If you've
never been to the Queen City, the singular reaction we tend to get is "wow
... I had no
idea your city was so beautiful". The architecture
here is among the finest in a city of our size you
will find
anywhere, and it's worthwhile simply driving around to see the lovely
Victorian homes
along Richmond, Delaware and Elmwood
Avenues.
Anyone with the slightest of interests in early 20th
century influences will not only find the homes of
Frank Lloyd
Wright (the Darwin House, in particular) and the area around Delaware Park
and
Zoo but also the handsome Roycroft campus in East Aurora. The
Roycroft Inn is located about 25
minutes southeast of Buffalo and
houses the finest repository of Elbert Hubbard's efforts anywhere.
Note the Dard Hunter chandeliers and sconces throughout the building,
and the various supporting
structures nearby including
Renaissance Roycroft craftsmen across the street. If you like Mission
style furniture and trappings for your home, East Aurora and the
entire Western New York area is
a treasure trove of antique shops
filled with one-of-a-kind, handsome oak pieces. Last week, I
found Elbert's life insurance policy for he and his wife, signed by
him - for less than $300. (They
subsequently died on board the
Lusitania.)
The live theatre thrives in Buffalo, and not only
places like Shea's. Try the local acting at places like
D'Youville, Irish Classic and others for excellent (if low budget and
similarly low cost) acting. Of
course, Buffalo equals snow and if
you're in the area in the wintertime there's excellent skiing in the
area. Wintertime means football here - heck, the Bills (and Sabres)
are what we love. Be aware
we treat Maple Leaf fans with some
respect but never - never! - Dolphin fans.
Unknown to most people
in the US is that the flip side of those "lake effect" breezes leaves us
with
the most wonderful summers imaginable. This isn't
documented, but I believe we have the largest
percentage of sunny
days during the summer months in the country, with soft breezes off the
lake
that make even hot days manageable. It almost never gets to
100 degrees and rarely to even 90.
Take a walk around Elmwood
Avenue for excellent shopping and dining. End out at the Albright
Knox museum, which houses one of the finest collections of modern art
on the East Coast.If you
are in the area be sure to not overlook
the Burchfield museum right across the street and just a few
short miles from one of our finest restaurants (Olivers).
I've
heard we have two seasons in Buffalo - winter, and festival season. Be
careful in making your
summer plans in Buffalo. There's the Taste
of Buffalo (second largest in the US, held in early July),
the
Allentown Art Festival (simply a must, in early June) and the Erie County
Fair (August, and
very large as well). Pretty much the entire
city heads to these affairs and things like them (Greek
Festival,
Italian Festival) because they ring true to our beliefs of finding
inexpensive ways to enjoy
the maximum amount of sunshine we can.
If you can combine any downtown festival activity with a
baseball
game at Dunn Tire Park - critically acclaimed as one of the finest minor
league venues in
America - you'll have a great time. Bison
baseball shows off our small town feeling.
Parking in the city is
plentiful and (relatively speaking) cheap. You can find outstanding dining
at
nearly all levels of spending. If you're in town on a Friday
and can't find anyone ... we're all in the
local saloon having
the best, beer-battered fish fry (for around $9!) you can imagine. It's a
great,
small-town city.
For other
Destinations, go to www.askaresident.com