Monday, August 30, 2010

Kansas City...MO or KC?

I'm in Kansas City but am I in Missouri or Kansas? I'm not sure, really. My hotel is in Missouri and my training center is in Kansas.
This is my second trip out. Last time I stayed downtown in what I think was Missouri. I stayed at the Presidential Hilton. Very "shining" like. I could visualize that kid riding down the hall screaming 'redrum, redrum!'
The lobby of the Embassy Suites..

This time I'm staying in the "Plaza" area at the Embassy Suites. I was walking down in the plaza area and the smell in the air reminded me of a musty old library or an attic. There were some really cool buildings that had been converted into condos. This particular building had a condo for rent for $1,050 per month. It looked pretty interesting.
For my last trip, I did a little research and if I'd had a little more time, I could have seen some pretty cool things. St. Joe, MO isn't too far from here. That's where Ryan & Tatum O'Neal were headed in "Paper Moon". That's also where a lot of the Jesse James (the outlaw guy, not the idiot married to Sandra Bullock) activity is. Unfortunately for me, I didn't have time to visit any of those places either trip up. I'll need to come back on my own so that I have time to do these things.
In the park across the street they had a cool fountain that reminded me of Italy. I don't know why, it just did.

I'm kind of a sucker for a couple of things. One is water. Anytime I see 'famous' bodies of water, I feel the need to take a picture and I soak in the history and the awesomeness of it. This trip it was the Missouri River. I drove over it a couple of times and got mediocre pictures but then I took a side trip on the way back to the airport. I pulled into this little town that was sitting right along the river. It was very cool because there was a park right next to the river and you could walk along side. Sadly, I didn't realize this until after I pulled away. I was, however, able to pull over and get a picture of the river.
The Missouri River.

I don't remember the name of the town but they had this cool looking church that was sitting up high. I thought it looked pretty neat.

The other thing I get a little crazy about is when taking pictures of the signs when you cross the state line. Here is one where I'm leaving Kansas and then one where I'm entering into Missouri. I went around this loop several times to get the picture. The GPS finally just gave up on me until I got back on track.
Leaving Kansas....
Welcome to Missouri...

It was very short and I wish I'd had more time to spend just looking around. Maybe another time...