On our way home to Utah from Virginia we decided to make our first overnight stop in Kansas City, Kansas/Missouri. I still don't get why they would do that- name cities in different states the same name when the cities border each other. It makes it confusing!
Well we decided to stop there because I'd heard Kansas City, KS was known for their barbeque, and eating barbeque in a state that's known for barbeque was on my bucket list. So I was excited to have dinner there. Then we found out they also have a great art scene in Kansas City, MO. There's an Art Institute there, and right next to the institute is the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
So once we checked into our hotel we spent the afternoon at the two museums. I loved the contemporary one's exhibits more, but the Nelson-Atkins Museum has an awesome sculpture garden.
Here's the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art.
After walking through the museum I did a mini photo shoot (until my battery died! So emma and I didn't get portraits) with the boys on the side of the building. I love the walls of the building. I wish we could've done our family photos here. The architecture of the museum was really modern. I loved it!
Haha! Aiden cracks me up. He's been doing this pose a lot lately, as well as flashing the peace sign. I don't know where he picked it up from.
This is one cool kid.
Kart and mini-Kart
Yep, that'd be my husband. I'm a lucky girl!
Next, we drove a few blocks to the other museum and explored it until I couldn't take Emma asking me every 2 minutes when we were going to dinner!
Looking out at the front lawn of the Nelson-Atkins museum.
I LOVE art museum gift shops and this is one of the best ones I've ever been to.
Here's the Art Institute. Isn't the building cool? A lot of the buildings in the area were really unique, especially the other art institute buildings, but even the regular houses were cool.
On our way to dinner we drove past this shopping district that was all lit up. It made the buildings look like gingerbread houses. We loved it. Owen just kept saying "cissmas lights!" every 5 seconds.
Finally we made it to a place I'd found online that had good reviews- Oklahoma Joe's Barbecue (this place was in Kansas City, Kansas). It was part of a GAS STATION! (you can't tell in this picture, but the pumps are to the left) We weren't sure if this was where we wanted to go when we saw the gas pumps, but then we saw the line was out the door! You know it's good food when the line's out the door. So we got in the long line. It wasn't just out the door, it wrapped around the inside of the building like an amusement park ride! But I have to admit it was worth it. They mostly had different types of sandwiches, but you could also get ribs or other kinds of meat by itself, and there were fries and onion rings. Pretty casual, but really really good!
It was much prettier before I started eating it but I wanted to at least get one picture of my pulled pork with coleslaw sandwich. It was really yummy. I also LOVED their fries. There was some seasoning on it that put them over the top.
Kart and the kids approved too. :)
Did you see the temple site while you were there? Our temple (Kansas City, MO) is almost done! You were very close to St. Joseph, MO. We are cheaper than a hotel if you're ever this way again. We don't have a ton of room, but we can squish! :)
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize how close we were to you! Next time we make the trek we'll definitely stop by. No, we didn't see the Temple site. I forgot they were building one! How exciting!
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