I say Missouri; you say Missourah

It seems to depend on where you grew up, how you pronounce the state's name. As we travel we have been soaking up some "road trip literature," if there is such a genre. The spouse checked out an audio book of short stories by Richard Russo. One we listened to on our drive from Arkansas to Missouri was about a woman and her son from the Northeast on a road trip that took them through Missouri. She made fun of folks who say "Missourah." After a dinner out (barbecue of course) in KC we watched "Transamerica," also about a road trip from east to west - this one with a father and son. Felicity Huffman plays the dad. Good film. It is raining in Wichita; so we are going to see "United 93," which may not be the best choice the day before an airplane trip; but oh, well. . .

But to backtrack: I don't have a lot of photos of Kansas City. It is a very photogenic city with an amazing amount of open space. Parks and greenbelt. In fact on one of my first days there I read a criticism of the development of the city that included the observation that the city has too much park space. The critic also said the small beltway that encircles the top half of the city is a bad design. It's so small that it is hard to get on and off of it and makes the city driver act like a diner who has stuffed himself (or herself) so full of ribs and beans and French fries and white bread and creamy coleslaw that he or she is being strangled from the middle up and down...

Which is to say we "et" a lot of beef in KC. And not a lot else. Our friend and travel editor Terry Taz, who lived a spell in KC sent us to Arthur Bryant's BBQ, a no frills rib joint in a rundown neighborhood where the cook/server slapped some sliced pork directly onto my red plastic try, evidently because I was a little slow to hand him my plate. It was good - very good and so was the beer we washed it down with. My spouse had the ribs, which he consumed with much gusto. There's a lot of gusto available in KC, but not much broccoli. The same friend sent us to Garozzo's, an Italian restaurant, also a neighborhood spot, where the service was a little more polished and there was some evidence of greenery on my plate. And best of all we were there on half price wine night! Who knew Kansas City boasted an Italian community? Finally we balanced things off with a visit to another KC BBQ chain called, appropriately enough, Jack's Stack. More ribs. By now ribs is something my body only remembers having. You sure can't see them.

Clearly I was too busy dining to take many pictures. It's that kind of city.

There are vegetables in Kansas City. I saw them myself at the City Market, a farmer's market. The selection of local veggies was next to nil, it being too early in the season for local produce, but the market was worth a visit anyway. We had great lattes with our breakfast at a non-chain coffee shop at the market. City skyline is visible in the top photo.