Places to Go (Vacation) - Roadtrip to Canada, Part 2, Buffalo, NY

Buffalo suffers somewhat from a bad reputation - lots of snow, industry, population decline, etc. - but I really liked it here - large enough to entertain, while small enough to not overpower, with lots of pretty old buildings to look at and gorgeous lakefront trails. Plus, everywhere in the area is less than 30 minutes away. Seriously, whenever I had to use googlemaps, the drive time was 15-28 minutes, regardless of where we wanted to go. Sort of amazing.

Upon arrival in Buffalo, we headed over to the Botanic Gardens, which were beautiful and uncrowded. After exploring various ecosystems, I sat on bench in the shade while my kids floated boats, explored a sandbox, and created various imaginary worlds for over an hour. A really wonderful hour. We ran into our friends Jon and Laurie here (also in town for the wedding), you know you have awesome friends when you bump into them at botanic gardens instead of the mall.



Not to brag, but we rocked the scavenger hunt (which caused my kids to become really interested in horticulture, we may need to create something similar for our trips to the US Botanic Gardens).



Um, did I mention we came to Buffalo for a wedding? The whole family gussied ourselves up for the ceremony, which F called "really beautiful, not boring at all." And P thought Alison looked like a princess, a "real one". Then we left the kids with a FANTASTIC babysitter (thanks leo!!) to party it up. I can't explain how happy I am - I love when awesome people marry each other.



Finally a new haircut, Sharon at Elizabeth Arden is a miracle worker.



We almost took a full family picture, but T wouldn't cooperate. Almost.



For our final day in Buffalo we explored the zoo, where I relaxed while the kids dug for dinosaur bones for most of the afternoon. (We also rode a train, a carousel, and saw various animals, especially in the supercool rainforest exhibit).

NEXT STOP - NIAGARA FALLS, CANADA!! (our passports are ready!!)