Buffalo

When I drove into Buffalo yesterday morning at 10:30, I was once again mesmerized by the downtown area and the beautiful old houses. My mom is at Millard Filmore Gates Hospital and I have a set route that I take because it's easy and I can get there from memory now. I take Route 33 west form the thruway - to Goodell Ave to Delaware Ave and head north. I've stayed at the Holiday Inn a number of times and feel comfortable there. As I was driving down Delaware Ave to the hospital I fantasized about living in the city of Buffalo. It's big enough to have that city feel, plus it's close to Toronto and close to Niagara Falls. There are so many beautiful buildings, Mansions actually, that have been transformed into offices downstairs - and I kept thinking that if I could live upstairs it would be really cool to live there. Well this morning changed my mind in a hurry. It was COLD!!!!!!!!! LOL - I know I live in Upstate NY - I should expect that. But it was really flippin cold!!!!!!!!!!!! Actually what I learned is that the wind blows off the lakes and it just takes the breath out of you. I walked out of the hospital this afternoon to leave and a gust of wind hit me and I couldn't breath. What a feeling! Plus it snowed last night - so the wind blowing the snow all over blinded me as I walked to the parking garage.

But, that all being said, Buffalo is a beautiful city. They are going through rough economic times - worst than us in Utica at this point. The price of gas is almost .50 cents more per gallon and the prices at the Walgreens next door to the hotel were exorbitant! I keep track of prices and some of the items were $2 to $3 dollars more than at home. Another good thing about Buffalo are the hospitals... Millard Filmore Gates is a huge Neurological specialty hospital. And a funny thing happened last night...my brother called and said that a person we both know was going to be sent to MFG with 2 brain aneurysms. He asked me to call her husband and help him out with directions. I've known this couple forever it seems like. And they have the same last name as my mom, the hospital was a tad confused about two women with the same last name from Utica. But it all worked out well - the lady had her aneurysms repaired last night - one had bled a little, but she can see and she seems to have no mental deficits from the trauma of it all. The aneurysms were behind her eye and one was on her ocular nerve. Praise the Lord that she made it to the hospital and by 3am they had it all fixed! I spoke to her this afternoon and she was doing well. I helped her hubby get to the hospital this morning at 7 this morning because he got lost - thank goodness for my laptop, google maps and the love of reading maps. I'm familiar with my small route, but somehow helped him to get to the hospital.
Enough of my rambling...Buffalo is a beautiful old city and I hope that I can go there in the summer and spend more time seeing it's treasures. But Utica is my home and where my heart is...