I stayed in an area of KC called, "The Plaza." This area has a lot of fountains and public art. Its architecture is inspired by Seville, Spain, which is supposedly Kansas City's sister city.

Somewhere...

My trip to KC also let me cross off 2 states on my "yet to see yet" list. I love crossing things off my list.

Apparently, KC is also home to a blues club that is extremely popular among blues musicians. It is a fantastic biker dive bar hidden away near the train tracks. Seriously, you can't make this stuff up. The club was hot, the music was cool and the pictures were fab.

The obvious thing to do after a BBQ feast is to take an aerial aerobics class. What is aerial aerobics?

http://www.swiss-cup.ch/en/world-class-gymnastics/swiss-cup-2009/show-act/

Obviously, I didn't do anything that looked this elegant.. not even close. I spent most of my time looking like this:

But for one second, I did manage:

One of the things I couldn't wait to try in KC was the barbeque. I've watched enough Food Network to know that there is some seriously awesome BBQ. Apparently, the President was in KC last week and he went to Oklahoma Joe's. Starting there sounded like an excellent idea.

Turns out, O Joe's is THE place to go for BBQ. The queue to get in goes well into the 100 degree sweltering parking lot. And it is like that pretty much all day. It is considered to be one of the 13 places you have to eat at before you die. In the world. And the best part is... it is IN A GAS STATION. Le Bernadin on par with a BBQ place in a gas station. NICE. And, I had never seen BBQ sauce sold in such large containers before. KC is serious about their BBQ. If you ever get to Oklahoma Joe's, order the Z-man sandwich with a bag of fries. You can thank me later.

Downtown KC has a huge "mini Vegas" where, in one place, you can have almost any kind of "grown up fun" you could possibly want. Me, I just loved the fabulous subject matter.

Everything is up to date in Kansas City

Ever since a great Seattle friend moved home to Kansas City, I've been wanting to visit. In a nutshell, It was an awesome trip.

We started off with a bang at a Royals game at their new stadium. This place is gorgeous. Waterfalls. Fireworks. And they don't have stale hot dog buns like Safeco in Seattle.

My Weekend as a Mountain Goat

This weekend I went on my first ever "overnight" hike. The group started at 2500ft elevation. We camped at 6000ft. It took us 5.4 miles to get there. So about 11 miles round trip. Needless to say, this was exciting and a little intimidating. I knew I didn't have the right camping gear and I wasn't sure I had the fitness level to carry me, my gear, huge camera, water and food up that far. But I love challenges. And I knew that the views were going to be worth it.

In a nutshell, it was awesome. We saw a bear. Not at our camp.. that was a little high for bears, but he was near the trail up. Look for the black dot in the green grass in the back.

I would have taken more pictures on the way up, but I was breathing too hard to be creative.  When we got to the pass, where we planned to camp, we found the most astounding view. And snow. Lots of it. So we set up camp on the snow. Another first for me. Ski on snow, check. Sled on snow, check, check. Sleep on snow? How do you do that? Well, first, you have to flatten out the snow a little so you can pitch a tent.

After you set up camp, time to look for a good place to go sledding. Or, in my case, find a good place to watch brave souls go sledding.

Dehydrated dinner was also a first for me. Sure, I've had Ramen noodles. But dehydrated Turkey Tetrazinni is in an entirely different league. I'll admit, it starts out looking a lot like dried dog food, but surprisingly, after some quality time with boiling water, it turns out pretty good. The great view helps.

Before sunset, the snow started to steam. Something I've never seen before.

Sunset was pretty awesome. I felt a little like like I was on top of the world.

The next morning, we headed up a nearby peak for some 360 views which were totally worth the hike. We could even see Mt. Rainier.

For those of you who are wondering.. yes, I am quite sore from my stint as a mountain goat but no, I didn't bring Bonsai with me. Maybe next time.

In March, my first roommate, Marybeth, gave me a bonsai tree. I have absolutely no idea what I did to be worthy of the gift, but I was very moved and have become very attached to this tree. I had always wanted a bonsai, but was worried about caring for it. They are not "low maintenance" at all. Since I got this tree, I had not been away from my apartment long enough for me to be worried about soaking the tree... until this past week. I could chance it and leave the tree on my balcony, hoping that there would be some rain during the week... but one day of seriously hot weather and it would be toast. Or a big gust of wind would completely blow it away.

I discovered that there is a bonsai specific store in Seattle... I figured they might have some tips for me and I gave them a call.

ME: Hello, I'm a new bonsai owner and I'm going on vacation for 10 days. I know that is too long to leave the tree unattended, so I was wondering what exactly do bonsai owners water their trees when they go on vacation and they don't have somebody who can water them?

Store: We don't board trees.

Right. But that is an interesting business idea. Mental note made. I was really looking for some sort of fancy "time lapsed" watering device.

So, I brought my tree with me to CA. And let me tell you, my tree LOVED California. In the week I was there, it not only started to grow more leaves and branches for the first time since I've been in charge, but it started to bloom again. Here are some pictures of my bonsai on vacation:

In Yosemite:



On the Coast:



Next to Lake Tahoe:



And my favorite.... in the Redwoods...

On the road back to WA, I was very much looking forward to seeing two things.

One, Mt. Shasta, in northern CA. This mountain is a lot like Mt. Rainier.. looks like him a little, but is a bit smaller and is very close to the highway. This makes for easy roadside photos.




I also visited Voodoo Donuts, in Portland, OR. Ever since I saw a picture of this place, I've been dying to go. I mean.. it is PINK. That alone could be reason enough for me to go anywhere, but the donuts are crazy... kind of on crack.





I mean, look at these two: the one on the right is a "Bacon Maple"... self explanatory. The one on the left is called "Memphis Mafia" which is Fried dough with banana chunks and cinnamon sugar covered in a glaze with chocolate frosting, peanut butter, peanuts and chocolate chips on top!