Why isn't it called Missouri City?

Shouldn't Kansas City actually be in Kansas?

I've been wondering that since we landed yesterday, but before we landed I had something else to wonder about in the Chicago airport:





Is chocolate American History part of some sort of all-candy curriculum? And if so, why was I never enrolled in this?

I'll never know, because I'm not willing to sacrifice that many daily calories for what is pretty much guaranteed to be bad chocolate.

Anyway, some friends and I flew to Kansas City, Missouri, for a conference yesterday, and checked into our hotel right around dinner time. The hotel is nice, and for some reason has a rainforest and waterfall in the lobby:



as if Kansas City is known for its charming tropical climate. I guess they didn't want to make the lobby flat and tornado-prone.

Our hotel is next to some interesting things. One on side we have the World War I Memorial and the National World War I Museum:







which has a great view of the city:





and where I will probably go walking later depending on how the rest of the afternoon shapes up. We have receptions and stuff this afternoon and I haven't really checked the schedule to see when I am free or not free, plus I'm helping run one of them, which means I have to stay until the end. I'm already over 8,000 steps into my day, though, because I went on a three mile walk this morning along a route suggested by the hotel.

It was nice and quiet, and I saw a few things nearby:



including a cool playground:



with a really creepy set of welcome statues:



There's a letter on each of their stomachs, so that they spell "Welcome", but that is the least welcoming group of characters I've ever seen. For a second I felt like I was on the hotel lawn in "The Shining", and that they might come to life while I wasn't looking and corner me somewhere near the swing set.

Our hotel is also close to Union Station:



where someone for some reason is setting up a giant yellowjacket:





I look forward to seeing it completed before we leave.

We had dinner last night inside the station:



which was nice:



but a little on the pricey side. Just because we get a per diem for the day doesn't mean we need to spend it all on one meal, but my beet salad, risotto, and flaming bread pudding were good, and so far Kansas City seems kind of nice.

It's just not in Kansas.