vacation1

The last major vacation I had was back in the summer of 1999 – when I visited my family in the Philippines. It was a real, take-a-plane, leave Cali for a few weeks – type of event. I was thrilled to have the chance to do another big vacation, a few weeks ago…..

On 7.10.03 – I left Oakland Airport and headed for Buffalo, NY – to check out Western NY, buffalo wings, Canada, and toss in a road trip to Chicago….

here’s what I remember:

jet blue is a great airlline for the cheap cheap traveler…..yeah, no rubber chicken or any inflight meal (just inflight snacks). direct tv is a lovely addition to any trip….I read that Southeast Airlines plans on offering free wireless service and cell phone coverage on their flights as well. Hmmm – faced between a choice of mystery meat meals or wireless internet access – I choose technology. For this trip, I knew my tummy would grumble – so I picked a package of cup of noodles. Later in the flight, I asked for two cups of hot water – and voila! I had a hot meal on Jet Blue 🙂

We got into Buffalo International around midnight. Mark and I were still boppin’ around because of the time difference. We stayed at the house his mom was housesitting, at.

Why are we in Buffalo? Well – Mark’s cousin was joining up with Marines – this was the last chance to catch him before he’s shipped out to boot camp. Plus, well, I’ve never been – never met the rest of his family (let’s see, his parents and his cousin Tom and his wife came out here to Cali, in the past few years – i also met his uncle and family down in Riverside County). Plus Buffalo is about an 8 hour road trip away from Northwestern University, in Chicago, IL. So, I figured I could do the meet-the-family bit and check out a journalism grad school in one trip. Plus Mark wanted to take me over to Toronoto, his alma matter – University of Buffalo, and the Niagara Falls. We had 11 days to pack all that in….No prob.

It was a fun, exhausting, at times exasparating (weather, and other extenuating circumstances), yummy, amazing, and fun trip.

Everyone in Western NY told me that it’s typically hot and muggy at this time of the year. Apparently, I brought over the leftover rain from the bay area. I would say it poured for about 50% of the trip. Thanks goodness we had some clear skies for checking out Niagara Falls.

On our first full day in NY – we did Mark’s drive down memory lane. It was neat to see his highschool, elementary school, and the house he grew-up in. The part of NY was covered with barns and farmland. I don’t remember seeing so much front lawn space, in Cali. I think Mark also enjoyed telling my about his pre-California years….pointing out places where he had his prom happenings….the tree he planted on the highschool grounds….hot dogs that whistle when they’re hot and ready to eat.

We also visited Mark’s grandmother (on his Dad’s side). His cousin’s were quite adorable – and fun to play with. I got build lego people, play an old Philippino shell game (I think the version they had was an African one), and take my first pix of Mark’s baby pictures….he was such a cute kid. 🙂 What happened? Just kidding 🙂

On our first night in Western NY – we hit downtown Buffalo and the Chippewa – we checked out an Irish Rock band concert – did a lot of drinking – had yummy yummy hoagies at Jim’s Steakout – did more drinking – took pix with strangers – chowed down on pizza slices – more pictures – more drinking….and eventually, I passed out at some bar.

I think this pix was shot when we were waiting to play darts…yeah like I could play darts in this condition. Outside, we had an interesting conversation with the bouncer about a new law winding it’s way through NY bars – as of 7.24.03 – smoking would be prohibited in all bars.
According to WOKR-TV news – one establishment has already been slapped with a fine for failing to enforce the smoking ban.

and this was just the first day and night….