Let’s call this a reluctant post.
First, it’s been done by better than me.
Second, I’m not sure I want everyone in on the secret.
Maybe it’s best that you keep thinking Buffalo is a heinous mix of snow and rust…and that we’re limited to one food group, i.e., chicken wings; that this city smells like Cheerios (it does, they’re made here).
It looks pretty horrible, right?
Right now, most people who live in the metro Buffalo area would tell you it only takes about 20 minutes to get from one part of town to another. I can fairly easily find a parking spot anywhere. I’m not inconvenienced by crowds. There’s an abundance of things to do. And I just read an article that said food trends for the next decade will be heavily influenced by “Buffalo Flavor” (and it wasn’t referring to blue cheese dressing or Frank’s Hot Sauce).
Sure, sometimes it snows here. But I’m not sure I need the world’s approval on that or our blissful other three seasons. My happy meter tells me we’re just fine. And I love me a good snowstorm.
If word gets out (and travel writers are giving us waaaay too much attention these days), traffic could increase. I might have to wait in lines, require restaurant reservations a week in advance. Fight mobs at our Garden Walk (America’s largest garden tour). Deal with tourists and weekenders. Ugh, what if we became a popular Bachelorette party destination and I had to compete for a spot on a Tiki Bar Tour?
Sigh… but I already committed. This is the third installment of the “Where Bloggers Live” series. And I told those other bloggers that I would write a post about the region where I live…and, twenty minutes from where I live is, Buffalo.
So, for this month’s installment, let me offer you a very small sampling of Buffalife.
And we’re friends, so you won’t tell anyone…deal?
Where the northeastern-most shore of Lake Erie meets the Niagara River lies a small-feel big town, rich in architecture,
history,
cultural diversity, noteworthy cuisine, and some pretty darn special people… Sturdy people who can body chop a folding banquet table, but the kind you insult and they respond by donating to your favorite charity.
Just yesterday, The Buffalo News reported that Buffalo was one of the Lonely Planet’s top five best value travel destinations on, well, the planet.
Well, I’M impressed.
Maybe it’s our Canalside area, with it’s unique ice bikes, ice bumper cars, summer concerts, or new Explore & More Children’s Museum…
Or…just a paddleboard or quick car ride away, perhaps it’s the Silo City and Riverworks area…
where you can rent a floating tiki bar and scale or zip line our historic grain elevator silos (one of the largest collections in the country).
From Canalside you can hop the Bike Ferry and bike or hike our breezily beautiful Outer Harbor:
Or see it from a higher vantage point from the should-we-or-shouldn’t-we-keep-the Skyway during the annual Slo-Roll:
If you appreciate a great view without all that silly exercise, the city has a growing collection of rooftop bars:
…that you can even enjoy in the winter, igloo style if the weather is, er…frightful.
If you’d like more of a funky industrial vibe, my grown-up kids have been enjoying new restaurants and craft beer in the Black Rock’s Chandler Street warehouse district:
…where plans are in the works for an urban beach club.
I haven’t even begun to note our artsy Allentown…Elmwood Avenue, Hertel Avenue or South Buffalo.
Then there’s one of my favorites, GardenWalk… a summer long celebration and tour of gardening throughout Buffalo and area communities.
I guess you may just have to see it all in person to appreciate it.
So…why WOULDN’T this secret get out?
Go ahead, bring your bachelorette parties, pedal tour to all our craft breweries, savor our Buffalo cup-and-char pepperoni pizza (you’re welcome, pizza-loving world), count down the days till the Albright-Knox gallery renovation is complete…
and meanwhile snap a selfie in front of some of our amazing public art (you knew this would be one of my favorites):
So…SO….SO much to Buffalove!
Okay, okay, go ahead. You can tell your friends.
Everyone’s welcome… I mean, after all…this IS “The City of Good Neighbors”
For more resources, be sure to check out any of the links above…particularly:
And be sure to pay a virtual visit to my blogging buds,
Daenel at Living Outside the Stacks
Bettye at Fashion Schlub
Iris at Iris’ Original Ramblings
Em at Dust and Doghair
Julia at When the Girls Rule
Jodie at Jodie’s Touch of Style and Lisa at Midlife in Bloom
who have a thing or two to tell you about where they live.
Oh my gosh, I’m so in! It’s only a 7-hour drive from me to you!
I want to stay here “1880’s Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane, repurposed as Hotel Henry Urban Resort.”
And everything else looks super cool and shiny new (unlike down here- that’s one thing I forgot to mention about LI and the 5 boroughs in general – THEY’RE DIRTY. And old. Ha).
I’m so bad, I always picture Buffalo as straight north from the city, sort of where Plattsburgh is. I also thought Niagara Falls was straight up, too. And *I* live here!! I forget that NY reaches so far to the west. And that you’re bordering Lake Erie, same as Detroit! That just seems so weird.
I’m surprised every time I look at a map of the US. Things are never where I think they should be.
But it definitely looks like a fun place – that has never shone through before, so thanks for sharing!
Bettye
https://fashionschlub.com
We stayed at the Hotel Henry during it’s “soft opening” (and TBH, drove around it for years prior, imagining all the spooky stories it could inspire). It’s a verrrry cool place though and is now among the toniest wedding venues in the area. The hallways are perfect as gallery spaces and they have a great restaurant featuring locally sourced ingredients.
As to geography… that has ALWAYS been one of my weaker categories in “Trivial Pursuit.” But, yes, our Lake Erie connection is what binds us to the primary source of our legendary snow, i.e., “lake effect.”
I’m fairly competent with where things are “near” me…just grateful when maps have labels!
I didn’t connect Buffalo to Buffalo Wings. I’m crying with laughter. How did I not know that?
The pictures are so much fun.
That’s SO funny! The Buffalo wing origin story (Frank and Teressa’s Anchor Bar) is required knowledge in this city. Until then, we were the Beef on Weck town… I guess when you winter a lot, you’re all about the food. Grateful to all my photo sources, haha!
Oh, I want to visit again!! We are planning a trip to Boston and NYC in the fall. Planning in the loosest sense of the word. Have mentioned it twice. I would LOVE to swing by my old toddling grounds…as I was 4 when we moved away. I love YOUR LOVE for Buffalo. I feel the same way about El Paso, although, we are not nearly as trendy and avant garde. But we have the best Mexican food…and available on every street corner.
Thank you for sharing all of these fabulous features of your beloved hometown. Buffalove is so clever. When do you go on payroll for the Chamber of Commerce?
Haha…”Buffalove” is a thing here, so I can’t take any credit for that (although I once thought it was original until I started seeing it everywhere). I think the area had declined for so long that we’re all in celebration mode that all these great and fun things are finally happening here and we’re finally using our resources! We have a gritty, edgy kind of vibe, and I tried to focus on that, but there are plenty of refined things as well.
From what I’ve seen in your posts, El Paso looks like a whole other kind of beautiful! And I would greatly enjoy exploring your food culture…yum!
Buffalo? I never would have guessed it was so cool! I just imagine snowbanks piled up on the side of the road and football fans. Thank you for the tour and for enticing me to add another destination to my list of places I want to see!
What you imagined isn’t entirely inaccurate…although we’ve been pretty snow deprived this year. But I think when you spend so much time in winter, you learn to make the most of it…AND savor the summers as well. Then again, I suspect that living in Michigan has already taught you that, haha. When you add Buffalo to your list, be sure to tack on Niagara Falls…because it’s, yep…only 20 minutes away!
I just love reading your posts from here in London, and thanks to you, Buffalo is now very much on my list of places to visit 😊 We’re going to visit our Son and his family in Idaho soon and fully embrace how defined your seasons are. I love the snow and can’t wait to regress into a little girl again and play snow angels with my Grandsons. Thanks for sharing your hometown secrets and I promise I’ll come visit one day and share this gem of information with a selected few. Enjoy your weekend Barbara
Really!???!!! First, that someone could “love” reading my posts MADE MY DAY. Every time I write one, I ask myself why I even do this. Second…London?!! You’re on MY bucket list of places to see. We keep talking about it and are hoping it will happen soonish (if our youngest sticks to his plan of doing an internship there).
Your son lives in Idaho…how interesting! SO many beautiful things to see there…the mountains! I don’t think you EVER outgrow making snow angels! I’ve been known to make them in the privacy of the back yard…but not this year…they’d be mud angels!
Thanks, Barbara, for letting me know you were here! Have a great day!
Oh my goodness – don’t think I realized you lived in Buffalo – and yes, we think of it as the snow capitol who no one in Alabama wants to visit. But, it looks gorgeous. Love the igloos on the roofs.
Not sure I’ll ever get there, but one of my grandsons moved to Buffalo right after Christmas. No idea where in the city, but looks like he’ll find plenty to do and see.
Grace & Peace,Iris
http://www.IrisOriginalsRamblings.com
Snow capital…that is DEFintiely most people’s first impression, Iris! I think those newsworthy snow storms might happen once or twice a decade and they are great opportunities to hunker down with the family and watch some great movies. A three to eight inch snow is more frequent…althought even a light dusting can shut a different city down completely.
How cool that your grandson just moved here… you know I’ll need more detail on that! What brings him here (if that’s not too invasive)? Our friends who moved your way did so for mutual tire/rubber business in Huntsville…so that’s my current bet. Either way, hope he’ll be happy here!
Okay…okay, I’m convinced!! I would have never had Buffalo on my list of places to visit, but now I do (I’m sure it has something to do with the fact that we can meet up too!!) And the fact that my husband has NEVER seen Niagara Falls. So the question is, when would be a good time to come visit that you’re not too busy having fun in the yard (and I’m talking summer…we need to get out of the 100 degree weather anyways in August).
(I just told Rob about coming out in August and he wanted to know if they’d have the streets cleared of snow by then? He’s such a comedian!!)
XOOX
Jodie
Rob will be happy to find that the snow is gone by July and that Niagara Falls is just a “20 minute drive.” Okay, seriously…the snow is gone well before that…usually the last accumulation is in March, if memory serves. The awning goes back up in April…so it’s the random flake in April and sometimes early May.
August is a spectacular month in this area, because the hottest days are usually in June and July (when we’re heavy lifting in the yard…) In August, the weather is really pleasant and the nights get cooler. (And since it’s the best weather of the year, it only makes sense that that’s been the traditional month for our vacation.🤦🏻♀️) Although I think it’s dumb to leave this area in the summer when it’s at its best, it tends to be when the fam is free, haha.
So, yes! Come visit! We’ll make it work! Who knows, we may come your way first!