Sunday, September 23, 2018

Tonawanda, NY

The day started out calm on Tuesday, September 18 as we set out for our five hour run to Buffalo.  It was sunny and warm but after a few hours the lake got pretty rolly and the sky clouded up. We were overwhelmed by the thousands of tiny little gnats that surrounded the boat and covered the outside of the flybridge  - and this was in the middle of the lake!  As we approached Buffalo, we could see its impressive skyline.



We perused the area where we would dock if we stayed in the city but decided to push on to stay just outside of the city.  The reviews were more positive about the town of Tonawanda so we chose what turned out to be a great location there on the town dock.



We were just across from a charming restaurant and close to the dockmaster’s office, laundry and restroom facilities.



We spent Wednesday thoroughly cleaning Zendo, inside and out in preparation for Stephanie’s arrival that evening.  Once she arrived we had dinner at that charming restaurant called Prescott’s Provisions and it was the very best restaurant we’ve been to on our entire trip!  

The next day we took an Uber to nearby Niagara Falls.  Although we had all been there before, the falls never cease to impress and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit.  We took the Maid of the Mist boat ride into the falls and even though we donned the rain ponchos, we walked away partially soaked.  Walking around the grounds we had a great view of the falls from all different angles.











We had a very good lunch at a restaurant called Savor which was part of the Niagara Falls Culinary Institute.  

Afterwards, we returned to Zendo to rest and later on we went into Buffalo to start exploring the city.  We had some unique cocktails at Buffalo Proper, a very cool cocktail “lounge” that we had learned about in a New York Times article about Buffalo. 



From there we walked though some of the interesting parts of downtown Buffalo which has a lot of impressive architecture.










 We took an Uber again to a funkier part of town where we had to have Buffalo wings at the Anchor Bar, the birthplace of that “delicacy.”



On Friday we went back into Buffalo to visit two museums, the Burchfield Penney Art Gallery and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery just across the street. We had a delicious lunch there and managed to walk through a good part of that museum to see some great modern art and an exhibit of the works of the sculptor Robert Indiana, famous for his LOVE statues.







From there we rushed over in time for a two hour tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Darwin D. Martin House Complex. This was a very interesting tour of a site with three houses designed by Wright.  The complex includes a range of options from a somewhat modest home to one more opulent and all in his inimitable Prairie style.  Even Stephanie enjoyed her first exposure to this iconic architect. 



That evening we had leftovers from all our previous meals and then went for a walk in our “neighborhood” heading over a bridge to North Tonawanda. Our side was the quieter, more residential side. The other side was livelier with more commercial establishments, live music and ice cream which we treated ourselves to.  This was to be our last night in Tonawanda so we could have the following day to cruise with Stephanie.  She and Georgio have clearly been enjoying their time together!




1 comment:

  1. Wow! What neat photos. It sure looked like a very cool place to explore. Thanks for sharing all that.

    Duane and Diane on m/v Diva Di

    ReplyDelete