I have only ever been to Kansas City for debate tournaments, and as a gateway for a journey across Kansas. I still think it's kinda weird that there are two cities with identical names just across the border from one another. It seems like town planners could have thrown an East or West in there, just for clarification. Perhaps they were too busy eating barbecue to be bothered with such technicalities.
I don't remember much about my forays to Kansas City. There was a nice plaza with some decent shopping. One of our debaters abruptly and loudly accused me of having "freakishly small ears" (which is true, by the way) while we were stuck in traffic. We tried to go to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, but it was closed. Oh, and we went out for various types of delicious smoked meat more than once, including at the esteemed Arthur Bryant's. Those are my experiences. Mike has been to Kansas City much more often than I have. Once upon a time, he went to KC for a debate business meeting that began late-morning at a breakfast buffet. The meeting lasted well into the afternoon, moving beyond breakfast into lunch. Mike has absurd buffet rules that dictate filling up on the expensive stuff first, usually meat, to make sure that he gets his money's worth. I shudder to think of how much meat he and the other meeting attendees consumed that day. Late in the afternoon, he headed to the Kansas City airport to fly home to Atlanta. He settled into his seat, and promptly fell into a deeeeeep sleep/food coma. He woke up 2+ hours later, looked out the window, and was pleased to see that he was already on the runway! Much to his chagrin, he discovered seconds later that the runway still belonged to the Kansas City airport. Whoops. So, beyond reliving moments of gluttony, er... culinary extravagance... why did Kansas City make the cut this year? First, I figured the middle of the country should have some representation, and people seem to like Kansas City more than they like Omaha (sorry Cornhuskers). Second, it has a bit of a reputation for good barbecue. I figured that was worth exploring. I have enough sense not to get into arguments about where the best BBQ hails from, but know that we'll try to re-create as authentic of a Kansas City experience as possible. Plus, there's this little tidbit that I found on the interwebs: "Believe it or not, prohibition-era Kansas City ran contrary to its straitlaced Midwestern image when a local political boss refused to enforce the nationwide ban on alcohol. The city's scofflaw reputation was cemented when a 1920s journalist remarked, 'If you want to see some sin, forget Paris and head to Kansas City.'" We look forward to seeing you in Kansas City, Heart of America! We'll provide the BBQ and the hooch - feel free to bring the (chocolate) sin. Comments are closed.
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