After spending $109 to sleep in a Holiday Inn (nothing fancy) outside of Saratoga Springs (hotel costs are on the rise), we set out for Sonia’s college town of Buffalo, NY. Sonia made some calls and lined up a place to change Loafy’s oil, a place to stay and a place for dinner tonight. Loving texting!! It was a lovely drive along a few small highways through some old historic towns in upstate NY before catching the I-90 West to Buffalo. Big, beautiful homes made of stone and brick, intricate trimwork, lovely beveled glass in doors. It’s probably poorly insulated and the heat bills must be outrageous, but the walls could tell some interesting stories.
The I-90 Thruway brought Sonia back to her college days…the service areas she would stop at along her drive to and from school on breaks and summers. Luckily, the weather was cooperative. Roads were bare and dry. At the Rochester Exit (about an hour from Buffalo), it began to snow, sleet and was so windy! The Loaf is like a solid box on wheels—nothing about this van is aerodynamic. We just get used to the 60 mph wobbles in the wind—it can be somewhat soothing if you’re the one sleeping. The driver is nervous with a white knuckle grip on the steering wheel….it kinda sucks actually. Anyway, we pass Rochester and are greeted with pouring down rain…welcome to western NY!! Grey and gloomy skies.. a typical Buffalo day. Atleast it’s 40 degrees and raining rather then 30 degrees and dumping snow.
Buffalo was booming during the turn of the century when the steel industry was at its peak. Buffalo is a blue collar town. Its pretty dismal here, but Sonia has nothing but fond memories here. She was here during one of the best times of her life-college. Buffalo has an excellent arts and entertainment population—ranging from painters to musicians---all those Right-brained artists. There’s usually good local bands playing late into the night. Oh yeah, and Buffalo is a drinking town. So much so, that bars are open until 4am….not necessary but that’s how it is. That means typically you go out at 10 pm—bedtime for us now! The cold, snow, gray days could drive just about anybody to drink copiously in February when the sun hasn’t peeked out since September! The summer, however, is the absolute best. 70-80s, sunny, not too humid and everybody is happy to be out and about….its amazing what a little Vitamin D can do for people!
First stop was Dave’s new shop in Orchard Park just 10 miles south of Buffalo. Loafy needed an oil change and Jason was going to do it himself. The hassles of the Jiffy Lube fiascos on this trip has left Jason jaded and untrusting. This will be great because everyone gets what they want. Dave is a man’s man—he loves his shop aka the man cave. His shop is actually bigger than his house!! His wife, Brittany, and him must’ve had several heated discussions about the size of his shop…nonetheless, we were grateful to be inside changing oil rather than out in the pouring rain and wind.
Here’s the scene…We pull into the driveway. Dave opens the electric garage door from inside and waves us in-- just like the guys on the tarmac guiding in an airplane. Hilarious! He’s so proud. Hugs and smiles all around. He just put his kids down for a nap and we took advantage of that time and got right down to business. Dave was somewhat disappointed that he wasn’t under the van getting greasy and monkeying around…but Sonia got to give him a tour the van instead. 20 minutes later, the oil was changed. Jason suffered a razor blade cut to the tip of his Right index finger when reaching into his toolbag pocket. Blood everywhere….oops! Why was there a razor blade in the bottom of that pocket in the first place---a bad spot. We got Jason’s finger to stop bleeding and bandaged him up. Done…time for a beer. Dave’s little boy , Liam, had woken up and was able to hang out with us in the shop—one day he’ll be tinkering right alongside his Daddy on his little Honda 90 or truck or something like that. What a little cutie…he was chillin in the van too. He loved it—what’s not to love right? Thanks for letting us use your shop Dave.
We headed North into Buffalo to Josh and Julia’s for a bit. Josh and Sonia have been friends for 17 years. It’s going to be great to see them again. We stayed in their beautiful recently remodeled home that night. The beauty of these buffalo houses: hardwood floors, wood trim, arches in doorways, interesting hardware on doors-doorknobs and hinges—not like the look-a-like Home Depot crap you get these days…just beautiful and sooo cheap. A house like that would be close to $300, 000 in Leavenworth…he paid a fraction of that for it in Buffalo!!
A quick stop in at Heather and Mike’s house before Heather left for band practice. We got a tour of another lovely Buffalo home with all the above mentioned aesthetic appeal. Dinner at Sansiero’s—an old time favorite Italian joint of Sonia’s. The menu is on the wall-it’s been the same since the 60s. Stick to just a few items but make them excellent. This Ma and Pop joint looks just exactly the same-the asbestos tile floors were installed by Julia’s Grandfather back in the day!! The red vinyl cushions on the black metal framed chairs…the smell, the open kitchen with huge pots of red sauce and meatballs. House wine served in carafes and 4 oz shot glasses. Ya just gotta love that some things never change. Dinner was just as Sonia remembered it. Pasta Fazoola made with garbanzo beans, navy beans and small macaronis served with roasted hot banana peppers—yummy! The chicken parmesan and eggplant parmesan are 2 other items you can’t go wrong with. We all ate too much and were feeling fat and happy.
We spent the rest of the night hanging out at Josh and Julia’s house—Dave and Josh playing a poorly tuned ukulele and singing songs. We hung out telling the same old hilarious stories we’ve all heard a million times but is just as funny and entertaining as when it happened years ago. A good night spent in good company.
The next morning, Sonia woke up with a pounding cheap red wine headache. 2 Aleve and a hot shower later, she was feeling good enough to take herself on a driving tour of Buffalo to some of her old stomping grounds. Good times were certainly had here in Buffalo. Breakfast at Betty’s in Allentown was excellent—spent in good company with Heather. Heather is expecting her first child to be born in June—very exciting!! Great to visit with Heather, even though is was so short. Next time, we’ll stay longer.
We said our see-you-laters and left ruff and tuff Buff to head West and South to Columbus, OH to Sonia’s Brother’s house for a few days.
Buffalo was a short but sweet visit—good friends…you will all be missed. Thanks for carving out time for us on short notice. Take care all.
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