Friday - KC Tourists and the Big Game

In Kansas City for the Big 12 Tournament, Paul and I played tourist on Friday. First things first - we shopped! We headed to the Legends Outlet Mall after a quick visit to the mecca - Cabelas where we scored a stainless steel tabletop grill for football tailgating. We'd been scoping it out for several months and it was on sale. Score!

Pablo checks out the cannons

Then - lunch at the Yard House. We like that place, and I must admit it. I needed a nice juicy burger to combat a bit of a hangover. I'm no longer built to withstand sipping adult bevvies all day. That hit the spot! Then we headed to the federal World War 1 Museum. What an interesting place. I learned a lot about a devastating war that I must admit I'd forgotten the much of the history of.

Belgian women embroidered flour bags as a way to thank Americans for sending food - so many starved during this war

The museum veranda overlooks the city - on a beautiful spring day - but as you can see from Paul's hair, it was a bit windy

Jud and Kara has to work Friday until mid-afternoon. I arranged to meet my college roomie Jane at Cyclone fave bar Kelly's in Westport to watch the game. We secured seats by 4 p.m. for the 6 p.m. game. The place was filling up fast! Jud and Paul headed to the Power and Light for the pep rally. They parked and chatted with our Athletic Director Jamie Pollard as they walked to the venue. Nice guy.

The game lined up like this - ISU vs. those other hawks - the Kansas Jayhawks. The Sprint Center was filled with a lot of bright blue, but ISU represented well. Plus all those other fans? Cheering for the underdog - the Clones. All day long - around Kansas City (wearing our ISU clothes) people wished our team good luck beating the Jayhawks. Either they like 'em down there...or not really. People like us in KC...they really like us. And our cash.

Jane and Barb (Iowa fan) - and a few of our friends in the background

Kelly's was filled with Cyclone fans. Enjoying beverages. I did a much better job of sipping my beverages - and drinking water alongside that night. I wanted to savor the game with my wits fully about me! There were several TVs visible. And some interesting Clone fans...we had fun bonding with them. There was:

Hauser Clone

• Cute UNI grad Clone fan (I know...and we thought they were all Hawkeye fans...) with his band of merry men that meet every year to watch the game at Kelly's
• Hauser Junior - the guy who was the "action clone" of my college buddy (and present friend) Steve Hauser. The guy even stood like him.
• Brokefoot Girl - she started out okay but got progressively drunker and shrieked. Sometimes for no reason. Irritating.
• High Five chick - I thought she might break my hand at one point. Then I could be Broke Hand girl. But we did have a lot to cheer about!  

The game. ISU started out hot. Then KU made a run and CFH (Coach Fred Hoiberg) received his second technical ever for doing very little. The game was fantastic - a dogfight early, but I was uncharacteristically confident. The crowd at Kelly's cheered wildly at every ISU basket. There were a lot of them. We made free throws down the stretch. One player left bleeding - but fist pumping.

Cute guy - yellow shirt, shrieker - far right

Paul joined us at Kelly's after the game - big hugs were shared. That was damn fun! I was exhausted and we headed back to our hotel by 11 p.m.  #old Winners. I love this team!

Guess who ran into the cheerleaders after the game....#happyboy

Headin' to KC

We're heading south to Kansas City tomorrow - for the Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament. WooHoo! Though I was chintzy and didn't purchase a ticket for myself - we just got 2, one for Paul and one for Jud. They make you buy them for all of the sessions - so they're pricey.

Let's hope the Sprint Center is like Hilton South...

Don't despair though...I will survive! I'll probably hang out in some bar with bar flies. Ha ha. My college roomie Jane will be there along with another friend Barb. Jane's sis Susan has tickets. Jud's girlfriend Kara may come too if she's not working.

The game is at 11:20 a.m. so we'll have an early trip - just like going to work. We'll leave about 6 a.m. Odie went to the puppy spa tonight. It's not really a spa - it's Logan's house. Logan is a 16 year old twin girl. She also has a 10 year old sister. They have a huge boxer named Gidget and a chinchilla. She'll have a blast....she just doesn't know it yet. (Odie hates not being the only dog).

I'm looking forward to hanging out with Jud and Kara! They're taking us out for barbecue tomorrow night at Jack Stack for Paul's birthday. Yay! We haven't seen Kara for a long time.

For a short week, this one sure seemed like a long one. We got a little hint of spring though...I'm looking forward to more of that. Biking, walking outdoors - oxygen. That's what I need. Plus my Florida vacation is coming soon. Smile.

KC trip

We went to KC and I'll just come right out and say the Cyclones got barbecued. It wasn't the referees' faults this time. You may recall ISU most likely would have won the game in Ames without a couple bad calls at the end of the game.

It was fun to travel Friday to Kansas City Friday to see Jud - he lives in St. Joseph, but spends a great deal of time there with GF Kara. We had hoped to purchase tickets to the Sprint Center, but that was impossible! We headed to the Power and Light District for the Pep Rally. Talk about outnumbered! Jayhawk fans were everywhere...even during our part of the rally.

We staked out a place near a tree and short wall in the open area with the big screen TV. The place is surrounded with bars and has a roof. We didn't have to worry about weather though - it was 80 degrees! We got beers and ran into Jud's pal, former Cy Mascot Noelle - now an Assistant Manager at an Ankeny HyVee. She was enjoying a beer with a giant hand coozie.

We stood by some other Cyclone fans and chatted - one was from Harlan - hates Creston's wrestling program, which was fine because Creston hates all of their other programs! Nice guys though. Another one is from Denver and is married to Ann Drey from Creston - I've mentioned before, we're all related in Iowa, somehow. We had a nice conversation about the Drey fam and Ken's sporting goods store.

Lots of blue...

Schippers are in the house - the Osceola couple we see at all Cyclone events...

Most of the Cyclone fans left for the game, leaving us to watch with mostly blue clad rabid Jayhawk fans...not fun. Especially when the Cyclones didn't play well. Ah well, such is life. We will play another day and look forward to a nice rivalry with Kansas for years to come. Love that Fred Hoiberg! We headed to a pizza place called Minsky's near where Kara lives near the airport. Used to love the joint by the same name in Ames - Paul played softball for a team by that name we started dating...

Saturday we shopped at The Legends Outlet Mall in Kansas. Huge place with a nice Cabela's - which Paul loved. Kara was not impressed with the ugly large catfish in the aquarium there. We ate at The Yardhouse, the same place we liked in Pasadena when we visited there for Leslie Alvillar's wedding. Enjoyed seeing Kara's apartment and loved spending time with the kids! In fact we must go back there this summer for a longer period.

Got that yellow fleece at Cabela's - $29!

This is a restaurant...we didn't eat there

Odie stayed in Creston at the puppy spa - Aunt Lila and Uncle Bill's, so we timed our return trip to go to Mass at 5:15 p.m. at Holy Spirit in Creston then picked her up. I had the idea to text friends to see if they'd like to eat at A&G before we headed home - bingo! McKims and McFees were available but missed out on Higgin's company. Just like old times. Made it home by just after 10 p.m. Fun weekend!

Okay...so we stopped for 1 at The Lobby before we headed home...(note I drank water)

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!

KC Saturday

So I never finished my KC story. We tailgated at Arrowhead Saturday - didn't get there too awful early after having free breakfast at the hotel thanks to Robert, our friend from checking in. Did I mention we make friends wherever we go? It was a $10 value per person! The front desk staff wasn't happy the next day to find out we had those coupons...

Anyway, we had hungover Pablo to make Bloody Marys for each of us. He wasn't feeling as poorly as he rightly should have. We walked over to visit with Annette - Dee's neighbor from Mallard. Then we walked towards the stadium to see if we could find Juddy, when we came across Matt Rasmussen - cool double-knit guy. I say - "hey, cool pants" and he taught us how to do the "SWIPE" a handshake that stands for southwest Iowa Pride. Matt's from Council Bluffs and knows several Creston chicks. Funny!

Welp, we know how the game came out - another heart breaker. Clones just can't get over the hump at Arrowhead. It was 90 degrees during the game but after, it clouded up and began to get stormy. There were even tornadoes and hail about the area. We walked in light rain back to the Power and Light District and ate at a sports bar. Not too wild that night.

The funny thing was the next a.m. we had breakfast coupons again. Thanks Rob. Paul, Bobbie, Dee and I hopped in the elevator which stopped on the way up to our floor. On hopped a gal obviously dressed in last night's formal attire, which shoes in hand. She went up 1 floor. Oops. Walk of shame. She got off and all of us girls laughed hilariously! Paul said "what?" Duh boy - ain't you never been there?