Am I the only one who thought that Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri were two entirely different geographic locations? I was lucky that someone told me otherwise before my trip; who knows what sort of directional blunders I would have run into.
Outside of Kansas City is very rural and flat. The wind whips across the plains with great ease and cuts through people in the process. It is very cold- colder than the thermostat will tell you, because of this windchill.
Kansas City is definitely meat lover's country, and the BBQ and steak restaurants are among the best in the country. Of course this did not peak the interest of a vegetarian like myself, but to others the food is the main attraction. Highly recommended by the locals was the City Grille, though I did not actually dine here myself due to the lack of options for me on the menu.
The one thing besides beef and brisket that Kansas City is famous for are the professional sports here. The National Football League's Chiefs have made a home in Arrowhead Stadium about 4 miles outside of the city center. Area Chiefs fans are passionate and numerous- you will see Chiefs paraphenalia decorating many vehicles and store fronts. Arrowhead Stadium is thought to be one of the best home team advantages because of it's crowd noise level and intimidating red colors worn by the fans in the stands.
Kansas City is also the home to Major League Baseball's Royals. Though the Royals' ballpark is located right next to Arrowhead Stadium, this team does not carry the respect or fanbase of the Chiefs. During my visit I saw almost no Royals paraphenalia and it was obvious that the folks in Kansas City were definitely bigger football fans than baseball fans. Correspondingly, it is relatively easy to get tickets to Royals' games, but difficult and expensive to get tickets to Chief's games-- planning ahead is necessary for visiting football fans that want to attend an event.
The postcard "attractions" of Kansas City do not really stand apart from points of non-interest in my opinion. The fountains and buildings that they have photographed for tourist publications are not very spectacular in real life. It's no wonder that the most popular postcards sent from this area have pictures of Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz cast on them- not actual landmarks.
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Downtown Kansas City, Missouri hotels are more expensive than the ones on the Kansas side or the outskirts, but are probably where you want to stay if you want to be near area points of interest. There isn't much to downtown Kansas City (either side of the river), but attractions like Union Square Station and the Convention Center tend to be on the Missouri side.
Discount shopping at mass merchants and national chain stores (ie Target) is phenomenal in Kansas City- especially if you wear a smaller size. Living in Boston, my size is always gone first from the stores in the clothes that I want, but in Kansas City the popular styles are different so you can shop for the clothes you love without running into any shortages. This was my main source of entertainment when I was in the city.
For a good resource for information about Kansas City, upcoming events and attractions go to www.visitkc.com This website gives advice from the Kansas City chamber of commerce and contains links to deals and discounts.
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The best way to get around Kansas City is by car due to the limited public transportation and fairly spread out area attractions. Unfortunately due to downtown construction, driving directions are hard to come by that are accurate--- this proved to be most frustrating during my stay.
The KC International Airport is within a 20 minute drive of the downtown KC area. Rental cars from the airport are probably your best bet for convenient transportation.
From journal We're not in Kansas anymore-- we're in Kansas City