The Mavericks in Kansas City and a Relaxing Weekend

The Mavericks

This past weekend, Carrie and I took a long weekend trip to Kansas City to see The Mavericks perform. It was actually our second time seeing them in KC – they put on such a great show, and we already have plans to go again next year!

This time around, we met up with my brother Tim and cousin Tom for the concert. It was Tim's first time seeing The Mavericks, and we had a blast right up front – we were only about four or five people from the stage!

Tom, Tim, and John at The Mavericks

Opening Act at The Mavericks

Raul Malo of The Mavericks

Group Photo at The Mavericks

Selfie at The Mavericks

Oliver in Hotel Room

Oliver enjoys hotel life

We brought our dog Oliver along with us. He actually loves staying in hotels! He enjoys relaxing in the room while we're out, but his favorite part is definitely the walks he gets throughout the day. It's hilarious to see him prance down the hallway, knowing exactly how to get in the elevator, and thinking every door we pass is "our room."

Exploring Kansas City

We arrived in Kansas City on Thursday afternoon and checked into our hotel, the Intercontinental on the Plaza. This hotel is dog-friendly, and they haven't charged us a pet fee either time we've brought Oliver.

Pancakes at The Classic Cup

Friday morning, we slept in and then headed to The Plaza for a late breakfast at The Classic Cup Cafe. They have a great patio, perfect for people-watching with Oliver. The pancakes were fantastic, and Carrie loved her breakfast sandwich – the homemade fries were a hit too!

After breakfast, we wandered around the shops before heading back to the hotel for a relaxing afternoon of reading, snoozing, and hanging out with Oliver.

Oliver at Breakfast

Walking Oliver Late at Night

Drinks, dinner, and good company

That evening, we met up with Erin and Greg for drinks at Chaz Restaurant and Lounge before heading to our dinner reservation at McCormick & Schmick's (always a delicious choice!). We finished the night with drinks in the bar area of our hotel.

Us on The Plaza

Relaxing Saturday and back home

Saturday was another slow start. We grabbed coffee at Summer Moon Coffee before heading to meet Erin and Greg for lunch in Lawrence, instead of Kansas City. We dropped Oliver off at my mom's place before lunch and then spent most of the afternoon catching up with her before heading back to Topeka.

It was a fantastic weekend filled with great music, seeing family, delicious food and drinks, and beautiful weather. We made some wonderful memories, and we hope you had a great long weekend as well!

The Mavericks at Knuckleheads Friday, May 26, 2023 was so fun! Plus trains, tracks, and late night eating. Great memories!

Picture in Hotel Lobby

We booked tickets to The Mavericks a few months ago. We had a great time. We got into Kansas City early, so we are able to visit some spots for drinks before we went to the concert. We stayed in downtown Kansas City at the Hotel Indigo which was a good spot as we were within walking distance to placed downtown and really not a bad drive (Uber) to the places we were going for the evening. 

After arriving at the hotel, we decided to walk down to the Hilton President Kansas City to have drinks at their bar. We had been to this bar a few years ago for Jack's wedding. A few drinks and then we had a snack while we were there before taking an Uber to J. Rieger & Co. We ordered fancy drinks at J. Rieger and had a cheese and meat plate. Such a fun spot! This is where Jack and Katie had their rehearsal dinner a few years ago, so Carrie and I had been wanting to get back over to J. Rieger to take Greg and Erin. Drinks are so good and it is such a fun spot. 

Lots of Trains

J. Rieger and Knuckleheads are in an industrial area, so there are a lot of trains. Tracks and trains everywhere which was fun when we arrived and making our way to the concert, but after the concert and the following day, we were not happy to see the trains. Still a fun time! Luckily after we finished at J. Rieger a train had moved so we were able to walk down the tracks a little to be able to cross over to get to the concert. At one point during the concert, a train went by and blew their horn and the place went crazy. Just a cool spot and fun to be outside enjoying a beautiful evening to watch a concert. Amazing!

Carrie and John Crossing Tracks

Carrie and I had to get our selfie in front of the train as we were crossing the tracks to get over to the concert. Always fun to see trains and be around the tracks. Most of the trains we saw in the area were standing still, so I really did not have a chance to see them moving or click-clacking down the track. Still, it was fun to see and we have some good memories of crossing the tracks to get to the concert.

Stage Shot of The Mavericks at Knuckleheads

Selfie Picture at The Mavericks

Cousin Tom and John at Concert

I missed my brother, Tim, at the concert. Confusion on what night we were going to the concert even though we had told him it was Friday night and he got tickets for Thursday. Oops! He got tickets for Friday night, but ended up not being able to make it as Donna was not feeling well. We ran into my cousin, Tom, at the concert. He was walking through the crowd and we saw one another. He bought us drinks and later we were able to buy him drinks.

Selfie Waiting for Train to Move

The Mavericks played for another 45 - 50 minutes following their last song. Put on a great show and the crowd was having fun. Following the show we headed out to walk back over to J. Rieger as someone left their hat there earlier. This was our first encounter with a train that would not move. We waited for the train to move for 15 - 20 minutes, along with others, before we finally decided to get an Uber and head out. We would venture back to this area the following day to get the hat. Of course we had to take a selfie while we were waiting. Ah, good times!

Town-Topic Burgers

We took Uber to Town-Topic Hamburgers which was very busy but well worth the wait. We snarfed down our food along with many others in the parking lot next to the place. Town-Topic is some place Carrie has said for a few years she wanted to visit when we were in Kansas City, but this was my first trip there. Burgers at 1 am are always good, but wow, this really hit the spot. 

We drove back to Topeka on Saturday and I slept for most of the evening while watching TV. We slept late on Sunday as we are not used to partying. So happy that we were able to make it to the concert and have some good memories of the trip. Carrie and I said during the winter months that we were going to try and do more concerts this year and this was the first of the year. We have another one booked  toward the end of June and we cannot wait!

We did discuss that we have not been camping yet and this would have been a perfect weekend for camping. We did our first camping trip in 2022 Memorial Day weekend (see post) and we are not sure when we will be doing our first camping trip for 2023. We talked about going in the middle of June, but nothing is set yet. Regardless, we all had a great time in Kansas City for The Mavericks and Knuckleheads outside stage was so fun!