Kansas City: Baseball & Bar-B-Que

The only bummer in Kansas City was the fact that the Negro League Museum didn't allow patrons to take pictures inside the museum. Actually, two bummers. The American Jazz Museum was a total bust...I could recite more information about Jazz and Jazz musicians than was contained in that tiny little museum. The Negro League Museum was freakin awesome; a short historical film narrated by James Earle Jones got us started. The exhibits were set up to mimic a stadium, the walk around the field, the locker room with all the Negro League Hall of Famers and a field populated by bronzed statues of the Negro League Dream Team. Of course, Satchel Paige was on the mound. In another exhibit dedicated to Paige, they had a framed placard of his Rules For Staying Young, which my buddy Jake had passed while chasing after his youngest, Aya. So I brought it to his attention and as I walked off, he was approached by a guy about our age who asked him if he like Paige. The guy proceeded to open up his wallet, pull out his ID and tell Jake that Satchel was his grandfather! We met Paige's grandson! Well, okay, I didn't as much as Jake did, but that was pretty fuckin cool. One other really cool thing was that people of all walks of life and colors interacted freely and openly and genuinely. Now, this shouldn't be some kind of revelation, but it isn't that common, at least not in Seattle, the hotbed of politically correct, upper class (or at least acting) white folks who rarely acknowledge each other, let alone black folks. It was just a heartwarming thing for me to experience, because it is how I think it should be, but isn't always. I don't pretend to be naive enough to think there aren't any racial tensions between white and black in Kansas City, but at least they fuckin talk to each other in public!
Not sure what the rest of life in Kansas City is like, but I wouldn't rule it out as a place to consider living. Oh and, by the way, the bar-b-que is delicious...we went to Arthur Bryant's and were pleasantly filled with pulled pork sandwiches and fries (great sauce!).