Kansas City: Where We Stayed, Where We Ate, What We Did

Wow, it’s been quite a while since we actually went to Kansas City, but still, it’s worth mentioning.

Last month we made a weekend trip, actually just an overnight trip to Kansas City. The goal was to go to the Farmer’s Market and get Jalapeños. I know that sounds funny, but hubby makes these things called candied jalapeños and the best place to get bulk jalapeños at a decent price is the City Market in Kansas City. Gosh, I love that place. The first time we went, I wound up buying 20 pounds of jalapeños. This time we only bought 15 pounds. haha. You still get just as many weird looks buying 5 pounds fewer jalapeños.

But, because we went, we decided to make it a weekend trip. This summer’s goal has been to Have Fun!

Where We Stayed

4600 Summit St. Kansas City, MO

We stayed at the Hampton Inn & Suites Kansas City Country Club Plaza.

When we pulled in, I seriously thought we’d stayed here before, but this was located on the West side of the plaza. The one I was thinking about is on the East side of the plaza.

The room was nice. We had two queen sized beds so the girls got one and hubby and I got the other. We always take the one closest to the air conditioner and he always sleeps on the side of the AC since he gets hot when he sleeps. The AC in the room didn’t get quite as cold as we would have liked. I remember him getting a little warm in the middle of the night. He’s like my personal heater… So that means I got a little warm too.

Ah, the pillows. Gosh, I’m so picky about pillows. Remember, I broke up with my pillow a few months ago. I’ve since gotten different ones and I’m still not sure I’m sold on the new ones. I wake up every morning with a huge crick in my neck and achy all over. These pillows were way to flat for my liking. Almost felt like down pillows which give my head no support. Other people love those types of pillows. I think I’m weird… Friends, don’t comment! :).

There was an indoor pool. That’s one of Abug’s favorite things so we all went swimming. There were some people in the pool who were drinking. One of the rules was don’t be inebriated and they might have been. We got hit with their beach ball a couple times.

The water was chilly for being an indoor pool. The pool itself was interesting because it was almost an entirely metal pool. Interesting.

We did find out there is a 24 hour Walgreens located near, although hubby didn’t go there. He went to a grocery store and had quite the experience. Abug got sick and we had to find medicine for her. It was quite nerve racking after last year. I think I learned she shouldn’t drink a whole coke (which I didn’t realize she did) right before bed. The bubbles don’t agree with her. But after she threw it up (sorry, TMI probably) she was better.

Where We Ate

José Peppers

Location: Legend’s Outlet, 1851 Village W Parkway #131, Kansas City, KS

We’ve eaten at a José Peppers before. We really liked it. So after the Farmer’s Market (aka City Market), we decided to go to eat somewhere other than the City Market. We talked about going to Cabela’s so I found a José Peppers near Cabela’s so we decided to go eat there. Turns out it was located at the Legend’s Outlet Mall in Kansas City, Kansas. Yes, Kansas City is in Missouri and Kansas. Ask Tbug about that… nowadays she probably wouldn’t remember that conversation anyway.

I apparently didn’t get pictures of our food. It’s kind of crazy. Tbug went with a Steak Quesadilla. Holy cow was it amazing. I should have gotten that.

I don’t remember what hubby got. Whoops.

I went with the Jumbo Stuffed Jalapeños. Apparently, I am not tired of jalapeños. haha. Remember, I just came from buying 15 pounds of them… lol. Anyway, they were HOT! Oh my gosh. I was only going to get 2 because you get them in 2 or 4, but hubby actually wanted them as an appetizer so he “made” me get 4. Then he hardly touched any of them. Shame shame.

Maggiano’s Little Italy

7025 W 135th St, Overland Park, Kansas

Hubby and I ate a Maggiano’s Little Italy for the first time in 2012 when we went to Las Vegas for a couple days. They are in partnership with a bunch of other restaurants and we had a gift card so we decided to give it a try. Vegas was awesome, this place, meh. When the waiter came and asked if we’d been here before, we mentioned yes and no. Don’t worry, we explained that. ha. I don’t think I need to explain it here, again. The waiter lacked a lot to be desired. It took forever before he came to wait on us in the first place. Then after he took our drink order, it was a bit before he came back to bring the drinks and take our order. Then we never saw him again. Other servers took care of us because we had to stop them.

Drink refills, stopped other servers because we never saw ours again. Our food was brought out by someone else. We even had to stop another server for our ticket so we could pay and go. We waited a long time just for that. Sadly, that’s annoying.

Anyway, the food was okay. Tbug ordered Mushroom Ravioli al Forno. I had a bite. It was good.

Hubby went with Center Cut Filet Mignon rare. Lately, he orders his steaks rare. He prefers medium rare, but a lot of places they get too overdone so he orders rare to get them closer to medium rare. It came with a side of asparagus and crispy potatoes. The steak had garlic butter on it and it was amazing. The potatoes lacked and the asparagus… well, it was asparagus. Nothing much to write home about.

I went with Chicken Parmesan. It was a good choice!

Abug went with their take on Mac and Cheese. Now, I like to believe myself a mac and cheese connoisseur and this was good.

Since it took forever to get our ticket, Abug, Tbug, and I left hubby in the restaurant to pay and we went across the street to a grocery store. I love grocery stores. As we walked out we immediately saw 1 rainbow and then, a double rainbow. The picture is hard to see the second rainbow, but it was beautiful. People were stopping all over the parking lot to take pictures of it… us included.

IHOP

3928 Rainbow Blvd, Kansas City, KS

Sunday morning when we woke up, we decided to go get breakfast before heading out. I searched for breakfast nearby and we went about 5 miles or so from the hotel to the IHOP on Rainbow Blvd. It was a pretty part of town for sure and it turns out it took us back to Kansas City Kansas. It cracks me up how we go from Kansas to Missouri in Kansas City in such a short distance.

We all had some version of pancakes. For some reason, I didn’t take food pictures there either :).

What We Did

City Market

East 5th Street, Kansas City, MO

Our reason for going was the City Market. This was a Saturday on a beautiful day in July. It was freaking crazy. We wound up having to park like 10 blocks away. We went to the Italian store and bought more Extra Virgin Olive Oil along with Arborio Rice. The best place to buy those two things are an Italian store, right?

We got our 15 pounds of Jalapeños. Then we got some blueberries.

Home Goods

1817 Village W Pkwy, Kansas City, KS

At the Legend’s Outlet, they had a Home Goods. I’ve seen a lot of commercials for those and really wanted to go to one. When I saw it, I decided we should go. I bought some picture frames and we got some beach towels for our upcoming trip to San Antonio. That store was weird. I liked it but the arrangement of things left a lot to be desired. One aisle you could have storage containers and then across the store, the exact same storage containers. There just lacked a lot of organization and it got overwhelming.

Sprout’s Farmer’s Market

6821 W 135th St. Overland Park, KS

I love real grocery stores. They are the best. We don’t have many around home. It’s more like Walmart. Hello, small town life. So when I saw this grocery store, I asked if we could go. Hubby kind of rolled his eyes and said yes. He knows my love for real grocery stores.

So we got a few things. Milk (for the little), chocolate milk, and some bulk spices. So this store was really cool. We didn’t pay attention though to the expiration date on the milk and it was bad. Bummer. That’s why the little wound up drinking the coke and got sick and yuck! Note to self and everyone else: read the expiration date on the milk. I’m just used to them being pulled if they are bad. Ugh!

Trader Joe’s

8600 Ward Parkway Kansas City MO

So we love Trader Joe’s. Hello Trader Joe’s, please move to my location. Thank you! Anyway… we always try to make a trip there when we are in Kansas City. There are 3 and we’ve been to all 3 but our favorite is on Ward Parkway. We bought so much stuff… it kind of happens, especially when you go to a real grocery store that has items you aren’t used to.

And that was our trip to Kansas City in a sort of nutshell.