Where The Day Takes Me

On a morning like this, waking up to snow on the ground, I feel the urge to take a very specific walk.

First - coat, hat and gloves. And then, along with my dad, brother, sister, and step-mom, I step out the apartment door and down three flights of stairs and outside the building into the cold, clean air. We cross the street and walk south down Telford Street for two blocks. About halfway down, I see and remember the building where we once saw someone emptying his water bed out the window from three stories up. So much water pouring down from someone's bedroom. That was a surreal moment remembered from my childhood. But on with this walk.

Telford Street brings us to Ludlow Avenue and we pause for a minute to look into the window of the Graeter's Ice Cream shop. That'll be for later. For now, we have a more important destination. And with that, we cross to the left and follow Ludlow for a single block to a place that is always good but has no rival on a cold day like today. First, we pass the Esquire - the local movie house that was threatened with closing to be replaced by a Wendy's, but neighborhood preservation efforts prevailed - and we remember the movies we've seen there over the years.

One city block traveled and we have reached our mecca. At the corner of Clifton and Ludlow rests Cincinnati's famous Skyline Chili. We enter, we order, and we are delighted to indulge in the delicious menu choices - chili 3-ways, chili 4-ways, and unrivaled cheese Coneys. These Beziats with these refined palates are pleased, indeed. We enjoy our dishes while we laugh about whatever we can think of and we know that afterward we will cross Ludlow Avenue to Burnett Woods for hiking and football throwing. I'm Cris Colllinsworth and my brother is Ken Anderson and we are Cincinnati's star Bengals, Super Bowl bound, for sure.

Alas, I am not in Cincinnati today but 300 miles away in beautiful Nashville. It is beautiful, but it has no Skyline Chili for this morning's urge. If I had the cash, I'd be on my way.

The Story of Skyline Chili