that ISU's regular football season is over, and we're not tailgating every couple weekends, we decided it was time to head that way. Kara's parents, Jud said, had already been down to see them a couple times. Her folks now live in northwest Iowa, but lived in Kansas City when Kara was around three years old. So it's fun for them to re-trace their old stomping grounds.

Paul and I haven't ever spent much time in the city. I went there as a kid, to go to World of Fun. But Omaha was really our destination of choice for shopping and weekend get-a-ways back then. So I don't know my way around at all.

Our buddies Bobbie and Jeff lived in a northern suburb of KC in the 90's and we visited - attending the Renaissance Festival. I'm still wondering why we thought it was a good idea to buy Jud and Kimmy, then around 5 years old, wooden swords. One perfectly cold weekend Bobbie got Packers/Chiefs 4 FREE tickets on the 50 yard line at Arrowhead Stadium - for which my husband could never repay her. A chance to see his beloved Pack in action! With a nearby parking pass. (Except the Chiefs won...). It was pretty cool though.

We attended our niece Katie's wedding in Kansas City in 2006, finally visiting that storied "Cyclone Bar" - Kelly's, later that night. The past two falls, Iowa State played Kansas State in football at Arrowhead. Of course our gang attended and last year we stayed at the Crown Plaza near the Power and Light District - where the Cyclones had their rally. It was a great time!

I made reservations at the Crown Plaza for last night, through Travelocity. It's a 3.5 star hotel. I find, the older I get, the more I like quality sheets and towels. We headed out from Creston around 8 a.m. yesterday, arriving at Kara's North Kansas City apartment just before 11 a.m. Iowa State was supposed to play at 11:30, but lightning delayed the game until 1 p.m., so we hit a cool restaurant in the burg of North KC. It reminded me of a bigger Valley Junction in West Des Moines. This restaurant has tons of sports memorabilia, even old Cyclone helmets! The Cyclones played a valiant game, but lost in the closing minutes to KSU.

Katie with Naomi

Jacob

After the game, we headed to our niece Katie and husband Albert's house in Overland Park, KS for a visit. They have two adorable children - Jacob 2 1/2 and Naomi is 6 months. Plus two nice middle sized doggies. They live in a lovely1960s two-story home in a neighborhood with lots of mature trees. Jake was very intently trying to operate an electric train - with help from Mom and Dad. Naomi was very content with a bottle. It was a nice visit - hope Jud gets together with his cousin Katie again sometime! He and Katie's bro John, who now lives in Orlando, were buddies through the years when cousins would get together.

From there we headed to the Plaza for a barbecue restaurant called Jack Stack. It was only about 6:30 p.m. so we were ahead of the crowd and scored a table pretty quickly in the bar. The guys ordered beer and Kara and I settled on pretty martinis. It was a meat festival - Paul and I both got burnt ends with prime rib and ribs.

We wanted to shop after supper, but it was misting and miserable shopping weather. The stores did look enticing - all the good stuff down there. I must return! We drove to our hotel and checked in - we landed a 2-room handicap accessible suite! What's with the handicap thing? We got a handicap room in Nashville in August too. I must not be aging well...

We decided to walk down to the Power and Light for a drink, ending up at McFadden's - a loud sports bar. There was music, people talking, and televisions with all the various footballs games around the huge bar. The evening crowd was just starting to trickle in. Chicks in their leggings, thigh high boots, and short dresses. It was time for this chick (who obviously looks handicapped) to go.

We crashed shortly after we got to our room. Then at 4 a.m.ish the fire alarm at the hotel went off...lights flashing in our faces. Paul called the front desk and they said they just needed to re-program the alarm, we didn't need to escape. Phew! Two hours later they finally got it stopped! A pillow on my face worked okay - we were lucky the alarm wasn't too loud in our room. They comped us for parking after we complained - $18 for our pain.

We had a yummy breakfast this a.m. with the kids, at a place in the north part of KC. They had eaten there with Kyle and Renee, Kara's parents. I must say, KC is a good time - and I must go back! Jud and Kara are having fun finding their way around the city - reminding me of when I lived in Omaha and Paul would visit. It's exciting, getting to know the restaurants and the shopping areas of a city. They'd like to meet more people, but of course that all takes time. Their jobs seem to be going okay. Life is good!