STATE VISITED: MissouriToday's game -- the Kansas City Royals facing the Chicago White Sox -- was the only day game we'll be seeing on this trip. We walked over from the Holiday Inn just in time for the game, but not in time to get the good giveaway T-shirts at the gate. This was my fault because I wasn't ready to leave in time and so I apologize to my family. (Happy, Hugh?)
Kauffman Stadium -- a.k.a. "The K" -- looks like a spaceport from outside but inside it's a very nice stadium, not too big, with an open side to let in breezes. Considering today's stifling heat and humidity, we were very grateful for that.
As I recall, the Royals name derives from the crown logo on Hallmark Cards, which has its headquarters in K.C. The crown over the jumbotron may look a little hokey, but it's actually fun. Whenever there's a Royals home run, they send up rockets from the prongs of the crown, and the fountains to the right go spouting into the air. The Royals mascot, the king of beasts, wasn't much in evidence today, but in that heat, I can't blame him.
Our seats today were excellent -- on the first base line, only about a dozen rows back from the field -- although I don't think that's the only reason why this game felt more exciting than the last two. Though the White Sox scored the first few runs, the Royals managed to pull ahead, hit by hit by stolen base by hit. The guy to the left, second baseman Alberto Callaspo, got action nearly every time he was up to bat, and also made some great plays in the field. There was only one Royals home run -- hit by Brayan Pena (right) -- which was the first home team homer we've seen on this trip.
With the Royals ahead only by two runs, there was considerable exultation -- flaming videos, the whole bit -- when the Royals closer, Joakin Soria, came trotting out in the ninth to protect their lead. He lived up to his reputation and despatched the remaining White Sox, one two three.I do love a dominating closer.
After the game, we picked up the car and explored Kansas City. First stop: The Country Club Plaza, America's first shopping mall, a Spanish-themed retail district dating back to 1922. I've always loved the Plaza, even though now most of the shops are chain stores -- Pottery Barn, Urban Outfitters, J. Crew, alongside Tiffany's and Rolex. I kinda like the fact that it's not all Rodeo-Drived beyond the reach of the ordinary suburban shopper.
A gallery of Plaza shots:
Next stop -- dinner at Arthur Bryant's, the legendary Kansas City barbecue joint. It's down in the historic 18th & Vine District, which has been developed to celebrate K.C.'s jazz heritage. I'm not sure how successful the restoration of this district has been -- although 18th Street itself looked nicely spiffed up -- but Arthur Bryant's hasn't been changed, thank god. Why would anybody change such a classic?
In true barbecue format, there's no table service -- you shuffle along in a slow-moving line, waiting to get to the promised land of the counter, where you shout your order through the window to the guys next to the pit. The line took a while -- Arthur Bryant's is hardly a secret -- but that just meant you could study what everybody else was already eating and decide what you wanted to order. Servings were huge and messy, and all the diners looked pretty damn happy.
While we were waiting we chatted with a couple who were also doing a cross-country drive, but the other direction, from San Francisco to New England. They got a kick out of the fact that we were meeting halfway, in Kansas City, and that we'd both been drawn to Bryant's for some classic barbecue.
We all had various sandwiches; I opted for the burnt ends sandwich, which is chunks of the most succulent pork hacked from the ends of the roast. It may be a little chewier, but it was still meltingly tender, and incredibly flavorful. I'm no barbecue expert, but I know this was heavenly meat. The K.C. barbecue style -- largely due to Mr. Bryant's example -- is a sweet tomato-based sauce, which is basically what I grew up with, so it made me very happy indeed.
Good crisp, crunchy cole slaw too, not too sweet and not overly mayonnaised. I'm very picky about my cole slaw -- I consider it the testing point of a good restaurant. Bryant's' slaw passed the test with flying colors.
The night was still young when we got back to the hotel from dinner, so Bob and Grace and I decided to go to the movies. (I'd been hankering to see this new Johnny Depp movie, Public Enemies, where he plays John Dillinger.) When we got to the closest theater where it was playing, we discovered that it was a drive-in. Man, that was really hitting pay dirt -- I haven't been to a drive-in in years! There are only about a couple hundred left in the country, I think. This one was not only a drive-in but a multiscreen drive-in -- four different screens set in a ring, and you park your car in front of whichever screen is showing the movie you want. The site was pretty run-down -- a potholed asphalt surface with weeds sprouting from the cracks, paint peeling off the white wooden fences -- and with most of the window speakers missing, the sound is now transmitted via your car radio. But, hey, they were showing first-run movies, so it wasn't just worth it for the novelty value. Full-service snack bar and everything.
We enjoyed the movie, although being a Michael Mann picture it had dark jumpy camera work that was a little hard to appreciate on the drive-in screen. (Besides, I had volunteered to watch from the back seat, which meant considerable acrobatics to view the screen between the front seats, under the rear-view mirror, and above the dashboard.) And since it was the Fourth, fireworks kept exploding in the sky behind Johnny Depp's head. But it was a kooky experience, and so reminiscent of my youth at the Shadeland Drive-In. If we'd tried we couldn't have thought up a better way to spend the Fourth of July!
