Day 6: Kansas City

Yesterday we had a down-day to relax.  Even though there was a slight risk issued along Interstate 70 for severe weather, nothing seemed promising enough for us to plan a chase.  Instead we decided to spend the day driving and positioning ourselves for the next day.  Kansas City was our destination, so we took our time driving up there and planning what we would do for the evening.

Booking a hotel in the area was a challenge, since most of the hotels downtown are nice and we try to limit the prices of our rooms.  We booked several rooms in the Clarion Hotel up near the Kansas City airport, a nicer hotel for just $71/night.  That was pretty awesome... as soon as we got there we headed for the hot tub, and then we went off to dinner in the city.

We ate at Arthur Bryant's for dinner, which is a local BBQ place downtown Kansas City.  It's owned by a group of African Americans and had that soul-food style to it, mit was FABULOUS.  I had the pulled pork open-faced sandwich, and a lot of other people in my group had the rib-tips.  While we were waiting in line to order we noticed the pictures of famous people who had visited this place in the past.  Steven Spielberg, Jimmy Carter, Sarah Palin and John McCain were just a few that I can remember.  I'm glad that we have chosen to eat at local, non-chain places for dinner on this trip.  Finding little places like that really adds to the charm of traveling in a new area.  :)

After dinner we headed downtown Kansas City to the Power and Light District, which is the heart of Kansas City's nightlife.  I've never seen anything like it before... we had our ID's checked at the entrance, and then we walked inside to an area that looked like an outdoor mall.  However, instead of there being an array of stores and food places, the whole area was filled with bars and a main-stage at the center.  We spent most of our time at a place called Tango que Sed Cantina, which seemed like a place out of a movie.

Of course city night life seems crazy to us since we live in Muncie where we have $3 you-call-it-drinks for specials and the bars are mostly filled with college students.  Here we had city people and city-prices, so it was a shock but so much more full of energy.  I felt kinda weird going to a bar with two of my professors, but we all had a good time and it was fun to unwind after the stress of being in a car for hours at a time, every day.

After a late bedtime, we planned to get up kinda late and head out for Iowa to see what storms would pop up there.