Spring Break in Kansas City

My little sister came to visit me for a week for her spring break. Originally we were planning to visit Colorado and do some hiking in the mountains but since the weather wasn’t the best for hiking. We decided to hang out and explore Kansas City together. It was cold with freezing temperatures so I tried to find things for us to do that were indoors.

The first day of her spring break visit we had lunch at Red Robin then walked over to the bookstore. I didn’t get any new books but she picked up a copy of King of Scars. Then we went to the movies and saw Greta, It was an Ok movie. I enjoyed it but probably wouldn’t buy it or watch it again. After that, we headed back to my house and headed to bed.

The next day we started our spring break adventure with a trip to the Arabia Steamboat Museum and lunch at the Kansas City Taco Company.

Arabia Steamboat Museum

The Arabia Steamboat Museum is a history museum that houses artifacts salvaged from the Arabia Steamboat that sank in the Missouri River in 1856. You start with a guided tour and learn about sinking and the recovery, and finish with a short film. Then you’re free to explore the museum and view the artifacts they have on display. The museum’s collection consists of items intended for daily use on the frontier.

I was shocked by the condition of the items they had on display. They didn’t look like something that had sat buried underground for years. It was interesting to see how different yet similar the items from that time looked to the items we use today.

We even got to smell the perfume scent they would have used back then. Our tour guide told us it was common for people to take 4-6 baths a year so they would use perfume in between and men and women would use the same scents. The perfume didn’t smell bad it was a light similar to something we would use today. Once we finished looking around the museum we then went to Kansas City Taco Company for lunch.

Kansas City Taco Company

After exploring the museum we walked over to the Kansas City Taco Company for lunch. And the food there was delicious. We started with some guacamole and chips and some of the best guacamole I’ve had at a restaurant. My sister ordered the carne asada tacos and I had the portabella shroom tacos. Her taco was steak topped with onion and cilantro and mine was a portabella mushroom tempura styles topped with Baja slaw, avocado, and roasted garlic aioli. My tacos were messy to eat but delicious and filling.

After lunch, we headed back to my house to warm up and relax. We played Just Dance and watched a couple of episodes of Downtown Abbey before heading to bed. The next day we went to LuLu’s noodle shop, explored union station and went to the Kansas City Public Libary.

LuLu’s Thai Noodle Shop

Lulu’s Thai Noodle Shop has been on my list of restaurants to try for a while. I stumbled across them while I was looking for another restaurant in the area. And while I was waiting on my food I checked out their menu and saw that they had vegetarian options and decided someday I would give them a try. And since my sister was in town and it’s near Union Station I thought it was a perfect time to check it out.

My sister wanted to try the dumplings so we ordered vegetable pan fried dumplings as an appetizer. I didn’t much care for them, I prefer my dumplings steamed to pan fried. But my sister really enjoyed them. Then for lunch, I had the Whans Se Eu Pak which was vegetables and tofu wok-tossed in a garlic, ginger soy sauce, sesame seeds. Served with a side of jasmine rice and a spring roll. My sister had the Chicken Pad Se Eu it had chicken, egg, broccoli, carrots and wide rice noodles with a crab Rangoon on the side.

My food was delicious and I would order again but with no spice. The mild was a little more heat than I could handle. After that, we made our way over to Union Station.

Union Station

I haven’t been to Union Station since I was in elementary school. We would have field trips to Science City, I only vaguely remember them. My sister and I didn’t visit science city but we did check out the Dinosaurs Revealed exhibit and the Planetarium.

Dinosaurs Revealed was my favorite part of our visit to Union Station. There were 27 animatronic dinosaurs and my sister was on edge and freaking out. It’s crazy to think that something that large actually existed and walked the earth and all we have left to prove it is fossils. As I’m walking through the exhibit I’m blown away by how large and strange the look. They even had real dinosaur fossils that you could touch. 

I didn’t care for the planetarium it wasn’t what I was expecting. They showed a short film called Mars 1001 and it was about a crew’s mission to and from mars. It didn’t give a lot of facts about space and the movie wasn’t that interesting. But it was nice to get off our feet and be someplace warm for a while. After that, we made our way to our last stop on the day the Kansas City Public Library.

Kansas City Public Libary

The Kansas City Public Library was just a quick stop before heading back home. Since we were in the area and didn’t get to the inside last time she visited we went inside and walked around. It’s a really nice library with multiple floors and a variety of books to borrow. After looking around we made our way back to the car to head home. We were both tired from our two days of exploring. But for the next couple of days her spring break visit, we didn’t have anything adventurous planed.

For the last couple of days of my sister’s spring break visit, we had Pho and saw Captain Marvel. I’m not a big fan of action movies but I thought it was an OK movie. Then for the last day of her visit, we relaxed and I ran a couple of errands before taking her to the airport.

I enjoyed the time we spent together even though it was cold outside. All the things we did together were new to me and I’m glad that I got to discover them with my sister. We’re working on planning some trips for her summer break. So I’m looking forward to seeing her more than once this year.