I visited Kansas City last week w/my husband & two year old and nine month old sons. We were going to KC & then driving to St. Louis. My husband wanted to see the Royals- I was excited about the ribs.

I was surprised how much I really liked KC. The city was very pretty- loved the fountains- and there was a lot to do.

You really need a car- everything is very spread out and there's free parking everywhere.

Things to do:

We really liked the park near the World War Memorial - had a great view- you can go up the tower if you go into the museum (we were too late-but it is a bit expensive)- there is parking along the street

There's a big fountain across the street that was pretty and you can take a look at Union Station- there was a nice looking Science Museum but it was geared toward older kids so we skipped that.

We did the tour of the stadium- "The All Star" tour. They are small groups and the tour was good. After that we headed over to the Negro Baseball Museum (which my husband was not that impressed with). It was raining so we drove around to show the kids some fountains

We did a tour of Boulevard Brewery which was fun and great beers. You have to reserve in advance. We didn't but stopped in- they had an opening at a tour later in the day so we came back.

Food: I was all about the ribs-

First, we ordered Oklahoma Joe's ribs take out- the lines were huge. It's on Anthony Bourdain's top US restaurants and was our favorite. There's a park down the road that you can eat at if you don't want to wait. We just brought to our room b/c our kids were beat. The fries were really good as well.

We had lunch at Arthur Bryant's - Calvin Trilllin called this his favorite restaurant Expect long lines on the weekend. The ribs were great- we only got rib tips b/c we were also trying burnt ends - another local specialty. I only wish we had gotten the whole slab for better comparison. I also heard Jack Stack's was great- but it seemed more like a chain restaurant to me. Since we only had limited time (a day and a half) we just got the cheesy corn bake to go- it was just cheese w/corn- very rich but good. This seemed to be more of a regular chain type restaurant.

We also tried Imo's Pizza- made w/provolone cheese- very different- we didn't really like it

To Stay:

We stayed in Westport which was a nice area w/restaurants and shops. There are mainly just chain restaurants and stores- but many places to eat outside. We stayed at the Embassy Suites which was nice and included a good breakfast. They also gave 4 free drink coupons at their happy hour.

We were only in Kansas City for a day and a half but really enjoyed the city.