A & M in the Big KC.

Summer vacation is over. Adam is back at school. I am back to working part-time.
The weather has started to cool down. Our leaves outside our little apartment are slowly starting to descend.  The smell of football is def. in the air.  I love Fall and welcome the change from summer.... but to enjoy our last weekend of summer we headed down to Kansas City.

We hadn't been camping together all summer so we gathered the necessary supplies (tarp, blow-up mattress, sleeping bags, mosquito repellant, and smores) and found a nice little campground at 9 Eagles State Park right on the Iowa-Kansas border.  We arrived there around 930 pm so we didn't have much light or time to explore so we made our bed, roasted so mallows and enjoyed the great outdoors.

I love sleeping under the stars- it's so peaceful (except for when a raccoon wants to come befriend you in the middle of the night).

We made an awesome pancake breakfast, went for a short hike, and headed out.
Being here in the mid-west we feel privileged to enjoy the mecca of church history sites and we intend to check them all out. We made stops at:
1st- Spring Hill: Adam-ondi-Ahman

2nd- Far West, Missouri Temple Site and cornerstones.

3rd- Liberty Jail

4th- Independence, MO
We also made a stop at the Community of Christ's Temple... interesting yet strange. We were just in time for prayer meeting so we sat in their with the few others in attendance and experienced the 10 minute prayer meeting.

One of the highlights of the trip--- as it is always for us--- was a Kansas City Royals MLB game.  We had tickets for Friday night's game..... and although it was raining and there was lots more rain in the forecast-- we still headed to Kauffman Stadium (a beautiful stadium I might add).

 This is before the rains came down! 

We made it through the top half of the 1st inning before torrential downpours hit.

 We thought that being underneath a covering on the top deck would be enough to shelter us from the rain... little did we know.

 It got dark in a hurry. 

It didn't take the grounds crew long to cover the field and take cover--- along with the rest of the fans. We tried to stick it out for a little bit with our ponchos but even with those we got pretty soaked and after some severe lightening and thunder they made everyone take cover inside.  They didn't call off the game til about a hour and a half later--- so we had a fun time just hanging out in the pouring rain. The game was rescheduled for Sat. night starting at 6 pm- followed by the regular sat. game. So Sat. we got to go back and attend our rain delayed game.

The Royals ended up beating the Chicago White Sox in 10 innings by 1 run.  By the end of the 1st game it was almost 10 pm so as much as we wanted to stay for the 2nd game we thought we better hit the road and head back to Iowa City seeing that it is a 4 1/2 hour drive and Adam had early Sunday morning meetings.
--While in Kansas City you must eat KC BBQ--- it's pretty much what KC is known for. So we stopped at Oklahoma Joes BBQ.  We were not disappointed, at all. It was AWESOME. Everything you want from BBQ food- It is no wonder there is always a line outside the door every time you go.... and the best part about it was that it is located inside a gas station.
We also went to the National World War 1 Monument. Neato.

I am glad we made it down to Kansas City so I can check it off the list of places to see in the Mid-west.