Shuffling off

Throughout the summer, in every Sunday newspaper, we've seen large PR inserts for tourist attractions in the summertime in Buffalo, NY. Now this is the Buffalo that ended only 2" behind us in the winter snowglobe snow accumulation contest for winter 2016-17!

We have a friend that is a Buffalo native and we accompanied her to Canalside, the summer events in downtown Buffalo and I have to say, "They are wonderful." Additionally, a large part of them are free, parking is also free or reasonable (depending on what you find) and there were people galore enjoying the water activities, the gorgeous gardens, the tours, music and food. I highly recommend it if you live in the area and would like a one-day getaway.

Here's the view from our lunch table, kayaks and a bike pedaling pontoon for one! They added a floating Tiki bar this year, too.

Both a large plastic checkers and chess set can be played on the boardwalk.

The gardens are beautiful and they line 1/2 mile or so of riverside walkways.

Military monuments and older ships are in permanent dock along the river, too. They are so big!

Though many of Buffalo's factories of the 20th century are abandoned, General Mills is still there. They produce Gold Medal flour, Lucky Charms and Cherrios. The smell was evidence of their production.