Kansas City, Missouri

Week 2 of my two week Missouri trip, and now we're in Kansas City until Friday. We're staying at the Holiday Inn, formerly the Aladdin Hotel, in downtown KC across from the convention center.

So far, I like Kansas City. It's been awhile since I've been in a downtown area and this is a nice city, small, clean, just enough big buildings without being crowded. We got here yesterday when they were playing the NCAA games a few blocks away at the Sprint Center so things were crazy last night. We went to the Power and Lights district, the popular area with a bunch of restaurants and bars by the stadium. Something like 40 bars in a two block area. I really like the middle section with the Live! stage that had around 10 bars and restaurants that were all in an enclosed square that you could walk around with your alcohol, bar hop, listen to the bands playing in the middle, watch the NCAA games, etc. We mostly stayed at Angels Rock Bar which had good music and some entertaining random acts by the bartenders such as swinging on swings over the crowd, dancing on the bars, and swallowing fire.

We'll see what other events the week brings. I'm going to see Phantom of the Opera on Wednesday since the Music Hall is pretty much across the street from the hotel. It's awesome being with walking distance of so many things.

The Holiday Inn/Aladdin Hotel is cool. It's an older building, so it has some style in the lobby and they make the rooms look pretty stylish, if on the small side. When we checked in we were given free glasses of champagne while we waited five minutes for the rooms to be done. That was a nice welcome. Free internet, valet parking, room service (which is particularly pricey), dvd players in the rooms, flat screen tv, big comfy beds (although not as good as the Hilton's), restaurant, lounge, spa, decent exercise room, and free business center with fast computers. Also, the Kleenex was folded into a rose and one of my towels was folded into an elephant! Last big plus, we can walk to the store from here too.

If you've been here before, please recommend what barbeque place to go to. There are a ton to choose from, and I hear this is the place for bbq.