We drove to Kansas City on Friday to see Fleetwood Mac at The Sprint Center which is right next to the Power & Light District. The Power & Light District is an 8 block area of restaurants and bars...too cool. I think this is exactly the type of thing that we need in St. Louis, perhaps in Ballpark Village. You know, Ballpark Village; the remaining footprint of old Busch Stadium that was supposed to be finished by the All-Star Game in July. Grrr...
We arrived in Kansas City at around 12:30pm on Friday, checked into the hotel (Hilton President) and then headed to the Power and Light District were we ate lunch at McFadden's. We had coconut shrimp and southwest egg rolls along with a couple Boulevard brews. Since the InBev takeover of Anheuser Busch, Boulevard is now the largest Missouri based brewer with Schlafly holding the distinction of the largest St. Louis brewer. After lunch, we walked around a little and then headed to Boulevard Brewing for our 3:00pm brewery tour.
The brewery is just about 1 1/2 miles from downtown. Friday is their "cleaning day" so they weren't actually brewing but we were able to walk through the entire brewery and the guide explained the brewing process. We could smell the grains in the air, much like when I brew at home but on a much larger scale...hee hee hee. We also saw the bottling line and then proceeded to the tasting room! We're very familiar with their brews so we chose to taste the new ones that aren't available to the public such as Tank 7 and the Golden Ale. I also had to have the Bully Porter which is one of my favorites. Keep in mind these were just 3 oz pours, not full bottles! We were still able to drive back to the hotel. In keeping with the beer theme, we then ate dinner at Gordon Biersch. We started with the artichokes and then I had the cajun pasta and Bill had the NY steak sandwich. Oh yeah, we had a few beers too. We then walked to the Spring Center and saw the concert. Yes, it was the exact same concert we saw on Tuesday. My 13 year old niece said, "That's dumb." She cracks me up. Also, when the waitress at Gordon Biersch found out that we specifically drove to Kansas City to see the same concert we had seen here 3 days earlier, she said, "Oh, you're one of those." Hee hee hee...Anyway, after the concert, we had a few beers in the Power & Light District and then called it a night.
On Saturday, we drove to the Truman Library after breakfast. Yes, I actually set foot inside. Can you believe it? I figured that in the spirit of bipartisanship, it was the least I could do. Actually, it was very interesting and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Harry was from Missouri, you know, so he can't be all that bad.
His 125th birthday was Friday and they had a 125 foot long birthday cake for the visitors. We each enjoyed a piece in honor of his birthday. After the library, we ate lunch at Raglan Road which is an Irish pub in the Power & Light District. Bill had the stout braised rib appetizer and salad and I had the Raglan burger. We then headed to The Flying Saucerfor dessert...beer. They have over 225 beers from around the world. We then went to the hotel and relaxed for a little while before going back to The Power & Light District. We ate dinner at Vinino where I had the Mediterranean pasta and Bill had a flat-bread margherita pizza. We then headed back to The Flying Saucer for another beer. Wow, it sounds like all we did was drink beer and eat...hee hee hee.
We drove back Sunday morning and were home around noon. We really enjoyed Kansas City and are hoping to go back again soon.