bemore

Road Trip - Me and my girlfriend decided to take an unplanned road trip this past Friday.  My 25th birthday was the day before and we both wanted to take advantage of the extended New Year’s weekend.  It was really up in the air as to where we were going until an hour before we left.  We decided on Kansas City.  Neither of us had been there before and it wasn’t a super far drive from Illinois, like some of our trips in the past. 

We left mid-morning Friday and arrived 8 hours later after a couple random stops along the way.  We found a small diner to eat dinner at, then found a hotel with a jacuzzi to spend the night at.  It’s kind of hard to find hotels with vacancies on New Year’s weekend.  The next day we ventured around town and went by the awesome library that you see above.  After that, thanks to some recommendations, it was on to Okalahoma Joe’s BBQ.  This place was incredible.  It’s in an actual gas station and you have to wait minimum 30 minutes in a line that starts outside.  You can see the Z-Man i had above.  It was the best tasting heart attack I’ve ever had. 

After Oklahoma Joe’s, we decided to drive a few hours north to Omaha, another city neither of us had been to.  On the way, I decided to hit up an internet friend from Omaha who runs an amazing clothing company called Make Believe.  Fast forward a few hours after we found another hotel (extra difficult on New Year’s Eve) and saw fireworks, we met up for dinner.  It was great getting to talk with Brandon about the clothing industry since I am about to launch my brand.  The next day we met up again for breakfast, this time we got to meet his lovely wife and their newborn daughter.  They were really nice and very hospitable.  I really look forward to making back to hang with them again.

Stuffed from breakfast,  we ventured to the Omaha Zoo.  Fortunately, a lot of it is indoors since it was freezing outside.  This was by far the best Zoo i have been to, although it was only my 4th one.  We saw lions, monkeys, tigers, polar bears, alligators, and even got to be in a huge dome with hundreds of butterflies landing all over.

Before we left town, we decided to make a couple more stops in the Old Market area.  The best place we went to was Fairmount Antiques and Mercantile, formerly Hollywood Candy, I think.  This place was jammed pack with nostalgia and awesome things such as the soda bar you see up top.  Kaleigh picked up some records and we tried things like chocolate covered potato chips.  I will definitely be going back next time I’m in Omaha. 

The trip was a major success and a blast from start to finish.  It was a great way to start the new year.  For those of you who read this, thanks and please bare with me as I get back into writing more.  Hope you all had a great New Year’s weekend!