Two Librarians (Plus One!) in Kansas City, Day Three (8/4/2012)

Our Saturday got off to a relaxing start. Some local friends of mine hosted us for brunch in their home, allowing Sarah a brief glimpse of the Kansas side.* As a Missouri native, I naturally designed an itinerary emphasizing the pleasures to be had on the eastern half of the divide.

Then we pleasantly wasted an afternoon puttering around the hotel and its environs, including the Crown Center shops and Union Station. These are connected by a series of covered bridges and walkways known officially as The Link, but I have always called them the “gerbil tunnels.” Mainly because I kept gerbils as a child and constructed elaborate tunnel systems for their entertainment. As one does.

Does it not look exactly like something a small rodent would crawl through? I ask you.

On our way to Union Station, we happened to spot on the ground a stray photograph of a cat. No one else was around who could’ve dropped it. Being in a weird mood, I decided to keep it. After seeing a display of local artists’ works and a quaint model train expo, we traipsed back through the gerbil tunnels the way we came. This time Sarah’s keen eyes noticed another photograph perched up on top of a support bar near the ceiling. I couldn’t resist climbing up the side of the tunnel to confirm my suspicion. I was right. I now had two matching Old Family Kitty photos! Someone didn’t lose them. They left them for other people to find, scavenger hunt-style. God only knows why, but I approve.

Our own little “found art” exhibit

 

And now, the barbecue…

You can’t come to Kansas City and not have barbecue. Sorry, vegans. It’s the law.

Luckily, Sarah required no convincing. Brisket was one of her primary motivations for coming on the trip.

I fretted endlessly about which purveyor(s) Sarah just had to sample. If we’d been on a longer trip, I probably would’ve made her eat at more than one barbecue joint, so that she could have formed her own educated opinion. But that just wasn’t in the cards. Finally, I bit the bullet and planned to take her to my personal favorite: Jack Stack. For the record, I understand that many proponents of Gates, Arthur Bryant, and Oklahoma Joe’s will consider this blasphemy.

We were joined at dinner by local librarian (and my buddy and mentor) April Roy. We talked a lot of shop that night, and April filled us in on her commitment to overcome digital divide barriers related to the introduction of Google Fiber to the area. It was the first I’d heard of the issue, and it was fascinating.

Afterwards, April packed us into her car for a driving tour of Kansas City. Her involvement in approximately a zillion committees and action groups (community networking is her raison d’etre as a librarian) has given her a deep familiarity with local history, so it was a real treat.

Next we experienced another Kansas City staple – live jazz. Kansas City’s 18^th and Vine District is recognized as one of the original cradles of jazz music, and there are still lots of clubs across the city where you can partake of the modern jazz scene. We decided to go directly to the source, getting tickets to a performance at The Blue Room, the club run by the American Jazz Museum.

Where magic happens

The featured performer that night was a lady called Darcus. And she was a force of nature. Admittedly, I have more of an appreciation than a great love for jazz, but she swept up this neophyte whole-heartedly in her spell. Also, there were two extra special moments during the show, both of which had to do with Darcus’ group of friends who had come to see her perform.

The first was that one of her friends happened to be fabulous comedienne Adele Givens. Darcus bullied her into giving the audience some love – not a full show, not even a full bit, but still some love. Brief, but fantastic.

The second (and my favorite moment of the whole night) happened when an audience member requested a song, “Misty.” Darcus was uncertain of the lyrics, and when one of her friends, another professional singer, badgered her about it, but she turned the tables on the friend. She demanded that her friend perform the song instead. Her friend did reluctantly take the stage, and her rendition of the song was absolutely lovely and powerfully emotional in a way I didn’t fully comprehend until she after she finished. After she sang, the friend announced that she had spent the last year battling breast cancer, and this was the first time she had sung in public since undergoing treatment. She was overwhelmed in the moment.

“I ain’t got no hair, but I’m still here.”

And, I’ll tell you all straight up, my stony heart cracked. Sarah is typically the weepy one, but my eyes were not dry that night. It was so special to be there to share that and to applaud for her. I wish I knew her name.

It was such a great night, and by the time we got back to the hotel late, I was done apologizing for bringing my friend home (not that Sarah ever asked for such a thing; she was 100 percent on board from the start). Screw all the haters. Kansas City is an awesome city. And this is an awesome vacation. You wish you were having this much fun.

 

*Note:  Understand that Kansas City residents gaze at each other across the state line with – at best – affectionate eye-rolling exasperation and sometimes genuine animosity. As a teenager, my motto was “Kansas side bites it.” My karmic payback is that most of my friends remaining in the area have since settled there. On purpose even. So I can’t talk smack about it anymore.

Two Librarians in Kansas City, Day Two (8/3/2012)

I’ve grown to love living on the East Coast and all the wonderful people I’ve encountered since I moved there. But their sense of geography can be a little… well… Let’s just say it:  snobby. They seem to give a pass to Chicago and New Orleans, but otherwise my impression is that they don’t really believe anything of any real cultural relevance happens west of the Appalachians.* Needless to say, that’s simply not reality.

True Fact:  I have yet to go to an East Coast art museum that tops the elevating spectacle of the one I grew up with.

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Main Building in Kansas City, MO

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is one of the area’s genuine can’t-miss attractions. And so it was a no-brainer to schedule it early in our itinerary, a great start to our second day in Kansas City.

To beat the heat, we began by strolling all around the the extensive sculpture garden in the surrounding campus (the humidity made the chill of the galleries feel that much more delicious once we went inside).

“Ferment” by artist Roxy Paine

Of course we had to take the obligatory Shuttlecocks photos. The museum commissioned the installation of four badminton-themed Claes Oldenburg sculptures when I was around 13 or 14 years old. I’ll never forget how terribly controversial the whole thing was. Do not underestimate how much people detested the thought of such ridiculous fare besmirching the dignity of the gorgeous neoclassic building. However, within the blink of an eye, they transformed into one of the city’s most beloved landmarks. Funny how that kind of thing happens.

Sarah and Shuttlecock

Now I’ve been to this museum more times than I can count, so I was mainly showing off for Sarah bringing her here. That said, the trip was a treat for me, too, because they’ve built a new contemporary wing – the Bloch Building – since I moved away. I loved seeing how much the museum has changed and grown while also getting to visit old favorites.

The whole museum is a lot to take in, and it can easily consume a whole day. We ended up seeing less than half before adjourning to lunch. We transitioned directly from one quintessential Kansas City experience to another – Winstead’s Diner.

Steakburgers and shakes since 1940

Calvin Trillin once wrote that Winstead’s serves the best hamburger in the world. Sarah was suitably impressed by her meal. I remember the big thing in high school was for my classmates to dare each other to try to finish single-handedly a “skyscraper.” This is a traditional malted milk shake that serves up to four people and is served in a glass that I remember being at least three feet tall. I didn’t order one because I was afraid it would look smaller when not filtered through nostalgia, but I’m sure it’s still pretty ginormous regardless.

From there, we walked the outskirts of the Country Club Plaza Shopping District to reach the Plaza Branch of the Kansas City Public Library. It’s a beautiful library with lots of art, fabulous spaces for various audiences and purposes, and a terrific view.

Recycled book art

Although I personally never worked for KCPL (I worked at Mid-Continent in the ‘burbs), I was always impressed with the level of innovation displayed by the system, particularly in regards to youth programming. This excellence obviously continues today as evidenced by this sign for an awesome teen program that I wish I could’ve attended myself.

This makes me wish I still worked in a public library. I miss teen programming.

After a busy morning, some relaxing by the pool was in order. It was a bit rainy out in the afternoon, which made Sarah and I think would our run of the place. We thought wrong. The Westin Crown Center pool was jam-packed with families. It made it difficult to follow through on our plan to work out some of our travel kinks with some laps, but the pool is still quite large (especially for a rooftop pool), and it has some enjoyably interesting features, such as being able to enter the pool from inside the building and being able to swim outdoors.

I’ve written about this swimsuit before.

Luckily the rain cleared off beautifully for a perfect evening of Royals baseball at Kauffman Stadium with some local friends of mine. My home team and “the K” earned some extra attention this year what with hosting the All-Star Game and all.

Sarah in her natural element

They were able to show off the recent stadium improvements, which I hadn’t gotten an opportunity to enjoy before this trip. Everything from the seats to the concessions now seems so upscale and modern, but I only really cared about two things:

1. Are there still fountains? Answer: a resounding YES! This is important because fountains are kind of our thing in Kansas City. Kansas City has the second-largest number of fountains in the world. Only Rome beats us.
2. Do they still do the Hot Dog Derby (also known as, my favorite part of the game)? Answer: Not only do they still perform this ritual, they’ve actually improved it!!!

Allow me digress momentarily. The Hot Dog Derby used to consist of a digital video clip where a ketchup dog, a mustard dog and a relish dog hop around the diamond in a race played on the JumboTron at some point during the game. Most other stadiums around the country have similar gimmicks, but I guarantee you that it doesn’t mean even close to as much in other places as it does in Kansas City. Because when you have one of the most losing-est teams in baseball, you grasp and claw at whatever taste of victory you can just barely reach. And so Royals fans have embraced the Hot Dog Derby much in the same way a socially awkward man embraces a hooker. When your preferred condiment wins the Derby, you revel in your reflected glory. Seriously.

But now OMG THEY HAVE ACTUAL GUYS IN ACTUAL HOT DOG SUITS RUNNING AN ACTUAL RACE! This is deeply satisfying in a way Sarah can’t really comprehend because she actually knows something about baseball as a sport, not just as some place to go because they have a fireworks show on Friday nights (whatever; it’s an awesome fireworks show).

For those curious, I am a die-hard Relish supporter and will remain so until the last breath leaves my body.

I display my Relish pride at every game.

Why? Mainly because it’s the underdog both in terms of crowd support and win-loss ratio. Also because I genuinely feel that while ketchup and mustard are both absolute necessities when devouring a stadium frank, it’s the relish that reaches above the necessary and into the luxury. And because it’s not really just a condiment; it’s a philosophy of life in brief. I consider rooting for Mustard an acceptable if ill-considered choice, but never Ketchup. If you root for Ketchup, you might as well just become a Yankees fan while you’re at it.

* Note:  They also seem to believe that the Midwest is the Land of the Perpetual Deep Freeze. For the record, it does get quite cold. In winter. FYI, there is also a summer when it gets quite hot. Kansas City does not lie above the Arctic Circle.

Two Librarians in Kansas City, Day One (8/2/2012)

Sarah and I landed in Kansas City in late afternoon. I was so impatient to start vacationing that we drove immediately from the airport into one of my old haunts, Downtown Parkville. It was time to steep Sarah in all things Missouri while flirting dangerously with an overdose on quaintness.

Our Chevy Aveo, a perky little rental car and a necessity. You must drive in Kansas City, as we have not mastered public transit yet. And parking is mind-boggling easy.

If you use the word “antique” as verb, Parkville has a lot to offer you. I used to take my mom there to spend afternoons rummaging through the many junk shops. Because of that, I was a little worried that Sarah – of the more cosmopolitan tastes – would have trouble killing time there until our dinner reservation. But I needn’t have worried. Although my memories painted Parkville as a one-note town, it actually displays several different hues of local color. Sarah loved exploring local art in the tiny galleries dotting the main strip. The proprietors of the Northland Exposure Artists Gallery even let us wander around even though we walked in just as they were closing up shop. There were also plenty of unique boutiques with unusual fashion and jewelry options, even though we didn’t indulge in any purchases.

And we had to stop by an old favorite:  the HMS Beagle. It’s a specialty science shop and a wonderland for kids and science geeks of all ages. You can find the best little odds and ends here, and if I’d thought ahead I would’ve left room in my suitcase to carry home some unusual stocking stuffers for this Christmas.

Old-fashioned glass chemistry set

The only problem is that the store hours for the shops can be a bit erratic. Lots of places were closed on Thursday afternoon, so I would recommend checking ahead before driving to Parkville for a shopping trip, particularly if you have your heart set on any particular location.

After getting our fill of window shopping, we walked. It’s a beautiful area, quite close to the river. And the historic buildings of the Park University campus up the scenic quotient.

Gotta love a bell tower.

We wandered around for a quite a while because I didn’t want to create hassle by showing up too early for our reservations at Piropos. As it turns out, I didn’t need to worry about that either. It was heart-breaking to survey the completely empty dining room. Apparently, this lovely restaurant has fallen on some hard times. And for no good Goddamn reason, I tell you.

The Argentinian cuisine is still delicious. Everyone working there is still completely solicitous. They still offer a gorgeous view of the river, which (I happen to know from past experience) is especially romantic at sunset. They still have the adorable little cards on the tables that list “piropos,” otherwise known as elegant compliments or pick-up lines. It still is an exceptional restaurant, and I took Sarah there on our first night in town specifically because she is a foodie and I wanted her to be impressed.

Anyway, after dinner we drove into the city to settle into our hotel, the Westin Crown Center. I talked Sarah into staying at this hotel for three reasons:

1. It offers a convenient location.
2. It provides an incredible view of the Kansas City skyline.
3. Most importantly, it stocks my all-time favorite shampoo: Westin Heavenly Spa White Tea Aloe. I want to live inside that smell forever. Many, many tiny bottles were smuggled out of the hotel in my luggage.

After that, we tucked in to a restful night of sleep in preparation for busy weekend of sight-seeing.

Two Librarians in New York: Quick Recap

Quintessential New York Experiences:

• Ate pizza by the slice.
• Visited fabulous restaurants.
• Saw a Broadway show.
• Visited the Statue of Liberty and the Ellis Island Immigration Museum.
• Walked through Times Square.
• Visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
• Saw Rockefeller Center.
• Shopped on Fifth Avenue.
• Strolled all around Central Park.
• Breakfasted on genuine NY bagels.
• Paid our respects as librarians to the New York Public Library stone lions.
• Went to a museum.
• Had a sundaes at Serendipity.

Reviews:

• Amtrak Service from Alexandria to Penn Station, NY – Good. But no wifi? Really? And train staff were efficient, but not especially friendly or service-oriented. But at least it ran on time and did not smell like urine, which are common Yelp complaints about the Megabus service on the same route.

• Roger Smith Hotel— Very good. Super comfortable beds. Friendly and helpful staff. Free wifi. Reasonably priced (at least by Midtown standards). Within walking distance of many iconic landmarks. I also appreciated how they took what could’ve been a negative (it was an old building and sort of dated in a lot of ways) and turned it into a positive in an interesting way. They could’ve gone for just “quaint,” as so many older hotels with architectural flourishes do. But instead they made it “quaint + irony,” adding little hipster touches that upped the cool quotient. Real art, real plants, and real books were everywhere, and you could check out VHS tapes at the front desk to watch on the TV/VCR combo in your room. My only real complaint is that for some reason the outlets took three times as long as normal to charge any electronic devices.

• Wicked — Excellent. Sarah and I both really wanted to see Book of Mormon, but those tickets cost literally quadruple the amount of any of the others. We couldn’t justify the expense for three hours of entertainment. Sarah’s second choice was Wicked, which I had already seen before in Chicago, but my seats then had been extra shitty, so I didn’t mind going back. I still really liked the story and the music. The actress playing Glinda this time was more over-the-top than in the other version I’d seen, but even though she kind of took me out of the moment, she still brought a lot of energy to show and had an amazing voice.

• Toloache — Excellent. Beautiful ambiance. Great service. Right next to the theater showing Wicked. Dinner was superb, but dessert was even better. Best hot chocolate I’ve had in my life bar none, accompanied by churros.

• Fatty Cue in Battery Park — Blech. It was edible, and I was completely starving, so it hit the spot at the time. But that’s the most I can say for it.

• Bobby Van’s Steakhouse — Good. This was a convenience choice rather than a deliberate decision. We happened to see it when we were hungry and tired of walking. I didn’t actually eat steak, so maybe that would’ve been more satisfying. I had pasta, and it was pretty good, but nothing that had me over the moon. Toloache spoiled me for other restaurants, I guess.

• Ess-a-Bagel — Excellent. We ate breakfast here on Sunday and loved it so much we went back on Monday morning, too. Sarah bought an entire bag of bialys to take home to her family.

• Serendipity 3 — Very good. It was the cutest thing, and both our desserts were just about the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted. However, it’s important to keep in mind that one sundae can feed roughly three people. I hate food waste. I loved that it was open extremely late at night, but the service towards close left something to be desired.

• Museum of Sex — Awesome. Small, but well-curated. Everything struck just the right balance between good scholarship and fun kitsch. The gift shop was a hoot, as well as the adjoining restaurant specializing in foods rumored as aphrodisiacs.

• Bar Breton — Good. Sarah ranked this one as a solid “Excellent” because she loved the plate of mussels she ordered. I had a goat cheese crepe, and it was quite good, but I still can’t get around the fact that I’m just not a huge fan of French cuisine.

High Points:

• Stumbled upon the Pagan Pride Harvest Festival in Battery Park. We didn’t stay long because we were so wiped out from traipsing all over Liberty and Ellis Islands, but I did get to hear a small part of one lady’s presentation on incorporating Wiccan craft into cooking.

• The old Jewish man at the bagel bakery mistook Sarah for a local. She was pretty jazzed about that.

• Stumbled upon a gay wedding in the Shakespeare Garden in Central Park. Super sweet.

• Spotted LeBron James getting interviewed in the NBC building.

• We were first in line for Statue of Liberty on Saturday morning. Because we win at tourism

• Sarah weeped copiously at Ellis Island. It was touching how strongly she identified with the immigrants.

Low Points:

• Immediately upon arriving in New York, I fell down the escalator at the subway station. Basically, my heavy suitcase tipped over, and then with the motion of the escalator, the suitcase kind of pushed me down. The entire left side of my body is seriously scratched and bruised, which looks completely lovely in all my vacation photos.

• Was pouring down epic rain when we first arrived. Which added a degree of difficulty to the trek from Penn Station to the hotel. We (and our luggage) couldn’t have gotten more wet if someone had turned a fire hose on us. Combating dampness was an issue for the entire weekend, particularly because the jeans I was wearing were the only pair I brought.

• While making our way through a Saturday night crowd in Times Square, a guy claiming to be a jazz musician was offering free cds of his music. So I was going to take one off his hands. But then he writes my name on the cd, and then tells me he accepts tips, and gets all aggressive about wanting me to give him a five spot. And I’m all like, no, you said it was free, and he’s like, but I wrote your name on it. And so finally I gave him $3 to leave me alone. And then later I looked at the cd, and it’s not even jazz music. Haven’t listened yet, but it appears to be gangsta rap or some such nonsense. Rip off.

• The whole weekend was practically nothing but walking. And when we weren’t walking, we were standing for long periods. Being not in great shape, I was battling exhaustion and pain the whole weekend. My feet feel worn down to nubs.