Buffalo Style Saturday
Warning: This a long post, so pull up a chair and grab a cup of coffee!
We woke up on Saturday morning with big plans for the day. We started off with a heathy breakfast of a massive chocolate eclaire from the Farm Festival in order to give us some energy (i.e. sugar high), then we set off for Buffalo for a day of shopping and an evening of football. No sooner had we paid the toll to get on the thruway when we realized we had forgotten the football tickets! We had to drive for 15 minutes before we could turn around, pay another toll ($.50), and head back to Fredonia, but after we got the tickets and paid the toll yet again, we were back on our way.
Our first stop in Buffalo was a little stip mall where we expect to find a Best Buy, but goy more than we bargained for when all of the stores we were looking for happened to be in the same plaza as well. We were able to hit Bed, Bath and Beyond where we spent most of the time in the Beyond looking for candles and curtain rods. Then we walked down to Pet smart, but they didn't have what we needed, so on went next door to the Best Buy and got some cords for the new (used) data projector we just bought on ebay. All of this convenience was a blessing since didn't have to fight Buffalo traffic all day, but it also meant we were done with our shopping hours ahead of schedule and needed to kill some time. We did what we academics are prone to do and hit up the Barnes and Noble e for a little reading until it was time for dinner.
By time for dinner I mean 3:00 because we were waiting in the parking lot the minute Carrabas opened! For those of you who don't know, Carrabas is a great Italian chain Susie and I visit whenever we are in Florida (or any other major city). We make it a point to sit at the pasta bar when we go alone. The pasta bar runs along the kitchen so you are right in the action and get to watch them cook all the orders coming in. This is also the best place to sit when it is not busy because the cooks sometimes give you free samples of the food they are making. This time we got a sample of the some chicken and ricotta ravioli in a tomato cream sauce. It was fantabulous. We each then ordered pastas, (Rachel's was alfredo with chicken and peas and Susie was in olive oil was dried tomatoes, artichokes, and olives). All in all it was great dinner we were are both so thrilled to be close to a cool resturant chain.
From there we made our way to the stadium, stopping briefly at a Pet Co which had what we were looking for.
It was our first trip to Ralph Wilson Stadium.
The stadium is pretty old and not as big as we expected, but we had amazing seats. I don't know whether it was the fact that is was a pre-season game, or the fact that is was against the Browns, but we got cheap tickets in the second row off the field on the 40 yard line. The gamed ended up being pretty packed, so I was glad we got good seats early.
We were actually so close that when the players all came to the bench and stood around watching the game, we were not able to actually see much of what was happening on the field. After completely missing the first touch down due to the massive men in helmets standing in our way, we found some empty seats a few rows up and took those instead. From there we could see great.
The Bills ended up losing the game and I lost a contact, so we left at the start of the fourth quarter, but not before getting a closer look at the best part of being a Bills fan . . . The Mascott!
He is a giant Blue Buffalo with a wild mane and he rode in on a miniature motorcycle. He then went around the field and climbed up into the stands right next to our row. As you can see, Susie was quite enamored with him!
We woke up on Saturday morning with big plans for the day. We started off with a heathy breakfast of a massive chocolate eclaire from the Farm Festival in order to give us some energy (i.e. sugar high), then we set off for Buffalo for a day of shopping and an evening of football. No sooner had we paid the toll to get on the thruway when we realized we had forgotten the football tickets! We had to drive for 15 minutes before we could turn around, pay another toll ($.50), and head back to Fredonia, but after we got the tickets and paid the toll yet again, we were back on our way.
Our first stop in Buffalo was a little stip mall where we expect to find a Best Buy, but goy more than we bargained for when all of the stores we were looking for happened to be in the same plaza as well. We were able to hit Bed, Bath and Beyond where we spent most of the time in the Beyond looking for candles and curtain rods. Then we walked down to Pet smart, but they didn't have what we needed, so on went next door to the Best Buy and got some cords for the new (used) data projector we just bought on ebay. All of this convenience was a blessing since didn't have to fight Buffalo traffic all day, but it also meant we were done with our shopping hours ahead of schedule and needed to kill some time. We did what we academics are prone to do and hit up the Barnes and Noble e for a little reading until it was time for dinner.
By time for dinner I mean 3:00 because we were waiting in the parking lot the minute Carrabas opened! For those of you who don't know, Carrabas is a great Italian chain Susie and I visit whenever we are in Florida (or any other major city). We make it a point to sit at the pasta bar when we go alone. The pasta bar runs along the kitchen so you are right in the action and get to watch them cook all the orders coming in. This is also the best place to sit when it is not busy because the cooks sometimes give you free samples of the food they are making. This time we got a sample of the some chicken and ricotta ravioli in a tomato cream sauce. It was fantabulous. We each then ordered pastas, (Rachel's was alfredo with chicken and peas and Susie was in olive oil was dried tomatoes, artichokes, and olives). All in all it was great dinner we were are both so thrilled to be close to a cool resturant chain.
From there we made our way to the stadium, stopping briefly at a Pet Co which had what we were looking for.
It was our first trip to Ralph Wilson Stadium.
The stadium is pretty old and not as big as we expected, but we had amazing seats. I don't know whether it was the fact that is was a pre-season game, or the fact that is was against the Browns, but we got cheap tickets in the second row off the field on the 40 yard line. The gamed ended up being pretty packed, so I was glad we got good seats early.
We were actually so close that when the players all came to the bench and stood around watching the game, we were not able to actually see much of what was happening on the field. After completely missing the first touch down due to the massive men in helmets standing in our way, we found some empty seats a few rows up and took those instead. From there we could see great.
The Bills ended up losing the game and I lost a contact, so we left at the start of the fourth quarter, but not before getting a closer look at the best part of being a Bills fan . . . The Mascott!
He is a giant Blue Buffalo with a wild mane and he rode in on a miniature motorcycle. He then went around the field and climbed up into the stands right next to our row. As you can see, Susie was quite enamored with him!
posted by Rachild | 2:20 PM
1 Comments:
I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying your blog. I feel like I'm getting to know Fredonia and western NY right along with you two! Keep it up -- I'll stay tuned.
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