5.30.2008

A Special Holiday Only for Me

Kansas CIty

This is first in a series of posts. Get ready for more!

Casey turned thirty last weekend. Instead of a big party, Casey decided he wanted to go to Kansas City. Of course I invited myself.

We headed out a little past schedule on Saturday. We first stopped at the Prairie Band Casino. They had some money they wanted to give Casey and Sarah and I wanted buffet.

The buffet wasn't as good as I remember and people were scary. They would stand so close while I was serving myself that I could feel their clothes brushing my arm. Casey went out to try his hand at the slots while Raw and I escaped the crowd by putting our feet in the hot tub.

Casey didn't play long. We were eager to get to Kansas City. So we headed out and made our way downtown. We were staying at Hotel Phillips, which is smack dab in the heart of downtown.

Once there, we headed up to our room. Our plan was to hang out in Westport for the night. Since we had time to kill, we threw our stuff down, jumped on the beds and then decided to walk around to see what was going on. We passed the Power and Light District and caught a glimpse of Maker's Mark Bourbon House and Lounge.

"I want to go there this weekend!" Casey is a fan of Maker's Mark bourbon.

We continued to walk and went so far as to cross over the Interstate. After awhile, we saw a man sitting on the ground.

When he spotted us, he started laughing and clapping. He came up to us and gave Casey a notepad. "Can you read this?"

The way he said it was less "Will you read this and take the message to heart?" than "No, really. Can you read? Is it decipherable?"

I took a look over Casey's shoulder and decided maybe I was suffering from heatstroke because I couldn't find one word on that page. Casey gave it back to the guy without saying one word. The guy just laughed. "Yeah! I'll be in church tomorrow!"

We walked on and eventually circled back and went to the P&L District. With it being Saturday, we were carded on our way in. Raw went through with no problem. Then it was Casey's turn.

"Hey! Happy birthday tomorrow!" Of all the people who would card us that weekend, he was the only one who noticed.

Then it was my turn. I had my camera strap wrapped up and was getting ready to put the camera in my bag. It's difficult because it's a tight fit, so I usually wait until I have a table to put my bag on.

"Does that have a detachable flash?" I showed him it didn't, but he wasn't satisfied. "Let me ask my supervisor."

Raw and Casey watched nervously from a distance while this giant guy came over. The first guy kept saying "It's not a detachable flash! It's not detachable!"

The giant guy started shaking his head no. I told him I was just getting ready to put it away anyway. "Put it away before you go in."

So I had to squat down to use the floor to hold my bag while I shoved my camera in. The big dude started telling me something about how this is private property and you have to have special permission to take pictures there with that kind of camera. I wanted to let him know that my camera only looks badass, but really you could take better photos with a pocket-sized camera. What was so top-secret anyway?

I was finally allowed in and we took in the scene. We walked into what looked like some rich dude's courtyard. There were large outdoor couches and fountains and people running around serving drinks. Unlike a courtyard, there was a stage with a Jumbo-Tron. Surrounding all of this were restaurants and clubs.

"Let's just hang out here tonight!" Casey requested. It would sure save on cab fare!

Can You Read This?

Continue reading this series.

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