Kansas City Public Library and other sights

We left the Giant Eyeball and drove to Kansas City. We had a nice, easy, straight drive, directly West. Somehow, I have no pictures of that trip, so there was either nothing to see or I fell asleep...

 

I was really looking forward to going to Kansas City, though. Someone had, at some point, posted a picture on Facebook of a building that looked like giant books, and so I Google searched it, and found that it was the Kansas City Public Library parking garage! What an amazing idea! What an inspiring piece of art!! How encouraging! In fact, I instantly wanted to read (most) of the books that were represented (or re-read the books represented that I had already read!)

 

First, though, I had to convince Peter that we had to go off the beaten path, pulling a trailer, though the core of Kansas City to take pictures of a building. Which, he agreed to do.

 

Once again, GPS did NOT help!! I typed in Kansas City Public Library and it guided us through narrow streets, the wrong way down a one-way (a big giant truck was coming the other way, but stopped to wait for us to make it through- probably had some choice words about "tourists"), through construction (in which we actually had to run over those orange cones... we finally arrived, and THIS is what we saw:

A beautiful building, A Kansas City Public Library, but not THE Kansas City Public Library... (Apparently this is the Central library - if someone knows otherwise, please let me know!)

 

Somehow, I convinced Peter that, even though we were driving around and around for...way too long...we had to try to find the other one! At that point, really, it was too hot (again, with the "too hot") to do anything else anyway, so we drove around Kansas City. We did find THE Library - I forget how. Maybe we broke down and turned on the roaming on our cell phones, so we could Google..
.

It's a good size city (approximately 460,000 people) and has ALOT to offer/see. For starters, and the most advertised, their sports teams - starting with: Kansas City Chiefs (National Football League)! (Also, Kansas Speedway for Nascar races, of which they host 3 times a year; Kansas City Royals (Major League Baseball); and Sporting Kansas City (Formerly, the Kansas City Wizards of Major League Soccer).

 

One of the best things about the Visit Kansas City website is that under "things to do" they include a category of "quirky attractions". :D
(http://www.visitkc.com/things-to-do/suggested-itineraries/quirky-attractions/index.aspx)

 

When I look back about each of the places we've been, and not just on this trip, but all of them, and I review the things we miss, I remember that each trip is like a "sample platter". Tasty little bits of a few different things ~ see what we like, and come back for those next time, and add a few other tidbits, too!

 

A couple of the things we missed (as per roadsideamerica.com and other websites):

• The world's largest concrete soccer ball (5801 NE 76th St)
• The world's largest shuttlecocks (sculpture at 4525 Oak St)
• Fritz's Railroad Restaurant (diner style, food delivered by model train (east side of Grand Blvd at E. 25th St.)
• The house in which Jesse James was shot is an hour north, in St. Joseph, and you can visit the house (they've left the hole in the wall, apparently, but it's grown over the years as people continue to take pieces of the wall...)
  (http://www.ci.st-joseph.mo.us/history/jameshome.cfm)

Also listed is The Kansas City Public Library parking garage. Here's the problem: we were pulling a trailer and there was no parking, so Peter just slowed down so I could take pictures out of the window, and they are... not good...in that trees blocked most of the view!! Still, good enough for me, but Google it, to see the full spectrum of the building! It's a great building!

 

 http://www.strangebuildings.com/kansas-city-public-library-parking-garage-kansas-city-usa/
Kansas City has alot of beautiful and/or buildings, and I don't really know what most of them were, so anyone who sees my pictures and happens to know what the building are, please tell me!!

The one that LOOKS like an Opera House IS the Opera House (Muriel Kauffman Theatre), but the rest I don't know...

 

 

Many people think that Kansas City is in Kansas and are surprised to find out that it is, in fact, in Missouri. That's why I was surprised to find out that Kansas city is also in Kansas. Technically, they are separate cities, but we drove from one to the other and didn't notice. There was probably a sign, but we didn't see it.

We drove through the Northeast corner of Kansas, so we could cross it off our list of "states and provinces we still need to visit", and then turned North towards Nebraska. (More on Nebraska on Wednesday.)

 

However, I have another trip planned for Kansas - but I want to go to Liberal, which is, of course, where Dorothy Gale lived, from Wizard of Oz. You know, the Dorothy who said, "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more."

 

We almost made it there a few years ago, when were just South, in Oklahoma, but we couldn't go. I do have my ruby red slippers, though, all ready for that trip!  http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2815