From Chestnut Ridge Park yesterday. It was a beautiful day. The stream was rather low for this point in the season; the deep pools should be about six inches deeper than they are and there should be more water flowing through there. But there was enough for the water skimmers! Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….
From our recent trip to the Lilac Festival in Rochester, NY: And these, from a recent mini-trek down to Buffalo’s Outer Harbor and Wilkeson Pointe: I live in a wonderful area. Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….
April is a strange month around these parts. I’ve maintained for years that of Buffalo-Niagara’s four seasons, spring is the worst. Summers can be too hot and humid, but are mild compared to the South or the Eastern Seaboard; our autumns are spectacular and frankly, our winters are fine. Really. I’ll take the snow. But spring? It’s always an unpleasant March and April, usually stubbornly cold and stubbornly cloudy and just persistently unpleasant until May. This April, though, has been…not bad. Not bad at all. It’s been mixed, certainly! But all in all? Not bad. In baseball terms, May isDown the rabbit hole….
I’ve long been of the belief that as delightful as three of the four seasons in Buffalo Niagara are, the last one is usually just annoying. It might surprise you to learn that the one I don’t like is not winter, but rather, spring. I stand by this! Spring in these parts is not a welcome return to warmth, but rather it is generally a two-month affair of temperatures remaining stubbornly in the mid-to-upper 40s. Spring in Buffalo Niagara is usually a pretty gray affair, as the clouds maintain their stranglehold over the sun until mid-May at the earliest. It takesDown the rabbit hole….
Autumn is turning out to be quite lovely this year. I remember a recent October–maybe last year’s?–where it was just kind of rainy and unpleasant the whole month and then it was November and all the leaves fell at once and it felt like fall never actually happened. Anyhow, here’s a photographic glimpse into how Autumn has been going in my neck of the woods. I hope yours is as lovely! Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….
I may not remember the first place I ate a lot of my favorite foods, but I remember a lot of early favorites. Pizza? The ones I remember are Pizza Caboose in Hillsboro, OR and Rocky Rococo’s in La Crosse, WI. I have no clue at all when or where I tried my first cheeseburger, but it was probably McDonald’s or a chain in the northwest called Burgerville USA. I do, however, recall my first chicken wing (other than as part of a KFC bucket). It was this place: That’s The Roxy, an old dive bar in Olean, NY. TheDown the rabbit hole….
The other day we traveled to Letchworth State Park, a stunning place where the Genesee River flows through a massive, deep canyon and over three cliffs on its way north to Lake Ontario. It was a stunning, perfect day to be in one of the most beautiful places I know. Here’s what Letchworth looks like in spring. Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….
Walking at Hunters Creek Park yesterday. This park is “undeveloped”, meaning it’s a parcel of land in the wilderness and farm country southeast of Buffalo, with no amenities other than a fairly extensive series of trails, some of which are more heavily traveled than others. The access to the park consists of two gravel parking lots, and that’s it. The park follows Hunters Creek (hence the name) as it cuts through an impressive ravine on its way to Buffalo Creek, which in turn becomes the Buffalo River, which empties into Lake Erie just upstream of where it empties itself intoDown the rabbit hole….
Last week, two friends of ours from our college days happened to come to WNY for a visit, taking advantage of a week with their kids away at a mission trip of some sort to come see Niagara Falls and some other stuff in the Buffalo area. That’s why my posting was nonexistent last week. It was really nice to catch up with old friends, and it was also nice to play tour guide and get a look at this region of mine through eyes that had never seen this stuff before. It’s really easy to get wrapped up inDown the rabbit hole….