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Where We Stayed:

There is certainly no shortage of places to stay in Kansas City! We tend to be fans of the Marriott Brand because of service and pricing! For our stay this time, we decided to stay at a more economical property - the SpringHill Suites located close to Country Club Plaza. We had a room that had a king bed, a work station, and a sitting area. It was the perfect size for the two of us and had the sitting area and work station were fantastic additions for working on the road and eating breakfast together in the room! We were within walking distance of Country Club Plaza; however, everything else we really felt was too far and we needed to get to by car. While they do offer valet parking ($15/night), there is plenty of street parking that was free. We did not have an issue parking on the street during our entire stay.

COVID-19 NOTES:
* Due to the pandemic, they are only sending in housekeeping on the fourth day of your stay to minimize contact in the rooms. If you needed extra towels or anything, we were told to call down to the front desk and we would be provided with whatever we needed.
* The pool was only open by appointment and they were only allowing one party in it at a time.
* Breakfast was mostly limited to single serve items (individually wrapped bagels, muffins, croissants, or English muffins plus individual yogurt, milk, and apples. There was also a cereal dispenser with a few types of cereal).
* While staff always had masks on, we observed a good amount of guests NOT wearing masks in public spaces. We have not seen mask-wearing strictly enforced in any of the hotels we’ve been at; however, there are signs about mask-wearing.

How We Got Around:

We had planned on walking as much as we can (because we knew we were going to be eating a lot and wanted to be able to work it off!); however, after the first day there, we really discovered that in order to fully enjoy exploring, we really needed a car so we ended up renting a car after the first day. We HIGHLY suggest renting a car as Kansas City is definitely a very vast city and in order to see it all, you need a car.

If you don’t want to rent a car, you do have the options of both Uber and Lyft. From our experience, Uber was more readily available in the city; however, it was also significantly higher priced.

Additionally, there is the KC Streetcar which is absolutely free and you can see many of the popular destinations in KC by this Streetcar. We personally did not ride it since we ended up renting a car but can definitely see the allure of this free transportation system.

One more quick note: Bird Scooters are a big thing in the city. We saw them on almost every street and you could easily rent them using an app and scooter around the city! While this seems like a fun way to get around, KC is VERY hilly and I, personally, would be a bit nervous doing this without a helmet, but we saw a ton of people taking advantage of it!

What We Ate:

SAVORY

Joe’s KC Bar-B-Que Original Gas Station Location: Joe’s won our hearts for best barbecue that we sampled! We absolutely loved the burnt ends and their fries! We even brought home their fry seasoning so that we can have a bit of their delicious BBQ at home! You cannot get a reservation here…. It’s a walk up and grab your food and find a table kinda place!
Q39: We had a toss up on whether Q39 or Jack Stack’s was our second favorite after Joe’s. We really LOVED the mac and cheese here (pro tip from our waitress: dip your fries in the mac and cheese sauce after you polish off the mac and cheese! SO GOOD!). You will want a reservation here!
Jack Stack BBQ: There’s a few locations for Jack Stack’s! We went to the Plaza location. Everything we ate here was delicious but we especially loved that you could get both pork and beef burnt ends! This is another place that you will want a reservation!
Chef J BBQ: This spot is, I believe, only open on Saturdays in West Bottoms. While the BBQ was good and the service was friendly, it was hard to compare after having BBQ from the first 3 places we went to but a good, convenient option while shopping in West Bottoms. This is another walk up and order and find a table spot!
The Majestic: We made reservations here because they were having some live music and we’re big fans! We thought it was going to be jazz but ended up being a pianist. They have a limited menu right now due to covid but are definitely very socially distanced in the restaurant. We were one of four tables there. Everything we ate was delicious - from the steaks to the mac and cheese to the salad! We were surprised how much we liked the steak soup, too!
The Phoenix: Another live music joint! We were lucky enough to grab a table here for Sunday brunch and listen to some fantastic music. Brunch was very reasonably priced, the music was good, and the service was fast - we couldn’t ask for more!
Heirloom: If you’re looking for a delicious way to start your day, Heirloom has amazing breakfast sandwiches and pastries! We highly recommend this Brookside spot!

SWEET

Betty Rae’s: If you ask people in KC where the best ice cream place is, they’re going to say Betty Rae’s. We visited Betty Rae’s TWICE in this trip because my boyfriend fell in love with their Butter Toasted Pecan. Our first trip, I was not a fan (I had the Smores) but they definitely redeemed themselves our second trip (Chocolate Brownie and Cookies and Cream!). Be prepared to wait for ice cream here - It was about a 25-30 minute wait each time!
McClain’s Bakery: While there’s a few locations, we went to the one in Brookside. We got a pie from here as well as a cupcake, some truffles, and a danish and EVERY single thing was phenomenal. The Smores cupcake is to die for (can you tell I love smores?!).
Glace: The chocolate ice cream here was fantastic!
Southern Charm Gelato: We really loved this ice cream shop except for the fact that they weren’t always open the hours that they displayed which was pretty frustrating on a few occasions! It’s right in the Plaza so easy to grab some yummy ice cream while shopping! It also smells SO delicious in here with the homemade waffle cones!
Cupcake A La Mode: another Plaza shop that I happened to spot out of the corner of my eye! We enjoyed these cupcakes but in fairness, I had it after the cupcake from McClain’s which was so amazing that we just couldn’t compare!
Bloom Baking Company: This is located in City Market and everything in here looked amazing!! We got the chocolate torte shown above (it had chocolate and caramel!). It was AMAZING; however, VERY messy. We regretted not asking for forks to eat it with and learned NOT to leave it in a hot car because we only got a couple bites before the entire thing melted!
Insomnia Cookies: If you’re craving sweet and it’s late at night, this is a great place to hit up! They have freshly made cookies and even cookie and ice cream sandwiches. We hit up the one in the Power and Light District and wish that we hadn’t been SO tired because there was live music right around the corner that we would have enjoyed staying out and listening to, but alas, we were just too old to hang like that!

What We Did:

Jazz Museum: Located in the 18th and Vine District and in the same building as the Negro Baseball Museum (buy tickets for both together and save $5). A small, but mighty, museum showcasing lots of jazz. Right now, they are being VERY careful with covid and giving you plastic gloves to wear throughout the museum as well as ear gloves to use when listening to the devices.
World War I Museum: This national museum is called a must-see when you’re in Kansas City. Tons of memorabilia and artifacts. Also, one of the best places in town to get amazing photos with the KC Skyline (you do not need to buy tickets to go to the top and take pics of the skyline). Warning: don’t sit on the wall!
Kansas City Trolley Tour: This is a GREAT overview of Kansas City. We took the tour with owner, Tom, and it was fantastic. They do a few different tours and I highly recommend them! He kept the tour entertaining and fun as well as very informative.
Old Red Bridge Love Locks: Located in Minor Park, the Old Red Bridge has thousands of locks on it from people who came and professed their love for each other by placing a lock on the bridge, symbolizing their unbreakable bond. I absolutely loved reading and looking at the many locks on this bridge! You can bring any lock with you or if you forget one, the pro shop at the Minor Park Golf Course also sells them!
Art Alley: located in the Crossroads Art District, this alley is filled with changing graffiti and street art and is absolutely AMAZING. We were lucky enough to be there with no one else and get to truly appreciate the art. While you’re in the Crossroads Art District, you really need to walk around and look at all the amazing street art. It truly is phenomenal. We were able to walk and see a bunch of it but then also hopped in the car and drove around and stopped at numerous murals throughout. We were lucky enough to meet one of the artists while we were there and you can check out his work here: Skiggity
Gondola Ride with Ambiance on the Water: Our first night we were supposed to do this, we got rained out. They made rescheduling SUPER easy so that was already a bonus for us! When we finally got to enjoy our ride, we scheduled it for 8pm (knowing that sunset was at 8:30pm that night). We scheduled the basic package which was supposed to be a 20 minute ride and we came up with a 20 minute playlist of songs that we love to listen to while on the gondola (note that they did cut our ride a few minutes short - we still had one full song left on our playlist that was exactly 20 minutes long. For the price it was and how short it is, I was disappointed in it being cut short!). It was a unique experience and definitely a romantic way to end the evening. There is also a beautiful bridge over the river that we ended up taking photos on at sunset. My only suggestion here would be that if you have someone else in your party, ask them to take a pic of the full gondola while you’re on it because we wish we had gotten that photo (they did take a close up of us when we boarded!).
Union Station: Our trolley tour left from Union Station so we got the chance to explore around Union Station a bit. This looks like an amazing place to visit with families with an escape room, theatre, special exhibits (there was a dinosaurs across the US exhibit while we were there), Science City, and more. The Science City store also had some really great souvenirs if you have any STEM or NASA obsessed folks in your family!

Side Note: We were told one of the best places to visit is the Arabia Steamboat Museum! Next time we get back to KC, it’s on our list! Additionally, we wanted to go to the Nelson Atkins Art Museum but it was closed due to Covid. We were also told that the Hallmark Headquarters Visitor’s Center is absolutely worth the visit! It’s supposed to be more like a museum but is currently closed due to covid.

Where We Shopped:

We love the local, unique stores when we are traveling! We tend to avoid any stores that we can find in our part of the country and look for the special and fun! We did notice that a lot of things had very strange hours and weren’t sure whether that’s directly related to the pandemic or always the case, but make sure you pay special attention to the hours of places!

We really loved shopping in Brookside (artsy, unique stuff) and West Bottoms (vintage and antique) the most but definitely found a few other gems throughout out trip!

Brookside:

Shop Girls: small boutique! great service!
Savory Spice: SO many types of spices, rubs, seasonings, etc.
World’s Window: great for souvenirs, housewares, and more
Stuff: loved this store and all the unique items they had!
Eclectics Gallery: All handmade items by mostly local artists! This was definitely one of our top 3 shops we visited in KC!
J’adore: home decor and so much more
Brookside Barber Shop: not shopping but had to give a shoutout because Brandy gave my man an awesome haircut!

City Market:

Candy Wizard: all sort of yummy candy plus your typical souvenirs
KC Soda Co: this store in City Market has a TON (hundreds!) of varieties of soda! If you’re a soda lover or know a soda lover, you definitely have to stop here! They’ll even quickly cool off your soda for you so you can enjoy a fresh, cool soda immediately!
River Market Antiques: the one store we wish we had more time to explore in! This was our absolute last stop before hitting the airport and we pushed our timing just so we could explore more! Four amazing floors filled to the brim of lots of vintage and antiques. We found a few treasures here to take home and even more that we wanted! A must stop for vintage/antique lovers!
Yoki: Asian store - lots of fun, kitschy items, candies, and goods. If you have anime fans in your family, definitely a place to stop!
Weekend Vendors: We visited on both Saturday and Sunday and got to experience their local vendors. Saturday is their farm market day with some of the most delicious fruits, vegetables, and baked goods - oh, and the flowers. OH the flowers. SO many beautiful, super cheap flowers that I was drooling over! Sundays they have some vintage/antique vendors (also had a FEW farm booths). They also had some locally made crafts both days.

Country Club Plaza: Most of Country Club Plaza is higher-end retail shopping and while there are great stores that I love, we didn’t go to them because we can access them where we live too!

Made in KC: all locally made stuff including locally made ice cream (we didn’t get a chance to taste this and I’m still regretting it because I hear it’s amazing!). Our absolute favorite purchase here was the most amazing smelling potpourri diffuser and oil from Farm Boy Fragrance (While all the scents were amazing, Mulberry was our absolute favorite!) .

West Bottoms: We absolutely LOVED West Bottoms! It’s filled with old factory buildings turned into amazing antique, vintage, and unique stores. Pro Tip: The Saturday after the first Friday of the month, they have special events and ALL the stores are open! I highly recommend planning a trip here during that time (it also times with the Crossroads Arts District First Fridays so a great weekend to be in KC!). We didn’t even hit all the stores and found some incredible treasures. Some of the stuff definitely seemed to be overpriced, but there are also a ton of amazing stores here! For a full list of shopping, check out this link. I highly recommend spending the whole day in West Bottoms if you love antiques/vintage. There is SO much to look at! Some of our favorites were:

Nook and Cranny: SO much vintage and new vintage stuff to look at, all reasonably priced! We found a lot of great stuff here!
Fetch: unique, kitschy stuff. lots of awesome Schitt’s Creek inspired stuff right now
Ugly Glass & Co: vintage AND locally handmade makes the perfect combination!!

A Disney Lover’s Day Trip From Kansas City…

The whole reason that we went to Kansas City was because we were meeting up with some of my travel professional colleagues at the Walt Disney Hometown Museum in Marceline, MO. About a two hour drive from Kansas City, through scenic drives in the heartland of America, you can visit the town and literally “walk right down the middle of Main Street USA”

For those that are not as Disney-obsessed as I am, Marceline, Missouri is the hometown of Walt Disney and he based his concept of Disneyland off of Marceline. We did a private tour of the Walt Disney Hometown Museum, walked down the middle of Main Street, visited the Dreaming Tree and Barn. We added our signature to the millions of signatures in the barn, an incredible sight to connect with and realize how many people have been inspired by Walt Disney and come to this small town, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, to connect with the history of Disney.

The Hometown Museum is led by amazing people who are often somehow connected to the Disney story and were able to tell us incredible stories of Walt Disney and the museum was home to so many incredible items that were donated by Walt’s sister. I definitely highly recommend stopping here at some point if you are a Disney fan. Even my boyfriend, who is not a huge Disney fan, enjoyed this part of our trip.