Hollywood, Legends, and Arcades

We went on an adventure today to Kansas City with a couple of friends, and I’m stealing their term “daycation” to describe it.

They got to our place around eight and we took off to get an early start. Our first stop was at Dunkin Donuts for a coffee and breakfast. I went with the egg white flatbread sandwich with turkey sausage, highly recommended for both tastiness and because it was pretty filling.

The next stop was the Hollywood Casino in Kansas City, where we got a picture of our travel bug visiting another casino before we sent it back into the wild. I also snapped this shot of the Kansas Speedway from the parking garage.

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The casino was big and colorful. We had fun, but we didn’t win this time.

After that, we went to the Legends Outlet Mall. Jon and I hadn’t been there for several years, and I was surprised at how much bigger it was than last time. Shopping isn’t normally our thing, but we like to people watch and find new places to walk, so it was definitely worth the trip.

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Jon bought a wired controller for gaming. I browsed Lane Bryant, but still had no luck finding what I need. I need new pants, but they still haven’t jumped on board with the average/petite difference in the pants I like to buy.  We looked around a few other stores, like Hot Topic and Books-A-Million, where I found this gem:

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I kind of wanted some frozen yogurt, but decided to hold off, especially since we had a soft pretzel for a mid-morning snack.

One of my favorite parts of the day was watching the fountain show. I did a short Instagram video of it, and though I meant to go back and take a full video of it, I missed the chance. Besides the fact the show is cool, it was hilarious to watch the water spray unsuspecting adults and kids who were hoping to get wet. The kids were hilarious to watch. Some of them would get close to the lower fountains and then get sprayed in the face when the water came out. I realize how mean that sounds, but I don’t mean for it to be. They loved it and would just giggle every time it happened.  For the most part, the kids in the area weren’t ill-behaved, either. There were a couple kids who had to be told an extra time to get going by their parents, but most of them were just having a blast in the water.  It doesn’t make me want to have my own, but it was definitely an adorable show.

We met up with the others around two for a late lunch at Dave & Busters. The food was good, the service was slow, but overall it was fun. We bought one of the eat and play packages, so when we were done eating we headed to the arcade. I really enjoy that place. It’s a ton of fun and it’s kind of like gambling except the games are a little more engaging, sometimes. Jon was earning a ton of tickets. Me, not so much, though I did hit a mystery bonus on one of them.

The game we ended on was a variant of the claw game in which you tried to hit the stop button at the right time to open a hatch that would eventually let a stuffed animal fall through. Jon and I went through our remaining credits to get it. I was so frustrated when we just couldn’t get it and ran out of credits when the thing was so close to falling. We walked away, a little annoyed that someone else was going to get it, but when we looked back a few minutes later, my friend was standing there. So we ran over, talked her into giving it one last try, and of course on her try, the hatch opened. She was awesome and let us keep it, so we’ve dubbed our new friend Miles the Traveling Cheetah and will be taking him with us on future trips.

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After turning in our tickets, we had enough to buy me a new water cup and Jon a fake mustache. Yeah, kind of cheesy…though I needed a new cup, so he was awesome enough to use what was mostly his tickets to buy me one.

Before heading home, we found two geocaches in the area and took a stroll around the Russell Stover store.

The day was definitely a success. We got a lot of walking in and had a good time.  I got sunburned because I forgot to put sunscreen on beforehand, but it’s not the first time it’s happened. Strangely enough, my older self seems to be able to get a slight tan. Not aiming for it since I know the sun risks, but since that’s been happening, it’s harder to remember that I actually do burn when out in the sun for long periods of time.

Now we’re home and relaxing. I think I’m going to watch a movie tonight and maybe crash early. My computer mouse is messing up, so I may have to pick up another one soon. Not sure what our plans are for tomorrow. Originally we were going to do some museums in Abilene, but we might just want to call it a rest day other than a trip to the gym and maybe some geocaching.  We’re taking a sort-of vacation this week, staying at another friend’s house to dog sit while she’s on vacation.  Tomorrow will also be a “get more con stuff done” day to kick off the work week.

For now, it’s time to unplug and unwind.

A.

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