Buffalo/home day 4

As I sit here waiting for the mister to wake up so we can bust out of this popsicle stand, and more importantly get some anticipated dunkin coffee, I am happy to have made this trip.  While it wasn't a full out exciting, edge of your seat type of trip. 

It was our first road trip as a married couple.  Really all we wanted was to spend 4 solid days together, eating good food and seeing some of America's lovely nature offerings.  Mission accomplished.

We had a great time keeping each other company.

he is so strong, look he's actually holding the mountain in place.

Bff's for life

Buffalo Day 3

As we wrap up our mini vaca in Buff to the Lo we kept it pretty low key.  Our massive hike and then walk around the falls did us in.
First stop the local AMVETS Thrift Store. This place was HUGE!  Didn't find much, but did score a nice work shirt for myself, and a Pottery Barn Kids blue gingham bumper pads.  Then we checked out the local Wegmans for some coffee and bagels.

We drove around for awhile just checking out the sites.  Then stumbled upon the Buffalo Museum of Science, so we thought we would check it out. Boy were we in for a surprise...

Robatic dinasours anyone?

I met a friend

And not really sure what was going on here...I would not have wanted to be in that totem pole.

I do believe we were the oldest people there that did not have kids.  I can't say we'll ever go back.

Next up, we did some downtown walking in Buffalo.  Came across the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site.

And found all these really neat churches.

I've never heard of a church for sale, and a gorgeous one at that. 

Buffalo is a wierd city/town.  Lots of rundown sections. Gorgeous buildings that are for sale or have graffiti on them.  It's sad.

For dinner we consulted our fine spikey haired friend Guy Fieri and checked out Grover's.  It used to be Pres. Grover Cleaveland's old hunting lodge. 

This place is tiny but mighty!  When you walk in you have to put your name and number in your party on the chalkboard.  The place was packed at 4:30p. 

The hubs got the Bruiser Burger

ignore his crazy face, the blue cheese was making him wacky.

and I got the bacon cheeseburger,

 but first we shared their famous cheeseburger soup.

Soooo goood! Everything was delish!  I ate about half my burger, it was gigantic! If you are ever in the area check this place out.

We finished the day by walking around the Walden Galleria Mall that is in the same parking lot as our hotel.  And tomorrow we make the trek back home, Peace out Buffalo.

Buffalo Day 2

Mission Niagra Falls.  As we left the hotel, we made a stop at Tim Hortons for coffee and donut holes...

which were pretty tasty...guy at the drive thru...not so much.  I think I will stick to my dunkin'.
With just a 20 minute drive we were in Niagra Falls, and just a little further we made it to our first stop, Devil's Hole State Park.

This was an awesome hike, gorgeous views of the Niagara River. 

We hiked down and then up the 300 Foot Gorge.

The Gorge was quite impressive, I was happy to make this stop and would advise anyone going to the falls to make this stop.  The color of the water was amazing.  So clear and blueish green.

We were just about ready to head back to the car when a kind Ranger told us that just another mile and we would be in Whirlpool State Park.  We did lots of boulder hopping to get to the whirlpool.

Needless to say we were a little sweaty after our almost 7 mile hike.  Totally worth the sore muscles and sunburn we now have.  Best of all both of these parks were FREE.

Next up big ole Niagara.  About 5 minutes down the road was Niagara. 

This next pic is the horseshoe falls and a view of Canada.

It cost $10 to park, yikes!  But really that was all we spent there, oh almost forgot the $4.25 Dippin' Dots.  No, we didn't go on the Maid of the Mist, or the Cave of Winds.  We decided to just enjoy the sights from above the falls.  We have decided we like the American Falls more than the Canadian Falls.  Yes the Horseshoe falls are bigger.  But can you get this close to them?

We had a great day, lots of walking, lots of amazing and Awesome views of lovely good ole' nature.

On our way back to the hotel we made a stop at a Guy Fiere suggestion for dinner, Pizza Junction.  Josh got a stuffed banana pepper, I got a side salad and then we shared a white pizza.  Delish!  After dinner we made our way back to the hotel and took showers and just relaxed a little.  Then we remembered all the cute ice cream stands that we passed on the way here and ventured out for some well deserved ice cream.  We came across Frosty's. 

 I got a Junior Mint Ice Cream and Josh got a PB & J Actic (cross between a milkshake and a blizzard)

It was so yummy!  And that pretty much ended day 2, we were spent.

Buffalo Day 1

Early Tuesday we started our trek for wing and waterfall greatness.  It took about 6 hours to make it from our home to the Wing Capital.
Along the way we came across a few interesting things.

Scenic Look Out on RT 15

Past by where the Little League World Series is played.

A watermelon mountain

Oh and question of the day...has anyone ever been to Quiggleville...or know anyone from there?

Can you believe we saw all this before we even got out of PA?

We got into Buffalo oh around...

After checking into the hotel we took a drive into downtown Buffalo and drove to Lake Erie's Outer Harbor. 

There was a lovely trail there to see the sites.

It was very windy, and there were lots of sailboats out.

Before we checked into the hotel we checked out Duff's Wings and after our walk we had our Anchor Bar wings.  The Mr. was asked to guest post since he is the expert.  Stay posted!

Restaurant.com

Travel Tip #2!
If you haven't checked out Restaurant.com do so now, and sign up for their email list.  while they don't have all restaurants in your area they do have some you might be thinking of chcecking out.  Often times they run promotions where you can get get gift certificates at 80% off their already low cost.  If you hit the site on a regular day you can get $25 gift certificates for $10 or less.  SCORE!
So yes you can search your hometown for deals on this site.  But why not check out the site for your next trip to another town?
Think outside the box peeps!

Just Beachy

Recently the whole family made a trip down to Sea Isle City, NJ.  Dear friends of our family own a beach house right on the bay, how convienent!  I probably would never have stopped in this town if it wasn't for that.  I like it for it's secludedness...You have to cross this big bridge to get to the 'city' and as you top the bridge you get full view of the ocean.  We all celebrated the 4th there and it was probably the first time in years we have spent an entire couple days together.  There was lots of Othello playing...my Mom went undefeated for some time till Adam took charge! 

Josh was a little embarrassed with his loss...he would be the white tiles and my Mom the black.

He's really concentrating...

and Mom's having a good time winning.

the final board, yikes!

I love fireworks, who doesn't? 

And for the past 10 years I have seen them without the Mr. He has worked every 4th.  This year he had off and got to enjoy them with me.

Later in the week Josh made his crowd pleasing nachos and guac

Yum Yum Yum!

I think it's safe to say everyone had a great familly vacation.