There are few things in life better than a weekend getaway, exploring a new city with your girlfriends. Am I right?! Bonus, it’s your birthday weekend, too! To say Meghan, Emily, and I had a great weekend in KC, would be a major understatement. I absolutely fell in LOVE with this city and all it has to offer!! It’s such a gem that is so close to STL, that it basically makes it a no brainer to make a trip there.
I had only been to Kansas City once, 12 years ago celebrating my one year wedding anniversary. We stayed at the The Rafael in Country Club Plaza, and we loved it, but we never ventured into the city. I was so happy we got to stay in the heart of the city this time, but we did make our way to Country Club Plaza twice, because you gotta eat and shop while on vacay!
Let’s get this party started, shall we?!
How to get to KC:
This one was an easy decision because we have Amtrak right at our doorstep, and it’s such an easy and comfortable ride. From Kirkwood, MO to KC it was a 5 hour trip. The train is very comfortable, clean, and you are able to drink, #YesPlease! You sit 2 to a row, and there is plenty of leg room. I had taken the train to Chicago once before and loved the ease of it. You can bring as much luggage as your heart’s desire (hell yeah!), bring any food or drink you like, and most of the time the train isn’t at capacity, so the chances of having an empty seat next to you are pretty good.
A few draw backs to the train: You are on a train track, so if there is delays, there is literally nowhere for you to go. On the way there, we had a train break down on the tracks in front of us and we were delayed about an hour. The second drawback is the WiFi is pretty spotty. It may just be there route to KC isn’t the best for signal, but it was not very reliable. If you plan on working on the train ride, just keep that in mind. Another thing that was a little unnerving, there is no security whatsoever. No one checks your bags, or you, for anything. You literally get on the train with no hassle at all. That is nice, but at the same time, kinda strange. Me being paranoid for safety when I travel was a bit uncomfortable with that aspect. However, everything was completely fine, and I felt totally safe. There are Amtrak workers that are walking through the trains constantly.
Kikrwood, MO Amtrak station
Are you even a blogger if you don’t do this pose?! 😉
Where to stay:
Since our trip was in collaboration with VisitKC, they set up our accommodations at the Marriott Kansas City Downtown, and we could not have been happier about that. The hotel was in the perfect location, felt very luxury, and had everything we could have wanted or needed. It was close to shops, restaurants, the convention center, and local transit. This hotel gets a lot of convention guests, since the convention center is literally right at their doorstep. They recently underwent a $65 million dollar renovation, and the hotel is absolutely beautiful! They thought of every detail a guest would need or want. Dustin Holcumbrink, the director of sales & marketing, set us up with one of their suites on the 20th floor, and we were in heaven!! 3 mom’s away without the kiddos in a gorgeous hotel suite…. are ya kiddin me?! One of the things I loved about the room was the technology. We all know you go to hotels and watch movies, am I right?! They have Netfilx built in, so you just enter your login info and voila! You can catch up on your shows while away. Brilliant!! The bed was also super comfy. I am slightly high maintenance when it comes to sleeping, and this girl slept great there!
I thoroughly enjoyed having a beautiful hotel room all to myself! My kids have trained me to be an early riser, as much as I don’t want to haha! So both mornings I woke up around 7am and headed down to the hotel’s coffee bar and enjoyed my Americano in peace and quiet. It was amazing 🙂
My morning coffee in the hotel lobby
We had planned on taking the city’s free transit that is a few blocks from the hotel, but it was super hot the weekend we went and wanted to be pampered to the max, so we decided to Uber the whole weekend. We were there from Friday afternoon till Sunday afternoon and we spent 76$ in Uber charges. I don’t think that’s bad at all! I feel like we did a lot too, so it’s definitely reasonable. That’s one of the things I loved about the city, was how close it all is for food and activities. I didn’t feel like we had to drive 30 minutes just to get to a destination. The city felt so safe too. It was also so clean, which was so nice! They have done an incredible job making the city feel clean and safe. Those are two major things I look for when visiting a new city.
What to do:
Friday:
KC has no shortage of things to do. We were there 3 days, and I feel like we still had so much left to see and do. That just means another trip is in store 😉 We got in to KC around 4pm on Friday and went straight to the hotel to drop off our bags and luggage. From there we went to The Crossroads Hotel, which was incredible. I highly suggest checking out that hotel, if only for the decor. They have a rooftop bar called Percheron, and the view is incredible. They have great cocktails and apps, too. From there we went to a new restaurant called Fox and Pearl. You guys. incredible food!!! The decor was gorgeous too. The overall vibe was just so me, and I loved it. I cannot wait to go back there sometime. I got the ravioli and it was divine. It was the perfect spot to celebrate my birthday! Thank you to Fox and Pearl for the meal ♥
Saturday:
Dream morning at the Marriott!
We made our way to The Country Club Plaza ( a must do in KC) and had brunch at Gram & Dun, which was delicious! Something to note: the plaza was only a 10 minute drive from our hotel, which wasn’t bad at all!
Country Club Plaza
From brunch we did a little shopping in the Plaza. They have pretty much every large retailer you’d want. You can find a list of their shops HERE. One store we really enjoyed at the plaza was a store called Made in KC Marketplace. It’s a marketplace for all locally owned KC small businesses. We loved it! You could even go in to sit and have a beer at their cute little bar section.
After we left the Plaza, we headed to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art to play mini golf! Sounds interesting, huh? It was SO fun. The art inside, inspired each hole of the 9 hole course. You can play the course and then go inside to learn about the art that inspired each hole. So cool right?! It was very hot the day we went, but thankfully they had a bar cart and a misting station to cool us off. You can check out the course info HERE and schedule a tee time!
After the museum we headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest before we headed to dinner. We didn’t have anything specific planned for dinner that night, so we tried to find a restaurant with open reservations and came across The Reserve in The Ambassador Hotel. It was the perfect spot for what we wanted that evening. The decor was very chic and they had a great band playing. It was just the vibe we were looking for.
The next morning (our last day), we really wanted to check out an area called West Bottoms in KC with lots of vintage/antique shops, but they were all closed on Sundays, unfortunately. We should have planned that one out better, but now we know for next time. We decided to head back to the Country Club Plaza for brunch and a little shopping before we headed back home. We ate at the Parkway Social Kitchen and loved it.
Parkway Social Kitchen
We walked around a bit more, got our kiddos some presents (maybe a few for me lol), and headed back to the hotel to get our things. We headed to Union Station, which is something to note because it’s gorgeous!! The interior is incredible and a definite must see, even if you aren’t taking the train. You can stop in for some ice cream and see grand central hall to people watch 😉 They even have something called Science City inside Union Station, that the kiddos would love. You can check it out HERE.
Union Station KC
We had such a great weekend in Kansas City, and will absolutely be back!! I would love to bring the family next time and go to LegoLand. My kids would love taking the train, too!
A HUGE shout out to Derek with VistKC. He was incredible to work with and set us up with the best KC has to offer! He also gave us the best recommendations for the weekend, which is now being passed on to you for your trip to KC 😉 Big thanks to the Marriott KC Downtown, as well, for hosting us in luxury, and pampering us all weekend!! Our trip was one for the books!!
Please reach out with any questions, or if you want any more info on a particular thing we did. Thanks for reading, and hope this was helpful!!
XO,
Mary ♥
Currently residing in St. Louis.
Wife to JW + Mama to Sophia Rose and Jade Monroe. Denim + Sweets addict and lover of Jesus + All things pretty ♥
