Kansas City Softball Tournament Early June 2021
We were in Kansas City to support my daughter Morgan at a softball tournament in early June. We took Kate’s Edge SUV because stuffing us into my Focus Hatchback would be comical. My Focus’s hatch can hardly contain Morgan’s softball bag. I could not imagine trying to fit four people’s weekend luggage and all the ballpark stuff into it. Side note: I have taken my Focus camping in the past. It’s like a clown car.
Road Trip!
Kate is a planner who loves Pinterest. In fact, go check out her Pinterest right now. We should have a travel Pinterest board up soon.
She found a road trip idea for the kids on Pinterest. It worked great at keeping Morgan and Ian occupied: Get some bags, put snacks and activities in the bags. Label them with “open at 830” or a half-hour after leaving. We only did one bag for each leg of the trip, since we were only in the car for about 3 and a half hours in each direction.
ALMOST TIME!!!
The first day’s bag included snacks, a word search book and road trip bingo. The road trip bingo included observations such as “detour sign”, or “dirty car that says ‘wash me’ in the rear window”. I got a bag, too! But without the word search. I tend to get car sick. My snack was sugar-coated orange wedges, a staple of road trips from my childhood. It’s one of those things I say off-hand when I see them. Kate is always listening and is good at remembering things like that.
The drive to Nebraska City didn’t have any road construction. This is the first trip to Kansas City that did not include road construction on Nebraska Highway 2. That made the road trip search difficult. Half of the terms were construction-related! But as we got closer we did find a few construction-related signs to mark off our bingo cards.
We stopped at the last rest area in Missouri on I-29 on the way in to Kansas City. I saw a pair of shoes on the ground as a convertible was driving off. I tried flagging down the driver to no avail.
I also decided I wanted to get some soda from the vending machine, but it turned out to be a game of roulette. The soda that dispensed was not the soda that was displayed on the button. Ugh.
Arriving in Kansas City
We arrived in Kansas City. Our stay was at the Stoney Creek Hotel and Conference Center. It’s only a few years old. The hotel is also next to a lake, across the said lake from Waterfall Park, and a short walk to a Bass Pro Shop store. If you have a Tesla car, there’s a Supercharger Station between the hotel and Bass Pro. So that’s a bonus if you have a Tesla EV.
We got checked in. The softball tournament was not the only game in town. We also shared the hotel with a couple of little league baseball teams and a wedding. The hotel was a hopping place all weekend long. The hotel’s center elevator was out of commission a couple of times during our stay. We learned there were two other elevators, one on each end of the hotel and Kate enjoyed the stairs.
I don’t know what it is, but riding in a car seems to make me feel hungry, even if I have sugar-coated orange wedges. We decided to not wait for the elevator when it was time to bring luggage to our room on the fourth floor. We took the stairs instead. It wasn’t that bad but wasn’t something we would want to do with all that stuff every day.
Los Cabos Kansas City
We then walked out the door of the hotel to nearby Los Cabos. It’s a Mexican-themed restaurant chain based out of Oklahoma. Since we don’t have it in Lincoln Nebraska, it’s still an adventure and it was just across the parking lot. Morgan had a plate of Nachos, Kate had enchiladas, and I had a mango chicken salad. Ian? Well, we learned that being 14 means you need to defile yourself. He got Fajitas. He took it upon himself to eat the entire plate of his fajitas and all the garnishments. Leftovers are for losers according to Ian.
After Dinner, Morgan got into uniform and we piled into the car for our first game. This game was at Legacy Park in Lee’s Summit. This was our first taste of a Kansas City Rush Hour on the interstate. It’s like the Daytona 500, but with normal cars. Everyone is six inches off your bumper and driving at breakneck speeds.
The game did not go well.
Also, if you're going to attend a youth sporting event, don't smoke. The other parents don't want to smell it and you set a terrible example for the youth participating and attending.
Stoney Creek Hotel Bar
That night we discovered I had forgotten my CPAP, which meant Kate was going to stab me at some point during the trip. So we took the trip down to the hotel bar so Kate could enjoy a few beers before the snoring began. I also enjoyed a few beers with her.
On the second day, we had learned we could go to the fields via secondary roads. These roads took us through the park surrounding the reservoir. The drive through that park was relaxing compared to the interstate. The re-routing only added a few minutes of driving time. That was the only stress reduction of that day as we had a teenage girl in tow. We’ll skip the specifics and leave you with this:
KC Barbecue? Well, About That
Dinner was barbecue from Smokehouse. It’s a KC area chain. This location’s decor reminded me of the restaurant from Fast Times at Ridgemont High. It was missing red candles and green tablecloths. There was a red patterned carpet with dark wood booths and tables. I was half expecting to see the wait staff dressed like pirates or serving wenches.
We wore “travel clothes” to the restaurant. Even though we were comfortable, we were certainly not underdressed. We observed that we are also young compared to the other guests. The other tables talked about doctor visits and new prescription side effects. I felt incredibly young.
The food was “institutional”, to be charitable. It reminded me of the “BBQ” from the school cafeterias and the college dining halls of my youth. The barbecue sauce texture and flavor reminded me of watered-down Kraft.
The side dishes? Don't get me started. Real talk: How are you going to mess up mac and cheese?
Now, this restaurant was not our first choice. Nor was it our second, third, or 4th choice. But again, we had a teenage girl with a certain expectation of the weekend so we had to just find food. We visited the hotel bar that night too!
That Sunday we had breakfast at the hotel. We piled into the car and went to the park. We dropped Morgan off at the ball field for pre-game warmups. The three of us ventured to the local Costco for snacks to consume between games.
Kansas City Costco
Costco in suburban Kansas City is nothing like Costco in Lincoln. The crowds were enough to blow my hair back. We stopped for fuel before going into the store. We waited behind four cars before we could gas up. there were several employees directing gas station traffic.
The store was just as insane. This was an older Costco than my local location, so there was a slight difference in layout. This warehouse was also about 30% larger than my local Costco. It was an adventure trying to find some salami, for example. But we found our spinach/artichoke dip!
Chillin' at the ballpark!
The games at the tournament had been running behind all day. The outcome of the games was about as “meh” as that BBQ joint. We didn’t get on the road back to Lincoln until the late evening. We drove straight through and fell asleep when we got home. We had car snacks for dinner, which is a great way to cap off a road trip.
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