A Weekend in Kansas City: Crossroads, Power & Light and the Plaza

Kansas City is three hours from Omaha and Des Moines and rewards a proper two nights. It has more fountains than anywhere outside Rome, a free streetcar down its spine, and a jazz history it still takes seriously. Here's the weekend, in order.

Friday evening — Crossroads Arts District

Galleries, breweries and the best independent restaurants in the city, packed into a walkable grid south of downtown. If it's the first Friday of the month, the whole district turns into a street festival.

Friday night — Power & Light or 18th & Vine

Power & Light is the loud, bright, everyone-is-out option. 18th & Vine is the better one: live jazz in the district where Charlie Parker learned to play, plus the American Jazz Museum and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum next door.

Saturday morning — City Market and Union Station

The River Market farmers market runs Saturday mornings year-round. From there the streetcar drops you at Union Station, which is worth twenty minutes for the building alone before you walk up the hill.

Saturday afternoon — WWI Museum and Nelson-Atkins

The National WWI Museum and Memorial is genuinely excellent and its tower has the best view in Kansas City. Then head south to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: free admission, giant shuttlecocks on the lawn, and one of the finest Asian art collections in America.

Saturday evening — Country Club Plaza

Spanish-inspired architecture, fountains and shopping. Dinner here is the polished end of the KC spectrum; from Thanksgiving through January the whole district is outlined in lights and it's the best free thing in the city.

Sunday — barbecue and out

Do one proper barbecue lunch before you drive home. Go at opening, split a plate of burnt ends and ribs, and get on the road before the afternoon.