Score, I have the day off!  Donette had to work though, so it’s up to Gabe and I to entertain ourselves all day.  I predict an afternoon of the Winter Olympics.

So that was an unexpectedly entertaining weekend.  I was chatting online with our friend Kim last Thursday, and we were tossing around possible times for a visit, since we hadn’t seen her & Ed for a while.  I said, “Hey I got a four-day weekend, why don’t you just come to KC?”  So she checked with Ed, and they booked a flight and came in Friday night.  Ahhh, to be young and carefree again.  (As opposed to old, broken-down and carefree.)  We picked them up at the airport about 9:30 or so, which was wayyyyyy too late to actually go out that night, so we just sat around the house catching up.

So the actual reason I wanted them to come up was to take a first run on my “Taste Of KC” pub crawl that I’ve been developing.  We’ve got visitors coming into town this summer and I am working on fine-tuning my list of places to visit.  So, Saturday afternoon, we hopped on the bus and traveled down to the City Market for the first place on the list, Harry’s Country Club.  This was sort of a last-minute addition to the itinerary;  I’d never actually been there but wanted to hit someplace in that area and I’d heard good reviews on it.  It turned out to be a good pick, I wouldn’t be surprised if we went there again soon.  We had a great lunch there, although it was remarkably busy for a Saturday afternoon downtown.  From there we walked to the Phoenix, then to the Flying Saucer.  I picked the Phoenix because it’s right next to my office, so I could show the possibly interested parties where I work.  The Flying Saucer is just a fun place, even if it’s a chain, and the P&L district is worth a visit I think.  From there we hopped back on the bus and went to Kelly’s and McCoy’s;  I figure you pretty much have to see Westport while in KC.  As a side note, for anyone who might actually go to Westport, Kelly’s appears to be constructing a huge upstairs patio, which I’m sure will be a big draw should Spring ever actually arrive.  After Westport, we deviated slightly from my schedule.  I had the Peanut on Main down as my next stop, but we switched that to Tomfooleries & Fred P Otts so Ed & Kim could see some of their old haunts.  Our last stop was The Well in the Waldo area.  I wanted to hit a few more places in Waldo, but it was getting pretty late by that time and the old man was out of gas, plus poor Gabey had been locked in the house all day.  So, we cut the tour short and headed home, and spent the rest of the night playing Wii.

Sunday, well…  It was much like most of our Sundays.  We did briefly leave the house and hit the brunch up at 75th Street.  It got trimmed of the tour the night before, so I guess better late than never.  It’s a pretty good brunch by the way;  If you’re looking for a Sunday afternoon meal you could definitely do worse.  After that, we went back to the house, and the girls promptly fell asleep.  Ed & I spent the afternoon watching the Olympics, and then we drove them back to the airport later in the evening.  For the holiday today, I shall spend my time recuperating, and maybe restructuring my tour list.  It’s a good start, but needs a little fine-tuning.  Gotta pick up the pace for one thing;  I don’t want to be rushed, but I didn’t want to have to cut off any can’t-miss locations either, like Bobby Baker’s and maybe the Brooksider.  Work in progress.