Ramen, Tiki, and KISS

 Las Vegas, NV

Ramen Sora, so good!

Ramen

Today we each bought a month bus pass so we can ride the bus around.  The bus system is pretty good here.  We took our first ride across town to Chinatown and went to Ramen Sora for lunch.  It's our favorite Ramen place in the areas.  

Our bus selfie

This is our neighborhood sign

Our first transfer was right near The Sphere

This is either a mug shot or a proof of life kidnapping shot.  Not sure which one it is.

After ramen we took a short walk to our next destination

Golden Tiki

our next stop was Golden Tiki.  It's one of our favorite Tiki Bars.  I knew we would be visiting during this trip but our visit came earlier than expected.  

The entrance to Golden Tiki is as fancy as a strip mall entrance can be.

Once inside, you're treated to a tropical oasis.

• My drink was on FIRE!  Literally!

They make shrunken heads for famous people.

This is Blondie's Debby Harry's Shrunken Head

SHAG

They have travel posters posted outside.  

It was a nice stop and I am sure we will be back this trip.  

KISS Mini Golf

After Golden Tike we walked over to The Rio.  The weather is perfect for walking so we are opting to walk when it makes sense.  We were contacted by some friends last night saying they were in town for a board game tournament so we set up to meet them at The Rio (where the tournament will be) and play some KISS Golf.  The Rio has seen better days but it was recently bought and is undergoing a huge renovation.  

I should rent a table cloth...

There was a "Tiki" bar that wasn't open.

This is the "Tiki" bar

You can still see the tracks on the ceiling that used to support the hanging Marti Gras Parade.

I'm not a huge KISS fan or even a KISS fan so we didn't pay for the museum.

I am a Huge Mini Golf fan so we played Mini Golf.

The competition was intense.  We all had our game faces on.

My game face looks a bit like Peter Criss'.  I had to look up who the Kitten Faced Kiss guy was.

Donna and I took a selfie with Gene.  I was going to take a few more photos but we had already backed up the course enough.

It was a lot of fun meeting up with and catching up with our friends.  After golfing we wished them luck in the tournament and took a Lyft home.  Francis was getting very hungry.

That's it for today.  If you missed Revisiting Some Favorite Places Here, check it out.

The Famous River Market and a New Brewery for Us

 Kansas City, MO

Donna enjoying a Cheeky Chav at Strange Days Brewing

River Market

River Market is a short .8 mile walk from our Airbnb.  It's filled with shops and restaurants and has a farmers market on the weekends.  We methodically walked the streets leading to the open air market so we wouldn't miss anything and then explored the market. We bought some fruits and veg as well as a loaf of bread from the bakery there.  I can't compare it to the SF Ferry Building or Pikes Place Market, but it is cool and there is a lot of good things to buy and eat there.  Also it wasn't as close to the river as I had hoped.  I wanted to be able to walk along the Missouri or the Kansas River but that didn't happen today.  It will happen though.  I haven't had my fill of rivers yet.  They are still a unique thing for me because I grew up in SoCal.

We had to cross over I-35 but there was a protected walkway on either side

Lewis and Clark exploring the River Market

I do love a good happy hour.  We might be back.

Foreshadowing

We bought some white egg plant for a recipe later this week

Our tax dollars at work.  Party posse yelling, "Yrma eht nioj.." 

Strange Days Brewing

After checking out everything at The River Market we made our way to Strange Days Brewing.  It was super chill and the beers were good.  They had 3 screens showing shows Might Morphin Power Rangers, Kamen Rider (a crazy Japanese Motorcycle Riding Crime fighting insect), and Community.  

New Brewery for us in Missouri

Cool water dispenser

This one was a hard pass for me

The Dude-ish looking guy abides at Strange Days

We saw a bit more market on the walk back

The KC Streetcar terminates at the River Market and Strang Days Brewing had a screen dedicated to showing its arrivals so you could run out and grab the streetcar after your beer.

After the brewery we walked back through the market and bought a bit of fruit and then stopped by for some ice cream at Betty Rae's.  The ice cream cone was invented in Missouri so we had to get one.

They had albums on the wall that had references to Ice Cream, Missouri, and Kansas City

As we headed home, I took a photo of the back of a Big Green Sign on I-35.

The rest of our day included cooking an awesome quick Coconut Curry Ramen from Budget Bytes and watching Netflix.  

If you missed yesterday's adventure, you can find it here.