Western New York – Home Again!

Living on the road is great. I get to go home all the time – all the places I call home!

This time I decided to avoid the tolls on the Thruway in New York State and drive toward Buffalo on route 5. It glides along the shore of Lake Erie and through the vineyards. I stopped at one of the wineries, Brix 21,  along the way to pick up a bottle for my sister

Unfortunately, I didn’t taste the wines. I figured that it wouldn’t be wise, towing Flo and all. So, I asked for a recommendation. I have got to get better at describing what I like. I can’t imagine that anyone would have liked the bottle I got. I didn’t like it and neither did Amy. I think we both emptied our glasses on the ground. But, it’s the thought that counts, right?

The winery’s mascot is a pink elephant. Kind of ironic, I think.

On the other side of the parking lot, is one of the million painted Buffaloes that populate the region.

This little store caught my eye as I went though one of the little towns along the route 5. I felt an affinity with it as I am also a last century antique.

I made my way to Darien Lakes State Park, about 25 miles from my sister’s house and got settled in. Unfortunately, they were scheduled to have some work done at the house, so I had to find another place to park this visit. This seemed like a reasonable place. It was a straight shot from the city line. In fact, it was just off Broadway, a road that runs all the way from downtown Buffalo. 

Sattler’s Department Store was famously known for being at 998 Broadway. And I was a mere 30 miles down the street!

Of course, Sattler’s has long since gone out of business. It was founded by 17-year-old John G. Sattler, who opened a one-room shoe store in his mother’s house in this block. The Sattler’s that I am familiar with was at the Boulevard Mall. According to the information I scrounged up on the internet, it sounds like they had about ten stores at their peak. Unfortunately, the chain was bought up by United Department Stores somewhere along the way and finally went out of business for good in 1982.

Thus ends our Buffalo history lesson for this trip.

I was only in Western New York for a few days. I wanted to make sure I saw people. I didn’t even do a good job of taking pictures of the people, but I did get some shots of the food.

Kathy, Dennis and their son John took me out for a fish fry at Hoak’s on the Lake in Hamburg.

There was a lovely view of downtown Buffalo and the windmills from the restaurant.

My brother, Craig, and his mother-in-law, Marilyn, took me out for dinner. Since I was in Buffalo, I had to have a beef-on-weck.

I also met up with Patricia, a fellow-Airstreamer. We met up in a campground in Texas last winter and we were thrilled to find that we both called Buffalo home.

I asked if we could go to a new restaurant – well, at least new to me. She recommended a cool place called “Bread Hive”.

They had a really interesting rack for the bread they had for sale. We were there for a late lunch, so I imagine that they had a larger stock for sale earlier.

I had a beautiful sandwich on a beautiful plate. What a treat!

Patricia is now doing some Airstreaming of her own. She’s heading out west on a long, long trip.

Of course, I also had the ordinary stuff to do. Laundry. I went to Matt’s Lake Effect Laundromat. I had to buy a card to work the machines. It was $1. I can’t believe all the ways people come up with to squeeze a little more money out of you. After I bought the card, I had to load it to pay for the machines. When I was done, I gave the card to the attendant and told her that she could pass it along to someone else who came in without a card.

It was a nice laundromat, though.

I stopped at Trader Joe’s, too. I love their Canadian White Bread, and I have only found it in the Buffalo store. Oddly enough, the Canadian White Bread is made in the U.S.A. They had one of their reusable bags framed and hung in the restroom. An Airstream! I looked through all the bags for sale in the store, but they didn’t have any. My guess is it was a bag from another year.

Craig also had me over for a movie night. We saw Michael Moore’s “Where to Invade Next.” If you haven’t had a chance to see it yet, I highly recommend it. It is a hopeful movie.

I got to hang with my sister, Amy. It was good to see her!

I got to see my nieces, Sarah and Katie. Katie was in the middle of a softball tournament, and I went to a game. She looked good to me, even if the team didn’t win the game I saw.

Sarah is an artist and was getting some crafts ready for a sale. She offered to make me a bracelet and asked me what I wanted it to say.

Well, what else could I say? I am truly livin’ the dream!