Kansas City has a reputation for barbecue and for being an old-fashioned cow town but although KC still dishes up mouth-watering barbecue, it is not a cow town anymore. Kansas City has grown up into a major metropolitan area with a wide variety of things to do and see. Whether business or pleasure brings visitors to KCMO knowing what to do and see can be difficult. This must-see list makes it simpler.

To get acquainted with Missouri's second largest city - one that sprawls across the Kansas state line - downtown Kansas City tops the list. With a skyline visible across the flat prairies for miles, downtown Kansas City remains vital. One of the most familiar tall buildings is Crown Center, a miniature city of its' own created by Hallmark cards founder Joyce Hall. Crown Center offers a luxury hotel, fine dining, quick meals and snacks, and three levels of shopping. Hallmark Corporate Headquarters are adjacent and a visit to Crown Center offers enough to fill one trip to Kansas City without leaving the premises. A visit to the Hallmark Visitors Center is worth the time and best of all, it's free to the public!

One of the oldest landmarks and attractions is just north of downtown at 5th and Walnut Streets. The City Market, located near the Missouri River, is one of the oldest city markets remaining in the country. This one dates back to 1857, years before the Civil War, and still offers fresh farm produce. Shoppers today at The City Market can find much more than homegrown tomatoes. Today, The City Market vendors include ethnic grocers, ethnic restaurants including Vietnamese cuisine and an Ethiopian café. It's easy to put together the makings of a meal at the City Market - vendors offer fresh meats, seafood, spices, and even flowers to decorate the table.

Located in the City Market area is a very unusual museum, the Arabia Steamship Museum at 400 Grand Avenue. This steamship sank back in 1856 along with 200 tons of cargo and was lost into the murky waters of the Missouri River for more than a hundred years. When the remains of the long lost steamship were found in 1989 in what was then a cornfield, the discovery confirmed what experts know about the mighty Missouri River - it is both treacherous and it has changed course more than once. This museum now has a replica of the paddlewheel and stern of the original boat along with exhibits featuring the frontier goods recovered from the lost Arabia.

Bottled fruits and vegetables, dry goods including shoes, jewelry, firearms, and perfume are just some of the items pulled from the wreckage and offer an inside look at the daily goods required for life back in the frontier years. Since at the time of the shipwreck, Kansas City was no more than a trading post along the river, the goods were most likely bound for the bustling frontier town and wagon train starting point of St. Joseph, about fifty miles north up river.

A pair of museums in the heart of Kansas City's jazz district tells about another facet of this amazing city's history. The Museums at 18th and Vine are three different sites that focus on different aspects of local history. The American Jazz Museum brings back the sound of jazz greats like Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, and Charlie "Bird" Parker with recordings and other memorabilia.

The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum reflects the days when segregation divided both sports teams and mainstream America by color. Exhibits display top players and sports memorabilia that date up to 1946, the year that Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier by joining the Brooklyn Dodgers.

At the Liberty Memorial, a local landmark since World War I at Pershing and Main streets, south of downtown, the National World War I Museum has a mission to collect, preserve, and interpret every facet of the first World War. The museum was recently renovated and expanded. The collection of posters, weapons, artillery, and airplanes offers a rare look at the past and other exhibits tell the chronological history of what was called The Great War. Visitors can also ride an elevator to the top of the 217 foot high Liberty Memorial to an observation deck with a view of both the landscaped grounds and the city below.

Kansas City is proud of its' history and there are numerous other museums including The Kansas City Museum 3218 Gladstone Boulevard in Kessler Park, the Airline History Museum, American Royal Museum and Visitors Center, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Toy and Miniature Museum of Kansas City on Oak Street.

Swope Park, located southeast of downtown KC, on the banks of the Blue, is an amazing 1772 are park at Meyer Boulevard and Swope Parkway. Fishing, boating, and ice skating in season are possible on the lagoon. The Lakeside Nature Center provides nature trail and in depth look at Missouri wildlife. A swimming pool, extension picnic areas, playgrounds, tennis courts, and golf courses are also part of this major park complex.

The true gem of Swope Park, however, is the Kansas City Zoological Park. This is the area's premier zoo and has delighted generations of Kansas City children with 200 acres of animals. Today's zoo is state of the art with an IMAX theater on site along with specialty habitats that include the Wolf Pack Woods, Australian Outback, Gibbon Island, Elephant Sanctuary and much more. A narrow gauge railroad carries zoo visitors around the park. The zoo is daily except for major holidays. Admission is $8.50 for adults, $7.50 for senior citizens, and $5.50 for children ages three to eleven. On Tuesdays, everyone gets in for just $5.

Union Station at 30 West Pershing Road, is another must-see spot when visiting KC. This former train terminal was once the hub of Kansas City travel and in 1917, one half of all soldiers who served in the First World War passed beneath the landmark clock in the Grand Hall, which still boasts 95 feet tall ceilings. Union Station was also the spot of a gangland massacre. The property was revitalized and reopened in 1999 with a science museum, restaurants, shopping venues, and several theaters.

A unique shopping venue makes the list. Country Club Plaza dates back to 1922 and was the first planned shopping center in the nation. With its' distinctive Spanish and Moorish style, Country Club Plaza is home to more than 150 shops including anchors like Saks Fifth Avenue and numerous specialty shops.

The last thing any visitor to Kansas City must do is sample the local cuisine. Kansas City is famous for their own brand of barbecue and for steak After all, this is the place where the KC Strip got its' name! Most folks claim that the city's best barbecue is at Arthur Bryant's Barbecue, just off east 18th street on Brooklyn Avenue. A close runner up, also on Brooklyn Avenue, is Gates Barbecue. Both joints offer the burnt ends that make Kansas City barbecue famous.

Steak lovers, start drooling, because Kansas City is home to fine steaks. As a long time stockyard center, Kansas City knows steak. Try steak at the Savoy Grill, located in the Hotel Savoy at 219 West 9th. President Harry Truman, an old Kansas City boy, was known to enjoy his steak at the Savoy and the old-fashioned booths where he sat are still in use today.

Winstead's opened on Country Club Plaza back in 1940 and in the decades since have claimed the crown for Kansas City's best burgers. The original location has spread into multiple locations so there are few places in KC where there won't be a Winstead's nearby.

Kansas City is a rare city, an intermarriage of frontier trading post and cosmopolitan city, well worth a visit. There are many other sights to see but these are the ones that should not be missed on a trip to Kansas City!