We slept in until around 10 am. I gave up my spot on the mattress that night to Gill so I ended up sleeping on a large, round cushion for a big chair in the master bedroom. It wasn’t too bad, but could’ve been much worse if I had to just sleep on the hard floor. We listened to some of Cory’s vinyl records while we got ready to head to the Royals game.

We arrived early to Kauffman Stadium, around 11:30 am, in order to get Mike Sweeney bobbleheads and tour the park before the game started. In the outfield there were a ton of family friendly activities, like facepainting, batting cages, and a carousel, in additon to big time attractions like the Royals Hall of Fame and George Brett statue. Also, we were able to see the gorgeous fountains above the warning track up close. Sidenote – Cory totally ignored the directions given by the parking attendent. The theme of the week was “fuck it,” so he drove to a parking section much closer the one we were assigned to. Spoiler – lots of good karma came our way after Cory generously gave his bobblehead to a little girl and her dad who didn’t get one, so the car was right where we left it after the game.

It was a gorgeous day for a game! We sat a few rows in front of the very top in row RR along the first base line, but it didn’t matter because we had a perfect view and we were in the shade. For lunch I had a burnt ends cheese steak from the Sweet Baby Ray’s kiosk in the outfield and had AMAZING funnel cake fries later in the game. Royals ended up losing to the White Sox even though they made a comeback in the 8^th inning on 2 outs. Oh well (LET’S GO YANKEES!).

When we were with Gill in DC I made plans with Leigh Ann Majkowski and Cory to surprise Gill with a visit from Leigh Ann. Alex had been on Tinder at the game, and what we told Gill was that we were going to meet a girl Alex had met at Arthur Bryant’s BBQ right after the game for a quick meal. We got to the place around 4:45, went to the side where all the tables were, and Gill lit up when he saw Leigh Ann (after failing to notice her at first because he was too concerned about Alex’s fake Tinder date). Leigh Ann came with her boyfriend, Neil, from Missouri, which was about 2 hours away from KC. We enjoyed some of the best BBQ I’ve ever had. Obama had been there a few years ago as evidenced by the pictures on the wall next to where you ordered. I had a pound of burnt ends, pork ribs, and pulled pork (collectively), and a side of potato salad. Phenomenal.

After “lunner” (lunch-dinner) we went back to Cory and Megan’s apartment to hang out on the roof. It was so good to catch up with them and meet Neil, who is absolutely awesome! They left around 10 pm, which worked out because we had to pick up Megan at a wedding she went to after the game. We grabbed Megan and went to the Green Lady Lounge for some live jazz. When we arrived the band wasn’t playing and the place was packed, so we go settled in the way way way way back of the club. I walked up to get a better view of the musicians and ask if they were going back on soon. A few couples had just left some tables literally right in front of the band, so I reserved us seats and we ended up watching incredible local jazz music in the front row. Good karma all day.

The end of their set was 3 songs, which totaled about 25 minutes or so. They were a mini big-band, apparently missing half of their members for whatever reason. We left there and went back to the apartment to try to rest up for our last day in KC. Schlitterbahn is on deck, including the world’s tallest water slide, so we wanted to rest up for the big day. I hate heights, but I don’t mind water parks. Let’s see which one trumps the other tomorrow.

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