I believe that I have led a very fortunate life. All of my immediate and extended family bonds are positive and fulfilling. I have a ton of great and loyal friends, and we all challenge each other in positive ways. Life has really been a blessed ride for me. I have also had the fortune of travel. This is especially great since I have a major aversion to being static. Anyone who has met any of the people who raised me will point out my trouble with sitting still, and my wife will validate that nothing has changed.

The international travel has happened (I want way more, but really I have been fortunate), but the domestic travel has been robust. As of now I have been to 46 of the United States. My missing are AK, HI, MT and VT. I will note that I do not consider stopping for gas a proper representation of visiting a State. Something substantial needs to happen such as a meal, an overnight, or another event. I will note that my preferences involve eating and drinking, and I do seek that if possible. I will further note that the food and drink generally play a very vital role in my review of a place.

Final note before moving on: I have strong opinions about most things, but food and music take me to a higher level.

My Top Places to Visit

Here are my favorite places to visit in no particular order with some notes for each.

Chicago

I feel so incredibly fortunate to live 90 minutes by car from this city, and I consider it the greatest American city. How’s that for a hot take? Here are some of the things I love about the city:

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• The “L” is an excellent mass transit system that gets you everywhere urban.
• It is impossible to not eat well. The Chicago culinary scene is diverse and second to none.
• There are a ton of great breweries including the venerable Goose Island, and my favorite, Half Acre.
• The downtown area is about as clean as you can possibly get with the amount of populace. I put Chicago > NYC for this fact. New York has been around since the 1600s and still cannot figure out how to place dumpsters. Trash on the street is pretty gross.
• The Sears Tower (screw you Willis, I will not change how I address this building) is an incredible panoramic view that must be experienced.
• Sue the T-Rex at the Field Museum.

Plus, they have deep dish pizza. Many locals will note this tourist food, and the real pizza is pub style paper thin cut in squares. I like both. My suggestions to get up to speed quick are Gino’s East for deep and Pizano’s for thin.

I’ll keep the rest of these shorter after that Midwest Soapbox.

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Toronto

This place is an eclectic gem full of super cool people. The downtown is second to none, and cleaner than the Chicago situation I just laid out. You can rent a car and get to a very authentic Chinese community for some great food, which is highly recommended. Toronto is also home to the second largest population of Jamaicans, so you can get your jerk chicken on as well.

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Maple Leaf and Raptor games at the Scotiabank Arena are electric atmospheres.My last favorite thing to mention about Canada as a whole is their nationalistic take on entertainment. The city billboards for radio stations will have you believe that the biggest artists in the world list starts and ends with the likes or Drake, Michael Bublé and Justin Bieber. Music note: all those guys do is put out bangers.

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Louisiana

I decided not to push New Orleans (pronounced: “Norlins,” please) as the sole spot, but that is a city everyone should visit. My favorite spot in the whole city is a bar called The Avenue Pub. Get ready to drink beer. My favorite local beer is call Canebreak, and is a wheat beer by Parish Brewing Company.

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I highly recommend being in the area during crawfish season, which is November to July roughly, as it is a cool, delicious experience. The biggest benefit to LA is the cuisine. They sport a fully unique food offering and you just have to experience it firsthand.

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Paris

I cannot really put into words how much I enjoyed this city. The Eiffel Tower at night is the coolest experience I have ever had, and the history and art were mind blowing there as well. I feel fortunate that I was able to be in the Notre-Dame Cathedral prior to the fire in 2019.

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The D’Or Museum (Sant Julià de Ramis) was my second favorite spot, and the Musée de l’Armée (Army Museum) was third. I cannot wait to go back.

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Philly and… Getting to the Point

I went through that entire exercise above to arrive at The City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia, PA. The Chiefs had a game there this last weekend. I will get to my thoughts on that game shortly, but first let’s talk Philly. I have a substantial amount of history with this city. My best friend from high school went to college in this city. I spent 3+ years calling on customers in this city.

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The South Philly Sports Complex is a great collection of venues. I have been to The Linc (Lincoln Financial Field) for an Eagles game, The Bank (Citizens Bank Park) for a Phillies game, Wells Fargo for a Flyers game, and have closed down Xfinity Live (the bar in the middle of all these).

I have even stayed at the Holiday Inn prominently featured in the Always Sunny Season 5 episode called the World Series Defense. The episode suggests there is a tunnel from the hotel to The Bank, and  I cannot confirm nor deny its existence. What I can confirm is that the hotel always has a game day tailgate for Eagles games. Plus the Complex has a substantial amount of tailgate-able parking lots. We are Chiefs fans. It would be disingenuous to say they are anywhere in the same realm as us when it comes to tailgates. But it would be plain mean-spirited to say they suck. I have had plenty of fun at a Philly tailgate. Which leads me to one of my absolute favorite foods…

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The Philly Cheesesteak

I mentioned earlier having strong opinions about food and music. Friends and other patrons have justifiably called me out for gratuitously offering song and/or band history/critique information when the jukebox is playing. My stance on the cheesesteak is firm, but it is also correct. Philadelphia is the only place in the world…

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… where you should see a menu that reads “Philly Cheesesteak” and that is just a fact.On top of that, it is made a certain set of ways as one John Kerry found out when he sacrilegiously ordered it with Swiss cheese. Here is the criteria:

1. A hoagie roll from Amoroso’s Baking Company. No exceptions. There was a place in Milwaukee that flew them in and made an excellent cheesesteak replica.
2. “Frizzled” beef, which is chopped rib-eye, seared on a flat grill on medium heat.
3. Cheese from only these options: provolone, sharp provolone, white American, or Cheez Wiz. (personal favorite is sharp provolone).

Onions are a common, and can ordered, by simply saying “with” or pronouncing it like a local: “wit.” You can walk into a proper place and order Wiz, wit and will receive a piping hot steak with Cheez Wiz and onions. The famous place to get a steak is at the intersection of 9th and Passyunk from either Pat’s (inventor) or Geno’s (rival). Make sure to read that John Kerry thing for more detail. Tony Luke’s is another place I endorse, and Chickie’s and Pete’s are what you can expect in all the stadiums.

My personal favorite is Dalessandro’s on Henry and Wendover. Their steaks are best enjoyed sitting in Arrow park across the street with a Coke. I highly recommend stopping when you are in town. Tell them I sent you and they will look at you crooked and tell you to order and stop wasting their time.

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There Was a Football Game in Philly Too

Now for the football game portion of this column. The Chiefs are back to their winning ways after a 2 game hiatus. Patrick and the offense sparkled with these awesome stats:

• Mahomes with 5 TD passes
• Clyde with 102 yards rushing at 7.3 YPC
• Tyreek with 186 yards and 3 TD catches (Kelce played air cover flipping that role for a week)

However, the stat of the game is undoubtedly this one: –> 100. That is 100 wins for Coach Reid for his time with the Chiefs. He is the first coach in NFL history to win that many games in both conferences (two different teams). Life has not been the same since January 4, 2013 when Andy agreed to come to KC.

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It is better for us as fans, and I quote Hamilton saying, “how lucky we are to be alive right now” in this golden era of Chiefs football. I am extremely grateful that Clark Hunt got his guy, Andy Reid became the guy, and that they, Dorsey and Veach drafted the guy in Patrick Mahomes. How lucky we are to be alive right now and cheering for the Chiefs.

The D is bad, we appear set to fight fire with more offensive fire, and I am cool with that. We are almost 25% through the season, and the Chiefs are in the mix. Get ready for the offense to rack up stats. It is how we will have to win. Buckle up for a shootout against the Bills. This one has game of the season potential.

Thanks as always for staying with me through my long-winded travelogue.

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Josh Kingsley — ArrowheadOne

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