Belton, MO

This week we're staying at a Marriott Courtyard in south Kansas City, but working in Belton, MO about 10 miles south.

We went to a Royals vs. Blue Jays game tonight, but only stayed through half of the 4th inning. It all of a sudden got very cold and wet outside. I'm glad I brought towels to wipe down the seats, but it was still freezing. It was so warm last week, but tonight, the weather was quite sucky. A glass of wine in the hot tub did help the numbness. We left when the KC Royals were winning 5-1, but I just checked and they won 7-1 overall. Good job Royals. Coco Crisp, my 2nd favorite MLB player after Milton Bradley played tonight and I saw him, so it was worth it. The new stadium did look very nice and I like the fountains in the outfield. When there was a home run, the fountains went off along with the fireworks. There were the least amount of fans in the crowd I've ever seen at a game. It was quite sad. The rest of it reminded me a lot of US Cellular Field.

The Courtyard is pretty similar to every other Courtyard I've stayed at, but a nice perk of this one is it has balconies that overlook an actual courtyard. King bed, kind of comfy, free internet, fairly small rooms, couch, non-fancy towel folding/toiletries, breakfast (but not free), small but nice work-out room, business center (one computer) with free printing, coffee service all day, and a decent pool and hot tub.

Belton is a cute town. It is not super small town, but is small enough where everyone is nice and polite, and talk about a new store in town like it's big news. Nothing else very exciting there. There are a couple of small mom and pop restaurants to hit up, and that will be a nice change of pace from chain restaurants.

Done on Thursday this week, and a new cycle begins again next week. Goodbye Kansas/Missouri...it's been a good four weeks...on to Texas and Minnesota!

Touristy in Kansas

Two tourist-y things we've done in the past few days:

Went and ate at Oklahoma Joe's...the best barbeque restaurant in a gas station. This was just a plain ol' gas station with a very busy bbq restaurant in it. Definitely not fancy, but I had some good food for a very good price. I'm getting quite a collection of bbq restaurants under my belt.

Tonight we saw a comedy show at Famous Johnny's Comedy Club in Overland Park. We saw Elliott Threatt perform, and he was pretty funny. He told me that my skydiving in New Zealand was bullshit, but I swore it was true. Famous Johnny's was a nice little place to see a comedy show, not horribly crowded, 2 item minimum but they weren't very pricy, and about an hour and a half of a performance. I enjoyed the night and would go back to see another show. It is a little strange seeing a show in somewhere other than you live, because there is a lot of local humor that gets lost. A lot of Kansas cities and Arkansas jokes that I'm sure are funnier if you are from KC. http://www.famousjohnnys.com/

Had a lot of bad weather in the area and a couple tornadoes went through. I didn't see any, it was a bit west and north of where we are, but I said it wouldn't be a trip to Kansas without some twisters. Glad Kansas and Missouri are doing their parts to make my trip complete.

We're going to see a Royals game on Monday, weather-permitting and that'll probably end any fun activities in the area. I'll let you know how Belton, Missouri is!

Overland Park, Kansas

I'm in Kansas, where thoughts of Dorothy, corn, and tornadoes run rampant. Another new state for me, but it is very similar to every other midwest state.

This week we're staying at the Overland Park Marriott. Now, I'm sure usually this is a very nice hotel, and the rooms are quite nice. The bed is huge, a very comfy comforter, and a huge flat screen tv. Internet is not free, but that's pretty usual for nicer hotels. Unfortunately the hotel is under construction and I was woken up this morning around 8am to the lovely sounds of jackhammers and other lovely construction noises. Grant practically had to scream to say good morning when we walked outside. I'm up on the 6th floor, it shouldn't be that loud from the lobby! What else is annoying is the fitness room and pools are closed due to the construction, and I just don't feel like going to the Jewish Community Center two miles away to go work out. So, what should be a nice hotel, is really kind of an annoying place to stay and a cheap hotel would probably have been better. Until the construction is done, I'd avoid staying here.

Other than that, Overland Park is a nice suburb of KC. We'll probably be hitting up more bbq places while we're in the area, but since we were here a few weeks ago, not sure what else we'll be doing around these parts. I'll let you know!

*Special thanks this week to Lifetime Fitness for the week long pass!

Plainfield, IN

This was a very quick week of work in Plainfield, IN 1. due to ops, and 2. due to my being very sick. Typical suburb outside of Indianapolis. We stayed at the Residence Inn by the airport, and it reminded me how awesome Residence Inn's are. Free dinners, huge rooms, full kitchens, comfy bed, free internet. It feels more like you're living in an apartment rather than squeezing into a hotel room.

Another two week trip in KC coming up!

Las Vegas, NV

Vegas was a ton of fun. The Mirage is a great hotel to stay in, and except for the elevators that were under renovation and took forever, it had beautiful pools, nice casino, big rooms, big flat screen tvs, comfy beds. They fit four people pretty comfortably. One day I didn't even leave the hotel till 10pm because I just stayed there sleeping in, hanging by the pool and hot tub, gambling in the casino, then seeing a show there. It's amazing how much there is in one hotel.

I saw O, the Cirque de Soleil show, Terry Fator who won America's Got Talent, he's a celebrity impersonator/ventriliquist/singer/comedian, and Thunder from down Under, a bunch of half-naked Australian men. All shows were great. Terry Fator was probably my favorite, just because he's so talented and it was thoroughly entertaining all the way through. I suggest watching some Youtube clips of him if you're bored. O was beautiful to watch and had a lot of extremely cool elements. Thunder From Down Under was fun, but Chippendales were definitely better.

The champagne brunch at Paris on Sunday was pretty awesome. I think any champagne brunch in Vegas is probably great, but this was a good one.

One of my favorite parts of the weekend was playing craps with some of the guys for 3-4 hours at Casino Royale (couldn't get away from good ol' Casino Royale with their cheap drinks and cheap tables). We stayed up the first night till 7am (this was the first real time I've stayed up more than 24 hours) but had a great time. My luck went downhill after that night with gambling, but oh well. Good times all around.

We stayed awake for almost three days straight but I still feel like we barely did anything. I just know I had an awesome time, was really glad to hang out with everyone for awhile, and want to go back. I already miss you guys! Another trip again next year!

Indianapolis, IN

I'm in Indy this week, staying with Beth. So far, nothing terribly eventful. They are filming Extreme Home Makeover in the area (Beth, Becca, and friends have volunteered) and we just caught some of the filming in Hinkel Fieldhouse across the street. Saw Ty, but the pictures I took on my phone were not good. It was very touching hearing the stories about the family.

Random sidenote: A tonsorial is a barber shop. We saw that in a mural in Moe and Johnny's when we went to dinner and we had to ask what that was.

I've been to Indy quite a few times and I'm not staying in a hotel, so nothing really to review. It is nice going home to somewhere other than a hotel after work. We get to do things like walk the dogs and eat cooked food! Ah, the little things in life that are missing from life on the road. Thanks to Beth's house for letting me sleep on the couch all week.

Going to Vegas on Friday! Very excited!