Our Crazy, Mixed Up, Fantastic, Wonderful Trip to Kansas City, MO

If you are a friend of mine on Facebook, you will know that we recently went to a super Team National convention in Kansas City, MO last month. Although Sarah, John Allen and I had been to Missouri in the past Joshua and Jacob had never been and none of us had been that far west - we even drove into the Kansas side of Kansas City.

So why was it a "Crazy, Mixed Up, Fantastic, Wonderful Trip"? Well, let me take them one by one and I think you will understand.

After dropping Jojo off at Grandma's we headed out toward MO. We wanted to get as far as we could before we stopped to spend the night but also wanted to see the sites along the way. We traveled through always beautiful Tennessee into scenic Kentucky only stopping for gas, food, and potty stops when we absolutely had to. Well, soon after crossing into Illinois, we needed to stop for another break so we stopped at the first rest area that we could find. Imagine the questions we had when we saw a Superman cutout where a person could take pictures of their head on Superman's body.

 

 

 

 

What we didn't realize was that this rest area was in Metropolis, Illinois, home to the Super Museum! On our way out we saw a sign that pointed the way to a giant Superman statue and of course we couldn't resist.

 

 

 

And, yes, not to be left out, across the street was a Super Woman cut out for our always super mother and wife.

 

 

That was the "Crazy" part of our trip. Now for our "Mixed Up" part.

 

Who knew that Missouri could be such a different place? After traveling a few hours more we got to the middle of MO and spent a not so delightful night in an absolutely terrible hotel. No, we don't blame MO for the hotel. We blame the owner, which I plan on writing to as soon as I finish here (this blog post reminded me of the need to). At any rate, the mixed up part came the next morning when we stopped at a McDonald's, and ordered our usual chicken biscuits only to find that they don't have chicken biscuits in MO! NO CHICKEN BISCUITS! What are we to do. Sarah doesn't eat red meat and the rest of us try to stay clear of it except for a treat here and there. Thankfully, the Hardees next door to the gas station we stopped at did, indeed, serve chicken biscuits and or breakfast was saved!

 

 

Finally we arrive in fantastic Kansas City, MO. This time our hotel was fantastic! We stayed at the Kansas City Marriott Downtown and the staff was wonderful. Our very-friendly-with-a-lot-of-personality Joshua became friend with everyone and one concierge, Robin, was especially friendly to all of my boys and made an effort to talk to our boys, even remembering their names, every time he saw them. The convention we attended was held over Valentine's Day and the hotel celebrated by putting on a wonderful light show.

 

 

We also had a great time visiting Fritz's Railroad Restaurant. The whole restaurant is train themed and a train actually delivers your food to the table! After ordering over a phone at your table, a sever delivers your drinks, then you watch a train overhead come to your table, drop off your food in a kind of elevator, and the elevator come down to your table. Watch this video and I think you'll figure it out.

 





 









 

 

This video was obviously done while the restaurant was being built and they had a camera attached to the train so the noise is magnified. When we were there we hardly noticed the noise at all. It sounded just like any other restaurant. The noise, however, was the only normal thing about this eatery. The atmosphere, food and fun were all fantastic! Our boys enjoyed it, and when the kids are happy, Mom and Dad are happy!

 

 

Last but certainly not least was the convention. It was fantastic as well. Team National is a wonderful company and it is teaching Sarah and I how to dream again. Take a look at the pictures below and I think you'll understand what I mean.

 

 

 

As you can see by the pictures above, we had a fantastic time on our trip. We had a wonderful time on our way home as well. We stopped by the St. Louis Arch. Did you know that the arch is actually part of a National Park? I didn't. The actual name is the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial and it includes the "Gateway Arch" and the "Old Courthouse" where Dred Scott sued for his freedom. We didn't have time to visit the courthouse, and to Joshua's dismay, we weren't able to go to the top of the arch because the ticket's were all sold out. We were, however, able to see a fantastic movie at the Odyssey Theatre about the Lewis and Clark expedition and then visited the Museum of Westward Expansion which showed artifacts from that time period. We also bought some souvenirs at the museum shop. We enjoyed the old type candy and other food treats on the rest of our trip home. As you can see below it truly was a wonderful time with a wonderful view!

 

 

This trip truly was a Crazy, Mixed Up, Fantastic, Wonderful Trip! If you want to know about any of the things mentioned above, just click on one of the links. Thanks for reading and enjoy!