Than there is the hoagie sandwich. A cold sandwich which stuffs a a soft or hard Italian roll shaped like a hot dog roll, only longer and thicker, with lunch meats and cheeses covered with shredded lettuce and tomato. Maybe some onion and hot pepper also. There are other regions of the country who have introduced this concept but not with the rolls you can get around here.

Philly is also famous for a slab a meat we call scrapple. Mainly a breakfast food it is a mush with cornmeal, flour, and buckwheat flour fried or simmered with pork scraps. Yes scraps left over from the butcher. It goes great with eggs.

But the Grand Daddy of them all is the all powerful steak sandwich. In the 1920's Pat and Harry Olivieri had a hot dog stand in Philadelphia and they began selling chopped steak on a hoagie roll. Often with onions and ketchup. It was so successful that in 1930 they opened up Pat's Steaks soley for the purpose of selling the steak sandwich. It is still there today and is called Pat's King of Steaks.

It was so popular Joe Vento opened up Geno's Steak across the street from Pat's. It too is still opened to this day. In 1952 Pat's began to offer a cheese sauce poured on to the sandwich called Cheez Whiz. Although Joe form Geno's claims he added good old American cheese before Pat added the Whiz. No one has ever solved that debate.

So if you ever get to Philadelphia you must go to 9Th Street and Passyunk Avenue in South Philadelphia a visit both Pat's and Geno's. Remember though Pat's was the beginning.

Another unique aspect is the infamous "How to Order a Steak" sign at Pat's. It isn't a joke either. They get so crowded that they insist people know exactly how they want their sandwich. And you must order it in the correct fashion or you get sent back to the sign to learn.

For example if you want a steak sandwich with provolone instead of the whiz that is fine. So you would say give me a provolone. Also though you must end an order with either the word "with" (Philly speech "wit") or the word "without" (wit out in Philly language) to communicate whether you want onions or not. So your actual order would sound like this "give me a provolone wit, please." You just order a steak sandwich with provolone cheese and onions in correct fashion! Oh and if you want peppers there is a mice selection of peppers at the self serve ketchup station.

The most popular orders are the Cheez Whiz "wit", Provolone "wit", American "wit", and pizza sauce "wit". Onions are pretty popular here. No shame in saying "wit out" though.

Also pretty cool is they have pictures of many of the famous people who have come by from the many decades. I have actually met a few celebs and pro athletes getting a steak sandwich.

On a pathetic note. I now live 64 miles from Pat's and I will still make a pilgrimage there at least once a year for a sandwich! Got to love it! Oh and for me it's "Give me a pizza steak wit please."

Years ago three friends and I took a trip out to the Black Hills. It was at the end of a hot August. Before you reach the Black Hills from the East you have the option to stop off at an awesome sight called the Badlands. I would describe it but you would think I was talking about a meteor site or the moon or something. Just Google the Badlands and you will get the idea. I personally loved it.

Back to my story. After a an afternoon at the Badlands we got a camp site about half hour closer to the Black Hills. After we set up a couple tents the wind starting really cranking up some serious miles per hour. The sky began to look very ominous in addition to that. Whether it was a good or bad thing I don't know but we were under a big healthy tree.

This terrified one my friends. While we were eating he says "I hope this tree doesn't get blown over". Which is funny because I was certain the tree would hold up much longer than our tents. But he continued by saying "if this tree falls and kills me my parents will never speak to me again". He was serious too.

Okay now that was hilarious the way he said it, had you been there. But I was shocked that he wasn't concerned that the massive tree might kill all of us. I mean thanks alot for worrying about the entire group. But it was still funny to explain to him that if the tree kills him, it is safe to say that no one will be speaking to him.

Actually when the rain arrived, and arrived it did, the wind died down significantly. So we survived and the tree was as sturdy as ever the next morning. Next we headed off to the Black Hills. Well we showered and dressed the went. I mean not like we we're naked. You get the point.

It was beautiful to say the least. The weather was a postcard like that day. As was our custom we found ourself a nice campground. That day the high was about 89 degrees fahrenheit. What we didn't know was that in the Black Hills it can get rather cold at night. We went to sleep and it was already in the 40 degree area. That was about 10pm. Little did we know a severe cold front was passing thru. It was about 2 am and we all were freezing our butt off. It didn't help that we had cheap department store sleeping bags. We found ourselves heading to the car. Of course you would think to sleep in it. Well that is what I was going to do. My friends thought that was crazy. Which I am crazy but that is beside the point.

The one friend devised this ingenious plan. He took his suitcase in the tent and emptied all his clothes into his sleeping bag. For insulation was his theory. Then he placed his suitcase over him for good measure. He also suggested that the three of them use one tent. And the other two thought this was brilliant. Meanwhile I fired up the car and made it nice and toasty. Imagine the three stooges in a sleeping bag, turned into a laundry bag, making fun of me. "He's out there all uncomfortable in the car while we can stretch out here in our stuffed bag. What a moron".

The next day they actually made fun of me and told me the laughter they shared why I was "stuck" in the car. Let's just say I didn't lose any sleep over it.

The next day we did some more sight seeing around the Hills. Saw some animals in their natural habitat which was cool. At lunch that day we went to a local non-chain burger joint. I saw on the menu a list of specialty burgers. California burger, Hawaiin burger, Texan burger, and Buffalo burger. I thought to myself " I know what a Californian, Hawaiin, and a Texan burger is, but what is a Buffalo burger? Like hot wing sauce on it or something?"

So I go up to order and I ask "say what is on a Buffalo burger?" He rolls his eyes and says to me like I'm the dumbest man alive "duh Buffalo, whatever you want on it".

Okay so now I was confused. I re-track my thought process and go through the other selections and ask again with more annunciation. "No you don't understand my question, what automatically comes with a Buffalo burger? Something unique to Buffalo as in New York state?"

Now he is really tired of me. Thinking I'm being a jackass he says "look you're not funny. Do you want the burger with buffalo meat or not?"

Then the proverbial light bulb goes off in my cranium. Then right behind the epiphany I just had I became irate at him for thinking that I'm just supposed to know that Buffalo meant animal and not the city. Especailly in the context in which it was presented to me. So knowing that it was not legal to jump over the counter and ring his neck, I smile and say "well no wonder I didn't know what your buffalo burger was. There isn't any buffalo in North America. They are called Bison". (of course I was banking on the presumption that they didn't have buffalo meat shipped in from over seas) Then I order a Turkey Club sandwich out of principle.

Anyhow a good time was had by all and I often think about how I would like to return their again. Maybe some day. Oh and if any of you go there could you try the buffalo ,,,,,,, I mean bison burger and tell me how it was?

For those who have never been there it is a rather large city. It is presently the 6th largest city in Mexico with around 1.5 million people. When I was there I believe it was around a million. However even in downtown sections there would be stop signs at intersections and not traffic lights.

The rental company I was using for a car rental forbid you from taking their car into Mexico because of the potential driving hazards. So we took a bus across the border and wow was that a good idea. After seeing first hand the insanity of the driving habits I was happy I wasn't driving. And I had driven in Boston, NYC, Chicago, and lived outside of Philadelphia.

Nonetheless we enjoyed many things about Tijuana. Had some great Mexican food for one thing. We got to hear some cool live music also. However one of things you do in Tijuana is visit the shopping section and "haggle" or negotiate over products you may want to buy. There were a variety of different jewelry, clothing, and leather booths to browse.

At this one "store" I spotted this wonderfully made leather briefcase. Ironically before we left for our trip I was looking at one very similar for about $80. The price on this one said $30. I was sold right away. The proprietor sensed my interest and approached me. Now I have to be honest I love to save a buck but for some reason I was thinking "I"m on vacation and it is early in the day, I don't want to carry this around' and so on'. Just I was completing this thought the merchant says "$25 and it's yours".

I look at him appearing guilty that he lowered the price before we even started talking and I said "no really $30 is a great price, I just don't feel like going through the trouble of getting it back to the hotel and then across the country".

Then he looked at me like "boy your good" and says "okay $20 and I let you have it". (hopefully you have been inserting your own Mexican accent for the full effect)

Then I shoot back "no really you're too kind. It's not the money I just am feeling lazy today. I'm on vacation. Although it really is a nice briefcase". Then I even diplomatically and politely started walking away in the general direction of the exit.

Surprisingly the man blurts out to me "you take for $15".

Now for some inexplicable reason I was getting a little upset. Does this guy just think I'm cheap? What do I have to say to get him off my back? So then I resort to the "white lie". I say to him "look I tell you what, I'll swing back this way before we head back to San Diego. I'll give you the $15 American then. This really is a nice case". As I was finishing I began moving more directly toward the exit.

With his super sales radar he knew I was lying through my teeth. I also believe he thought I had been negotiating with him this whole time. So he tried a diversionary tactic by bringing the price down in a $2 increment instead of the $5 pattern he had previously set. "$13, how's that?" he asks.

Without even stopping I kept walking. As I was getting near the exit I said back at him "your price is fine in fact you had me at $30. I'm telling you it's not the money". I built up to a nice crescendo to drive home the point. I was now leaving the store.

Suddenly I hear his determined voice yell out to me "$10 and that's final sale!"

As if I had no control of my body I was back in the store handing him $10 and saying "okay it's a deal". He was a happy camper and I was, well I was confused as to what just happened. On one hand I just saved myself $70 from the case I was going to get near home. Then on the other hand I was mumbling to myself "now I got to carry this thing and bring it on the plane" and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I still have that briefcase and let me tell you it really is a nice case.