A “Big Chuck” Tradition Going Strong For 18 Years!

Eighteen years ago, my family held a function in Syracuse.  Could have been a wedding, maybe an anniversary.  I don't remember.

But when it was time to leave I remember saying goodbye to my two brothers, Bob and Jim, and thinking "I didn't even get to talk with them" there had been such a hurly burly at the party.  We decided there and then that we would get together once a year for a long weekend to get caught up.  And we have!

This Friday I head out to Washington, D.C. for my 18th consecutive "Brothers Trip" with the boys.  We have picked a different city each year.  Brother Jim lives in Houston and brother Bob D'Imperio lives in Lancaster so we try and stay on the "right side" of America as much as possible for travel purposes.

18 years ago our first city was Kansas City, Missouri.  Since then (as many of my listeners know) we have visited Philadelphia, Louisville, Milwaukee, Charlotte, New York, Boston, Raleigh, Cleveland, Baltimore, and a bunch of other cities.

In each city we do a pub crawl, find the best bowl of spaghetti each city has to offer and try and squeeze in at least one marginal cultural or sporting event.  When we went to Indianapolis we wrangled a private tour of the famed Brickyard racetrack where our guide turned on the microphone for me to holler "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to race day" to no one in particular.  It was thrilling. We have seen NBA games, Churchill Downs, major league baseball games and more.  Concerts, shows, cruises and other events fill out a long list of things we have done on a "Brothers Trip."

One of the most unusual trips was to Pittsburgh twelve years ago.  Here we are on the train in from the airport.

We asked around the city for the best bowl of spaghetti and were we surprised!  This is the restaurant everybody said we should go to.

We went and to our surprise YES, IT WAS A LONG LOST FAMILY MEMBER WHO OWNED IT!  

He sat us at our own private table and gave us the swankiest Italian meal we have ever had, chased down with exquisite Italian wine.  He regaled us with stories of old Italy.  He came over from our ancestral home of Montagano (Molise), Italy in 1975.  I had been to Montagano twice before so we had a lot to talk about.  He was so excited that we were visiting him he wanted to put a call in to D'Imperio cousins back in Italy for us to talk to right from the restaurant.  Since none of us spoke Italian we begged off on this.

Here is my cousin Tony D'Imperio and his chef Joseph Schilling,

But what a treat to dine in a restaurant with your own last name on the sign way above the building.

Click here to see this great restaurant.

So I will be gone this Friday, Saturday and Sunday to Washington, D.C. on "Brother's Trip #18."  It has been a wonderful tradition   I will be sending back photos of my trip for you to enjoy along with us.  I hope you like them!