Buffalo, NY

Eddie Simpson, Eddie Simpson...I have heard soooo many stories about this guy and I was going to finally get to meet him! Found the Darien Lakes State Park which was about 30 miles from Buffalo and, we thought, sported a nice little beach at the lake - hahahaha - not so much!! Well, it was a nice little spot to stay in and we did have a 50amp hook-up which meant we could run both of our air conditioners! Sometimes things just get down to the basics - when it's 90 degrees outside this mama wants her A-C!!

Bill's cousin Katie lives in Buffalo and we had both just met her for the first time,2 years ago, at the Doane Family Reunion. We were excited to see her again and met her for sushi at Seabar (her favorite) and then she took us to the wonderful Chocolate Bar! I had a peanut-butter cup martini and Katie had an orange chocolate martini - Bill was a fuddy duddy and just had a plain 'ol gibson - he ended up being very jealous of our yummy drinks, and then Katie bought us a round of Bailey' shots in chocolate shot cups - YUMMY!

We spent the next day doing laundry and I got a pedicure, and then finally, Eddie was going to come over for a BBQ. It was so cute to see the boys together reminiscing about their high school antics and all the trouble they got in. He and Bill had done a cross country trip together the winter of 1973 and Ed loved telling "his side" of that story, which I think even surprised Bill as he must have blocked most of it out! The following day we found a good spot to sample the city's famous "beef on weck" & wings; then Bill went over to spend the evening with Eddie's family and I crashed early.

Before this trip the only place I had been in New York was New York City. But New York is such a large state and so very different from NYC - this time of year it is incredibly lush and green and with so much undeveloped land, it really surprised me.