Thursday, May 26, 2011

Where to Next? - Wings, Waterfalls & Family


Hey, all!

For those of you who are new to the blog (HHHHHIIIIIII + Thank you!), Where to Next? features where I'll be going next. With the Memorial Day holiday weekend coming up here in the U.S., I'll be heading off to Buffalo, New York! Yes, y'all Buffalo!

I know some of you are like "What?!", but I'm going to find a way to make sure that I learn as much about Buffalo as humanly possible. I can't believe that I'm going to be getting on a plane and flying for an hour, and I'll STILL be in my home state. I know Californians are probably used to that, but we NYers are not. Given the geography of the Tri-State area (i.e., New York City + suburbs, New Jersey and Connecticut), if you even drive an hour you've most likely reached another state. Many (not all, but many) people from New York City do not venture to see the northern parts of New York State ("upstate" as well call it here) much less know much about it. I know before my last job, which required some knowledge of New York State politics and geography, that I was pretty ignorant of the rest of the state. True confession. :(

This will be a new adventure for me. I'll be visiting a friend in Buffalo and her husband, who for the sake of this blog, I'll call The Profs. I'm very excited to see their beautiful home.

What else do I want to see in Buffalo?

Wings, baby!!

Did you think that I would travel all the way to the birthplace of the BUFFALO wing and not try some?

We'll be making a stop by Niagra Falls. I went there last when I was about 4 years old (i.e, I don't remember it), so this will be totally fun for me.


After a visit to the falls, Husband J and I will be driving up to Toronto for a very quick overnight stay. We'll do some wandering, but most importantly we will see some of my family. For those of you who don't know, if you are a member of the English-speaking Caribbean diaspora, you will mostly likely have family in one of several places:

New York City (ding, ding, ding!)
Miami
London, and.....
TORONTO



I've been to Toronto twice, but both times I was very young. I actually have two aunts and several first cousins there. I haven't seen some of them in 20 years. That's right...20 YEARS! That's bad. Part of this has to do with the fact, that this is my father's side of the family. I'm not very close to my dad, so unfortunately that's affected my relationships with his side. It's too bad because I look like my father's family. Apparently, I am related to half of the Black people in London, so if you see someone walking around there that looks like me, it's probably one of my many cousins (I haven't met most of them either). :)

Either way, I am totally excited to get out of New York City, see another part of my state and reconnect with my family for a bit. Also this is Husband J's first time to Canada...EVER! We both get a kick of the fact that I've dragged him half way around the world, and he's never been to our neighbor up north. :)

Does anyone have any recommendations for Buffalo OR Toronto, especially for lunch or breakfast in downtown Toronto? The recs can be for sights to see as well. I'll be spending most of my time right in downtown Toronto, so recs in that area would be great. THANKS!

U.S. residents, are you doing anything fun this upcoming holiday weekend?

4 comments:

melinda said...

I've never been to Toronto, so no suggestions here. But do you have any suggestions for a San Francisco newbie? I'm going for my first time this weekend!

Oneika said...

Yay!! I'm from Toronto!!! Since it's kinda your first time all over again I would say do the CN tower if the weather's good. Definitely walk around downtown and go to Dundas Square. Check out the Esplanade and Kensington Market. For breakfast, go to Fran's at Dundas Square. If you feel like West Indian, my FAVOURITE patties are from Randy's Patties at Eglinton West. So excited you are going to my hometown!

Try Anything Once Terri said...

@melinda - I've only been to SF once, BUT I totally liked doing the touristy things there like the cable cars (I felt like I was experiencing the Rice-a-Roni commercials :)). I did really enjoy walking through Chinatown. We had a great dinner there and I'm struggling to remember the name of the restaurant we went to. We went down to Fisherman's Wharf and got on an independent boat tour that took us out for an hour to see the SF Bay. It went under the Golden Gate Bridge. If you like art, I really liked SF MOMA. It's not too big, so you don't have to worry about spending all day there. I wish I had gone to the Mission & the Haight area, but we didn't get the chance. I also liked walking along Columbus Avenue in the North Beach area. It's very cute and quaint. Also if you have time, I've heard Crissy Field is fun for walking along the water.

You are reminding me that I need to do some SF posts that I haven't gotten to yet. :) Have a great time!

@Oneika - I knew you would come through! :) I will definitely look these up! THANK YOU!

BigAppleNosh said...

How fun :) Are you going to go on the Niagara Falls maid of the mist? :)

 

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