So Ron and I decided to head to Kansas for Thanksgiving. No, it was not a totally random decision. My sister, who has been stationed in Iraq since September 2007 was due back stateside on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Ron and I also decided that it would be a good time for him to meet my family (dun…dun…dun…). Luckily, my sister did arrive on Wednesday afternoon around 2pm (it was touch and go there for awhile – we didn’t get the official word of her arrival until Tuesday afternoon) so it was off to Kansas for Thanksgiving!
Since this is more of a travel log, I won’t go into detail about our time in Kansas. Ron and I left around 1pm on Wednesday and made ourselves as comfortable as possible for the 10 hour drive. We made pretty good time to St. Louis but we ran into major traffic once we got there. The trip itself was pretty easy and we made it to Manhattan, Kansas around 11:30pm.
It was so great to see my sister and brother-in-law. Ron made it through meeting my family without any permanent scars. In fact, they all seemed to get along just fine (although my sister might hurt him if he keeps suggesting electronic gadgets that her husband needs). Thanksgiving dinner was fantastic as usual and it was so much fun to spend time with all of my favorite people.
The Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, Ron and I decided to head to Kansas City, Missouri for the day. Thanks to my very generous father, we were able to stay at Hampton Inn at the Country Club Plaza for free (gotta love Hilton points!). I grew up in Kansas City so I decided to show Ron around my old stomping grounds, including my elementary and high schools, old church, and favorite restaurants. He was a good sport and even said that he enjoyed being shown part of my history.
The Country Club Plaza is an upscale shopping district in downtown Kansas City. We enjoyed walking around the Plaza, taking in the beautiful lights and other sights. We made sure to stop in at Topsy’s Popcorn for some delicious caramel popcorn. And of course, we could not pass up The Better Cheddar. Ron and I discovered our new favorite cheese – Norwegian Gjetost. Yum!!
We made a quick detour to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art to check out the sculpture garden, in particular the giant shuttlecocks. Then we headed to a Kansas City landmark for dinner – Gates BBQ. Ron and I found the restaurant to have a great vibe. The portions were huge, the prices were low, and the food was delicious!
Sunday brought snowflakes so Ron and I decided to go ahead and get on the road. We enjoyed the free breakfast at the hotel and left Kansas City around 10am. The drive home was uneventful, just the way we like it. It was a great weekend – I got to spend time with my family, Ron got to meet them, and we got to do a little sightseeing in a city I used to call home.