You'll Find the Bright Places...

Kansas City, day 2....
Another hot and steamy day in the Midwest.  We decided to sleep in and take it easy today.   We've logged so many miles over the past few weeks, it was nice to relax a little.  After foregoing the hotel-provided breakfast we stopped and had a great meal and then Rich decided we needed to get an oil change.  That was quickly accomplished and we headed to Worlds of Fun, another Cedarfair Amusement Park.

Our luck in parks continued.  I don't know if it was because it was Sunday, or that it was so hot, but there were no lines for any of the rides.  We didn't have more than a five minute wait for anything- including all of the coasters!  I did NOT take my motion sickness pills and had a wonderful day.  Despite the heat we made it all the way through the park.  Maggie, Ian and Rich hot all the coasters, and I went on all the non-loopers.  (I didn't want to press my luck!)  Worlds of Fun has one of the fastest wooden coasters I have ever been on.  It was great.  There other coasters are pretty good as well.  Danny ventured out of the Kiddie Park and went on "Fury of the Nile," a roaring rapids type ride.  He loved it!  That was quite a surprise for us.  Of course I was the one that can off the ride the wettest- which really made Danny's day.  We had to go on it again- and yet again, I seemed to attract the water!

Although walking around the park in wet shorts was not my idea of an enjoyable experience- it was worth it to see Danny take a chance on something new.  He is a cautious thinker and it takes a lot to get him to break out of his comfort zone sometimes.

We finished to park in record time and then the boys asked to go back to the hotel and swim.  We picked up food and headed back.  Danny, Ian and Rich headed down as I re-packed all the clothes in preparation for our departure.  We wanted an early start so we could do some sight seeing before heading to St. Louis.


The next day we headed back to the downtown area of the Kansas City.  Our first stop was the Federal Reserve Building.  We took a self guided tour and learned a little about the history of money.  The kids seemed to enjoy it.  Ian and Rich were fascinated by the "robots" that moved the money through while Danny enjoyed the hands on aspects of the exhibition.

Across the street from the fed lies the National World War I Museum.  This was my favorite stop on this leg of our trip.  We started our tour by going up into the tower on the grounds for a 360 view of Kansas City.  It was a clear day and the view was great.  The museum is chock full of memorabilia from World War I.  Everything in the museum was incredible.  The manner in which the exhibits are displayed, the volunteers that work there, the multi media presentations, the interactive stations- all of these aspects made learning about this turbulent time an really powerful educational experience for all of us.  I think we all walked out of there learning so much more about World War I.

Our final stop in Kansas City was the Crown Center- an indoor mall- for a quick lunch.  Rich, Maggie and I opted for more KC BBQ from Three Little Piggies, but Ian and Danny wanted pizza.  The pizzeria there was named D'Bronx, and I found out the owners were in fact, from New York.  The boys really enjoyed their pizza.  I had a bite and I have to say, it is the best New York style pizza that I have had in the Midwest.  Time to head to St. Louis!!