Since I left St. Louis so early on a Sunday, I reached Kansas City before noon. Every corner I turned, I could count the number of people on one hand. I was really worried that Sunday would be so dead here, I would miss out on anything interesting. The center of the city is pretty small, but there's some really neat contemporary buildings to look at.
I wanted to stroll around, but first I wanted to find a hotel. After my experience with the Congress Airport Inn, I wanted to make sure I chose a nice place. I was willing to pay for the comfort and safety of a reputable hotel. Now it's Sunday, so the city should be empty and rates should be low. But it just so happens that all hotels were nearly full because of some convention going on. Marriott wanted $199, Crown Plaza, Hilton, and Holiday Inn were sold out. I roamed around a bit but couldn't find any other hotels.
I came across the Power and Light district, a plaza of restaurants, bars and shops with a giant outdoor television screen playing the Chiefs - Giants game. Gordon Biersch, a restaurant/bar in the plaza, was pretty lively so I went in and asked the bartender if they had wifi. Fortunately, she said yes. So I had a snack and a drink while researching hotels online and I found a cheap room in a Sheraton just fifteen minutes away, but right along the interstate. An hour later, I checked in. Beautiful room for just a little more than what I paid at the Congress Shit-Show Motel.
I wrote for a bit, but I was getting hungry. I didn't want to go back into the city just yet, so I asked a girl at the front desk for a food recommendation. She told me about Gates & Sons BBQ which is a competitor for best BBQ spot in KC. She said it's a 3 minute drive, which led me to ask how long it would take to walk. She said 5 minutes. I suppose in Manhattan a 3 minute drive could be a 5 minute walk. Either way, I didn't really think about how it didn't quite add up and I decided to walk. She gave me written directions and I was on my way. Through an eerie suburban neighborhood, I walked, along a state highway and across all four lanes, one and a half miles later, I was at Gates & Sons. Good food, would've driven there if I had to do it again because the food isn't worth the walk. Plus, I still had to walk the whole way back.
Kansas City, despite what I saw early in the day, is not dead on Sundays. The Power and Light district is actually open until 3am every day. It hosts a very energetic crowd that I think is from the nearby university. I cabbed it out there, had a few and chatted with a few people. Met a couple from New Jersey that was there to watch the Giants destroy the Chiefs. Nice town.
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