So when we were looking for a hotel, one of the things that we looked for was a free breakfast of some kind included in the cost of the hotel. Where we stayed at, had quite the spread. Eggs, waffles, pancakes, bacon, oatmeal, pasteries, etc. Made fore a good start to the day. I did have things that I probably shouldn't have had (bacon) but I also had a big bowl of oatmeal with raisins in it (take that heart!).
We got ready for the rest of the day and headed off to the Kansas City Zoo. It was through some winding roads, but we were starting to get more comfortable with Kansas City as a whole and it wasn't too hard to find. We parked and headed on in. We headed up to the Sea Lion show. When we got there I remembered that I forgot to bring in my high blood pressure meds, so after watching the show (which was kinda silly) we headed back out and got my pill for the and headed back in. So we visited the various sections and weren't able to see others (closed for renovations) and saw many animals and took the majority of the pictures (188 that day). It was actually kinda cool. I think I've been to the St Lake City Zoo, but I don't really remember it, so it's probably the biggest zoo that I remember since the Beaver Park Zoo (which is more a petting zoo then anything) in Cedar Rapids. Shannon took her parent's video camera and took a few video shots.
One of the pictures that I missed (and it pisses me off) was a rabbit decided to hop up in the Cheetah's area, and the Cheetah zoomed after it. The rabbit barely escaped.
I think the silliest moment of the entire event was in the Lion cave. So they had this one way glass (I think it was one way) and all the lions were near there resting and so the male like gets up and one of the female lions and procedes to do what they do, in front of a bunch of familys and people. It just really struck me as funny... There were quite a few blushes from some people.
So we had hit all the zoo except for two exhibits and it was time for our IMAX tickets to go, so we headed back to the entrance part of the zoo (quite the hike). We got back, just in time to have a fire alarm go off in the theater. When nobody moved, niether did we, and eventually they told us the building was not, in fact, burning down, and the alarm stopped and we watched Mystery of the Nile. It was pretty good. Kinda slow though, I ended up dozing off for 2 or three minutes right near the end. This was my first IMAX experience, and it was kinda cool, there were times when I felt like I was there on the nile.
Afterwards, we were preparing for the long hike back to the exhibits that we missed, and decided against it. Being hungry, and not being able to find any decent food (the cafe was closed) was probably the killer there. So we headed into the gift shop. I was hoping to buy a shot glass for my collection, but after searching high and low, none where to be found. So I ended up with a coffee mug. Shannon checked out a bunch of the stuffed animals and had trouble decided between two versions of white tigers...so I bought her both.
And we headed out to go to Arthur Bryant's BBQ for a very late lunch. So we headed south. It took forever to get there, espically since I thuoght it'd be a lot closer. But it is out next to the speed way. Finally we got there and we went in to eat.
So Arthur Bryant's BBQ's meat and fries were better, but their normal sauce was more what I would expect for something that you would put on your meat before serving, so a lot of it can grill off. It wasn't really like something you'd add afterwards. So it wasn't THAT good....however their meat was awesome, their fries were great and their Rich and Sassy Sauce was just freaking good. the portions were quite big. By the end of the meal I think we both wanted to enter a food coma.
So we were gonna head back to the hotel, and then we noticed that they had a Cabela's and they were doing a loggin competition type thing. They had two big logs standing up in the air for people to race up and down it and also did the water log run too. It was kinda cool. After we got bored, we headed back into town, and decided to go to the Boulevard Brewing Company and see if we could maybe sneak in for a tour. We got there (after getting lost) and it was true, tours have to be pre-arrianged, cause well...nobody was there. I took a few pictures and smelled the smell of beer being made and was happy with that for now.
Now getting back on the interstate to go back to the hotel was a trick. In KC they are working heavily on I35 and we had trouble finding a place where we could get on. So we drove around and took this long round about way to get going the right way. Finally after driving through some crappy neighborhoods, we found signs and got back on the interstate.
At the hotel, we had pretty much accomplished what we wanted to get done for the day, and after walking around the zoo we were both tired, and we were having trouble coming up with what we wanted to do next (I think neither of us really wanted to walk anymore) so finally we settled on a movie and went to see Monster-in-Law which I thought was gonna be awful, but Shannon wanted to see it, so I went along. I must say it was great, but there were parts of the movie that I couldn't help but laugh at. I didn't hate it, like I thought I would.
After the movie, we headed back to the hotel and went to bed. I watched a little part of Saturday Night Live before I went to bed (Queens of the Stoneage was the musical guest) and it was a Jeopardy paradoy and I love those...I couldn't stop laughing...so much so I think I woke up Shannon. After a bit I headed to bed.