Graduation in Buffalo

Last weekend, I flew out to Buffalo for Andrea’s graduation from law school.  I arrived in Buffalo late on Thursday night at almost midnight, and we went home and went to sleep.

On Friday morning, we got up and met my mom for breakfast.  We went to the Original Pancake House and had a very filling breakfast.  We then went over to Wegmans to pick up a couple of things.  My mom loved wandering around the store because it’s so unlike anything we have in Denver.  At this point, Andrea’s family called and we went back to her apartment to meet them.  We went and had a quick lunch at McDonalds before heading up to Niagara Falls.  Most of Andrea’s family had not been to the Falls before, so we spent most of the afternoon there.  Some of us, including Andrea and I, went on the Maid of the Mist, while others did the Journey Behind the Falls.  After that, we drove down the Niagara Parkway, stopping at the Niagara Whirlpool, and the Floral Clock, before heading into Niagara-on-the-Lake for dinner.  We had dinner at the Olde Angel Inn, and then Diana, Kyle, Andrea, and I took a carriage ride around Niagara-on-the-Lake before we headed home for the night.

On Saturday morning, my mom and I went back up to Niagara-on-the-Lake while Andrea and her family went shopping in Buffalo.  Mom and I went up to go to the Scottish Loft to get some treats for Ronnie, and then went to Peller Estates so mom could taste and buy some icewine.  After that, we headed back across the border to the graduation.  We ended up going back across at the Rainbow Bridge since the Queenston-Lewiston Bridge was backed up well into Canada. 

At this point, we went and met Andrea and her family, and then headed over to the Center for the Arts at UB for the graduation.  The graduation was a nice ceremony, and the decorations on stage were very well done.  The commencement speaker was Michael Battle, a UB graduate and the current Director of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys.  After the ceremony, we took pictures at the reception and then headed over to Chef’s for Andrea’s graduation dinner.  The dinner was wonderful and was well described as “a heart attack on a plate.”  After dinner, we went home and called it a night.

On Sunday morning, we got up and went over to the hotel to have breakfast with my mom and Andrea’s family.  We then went back and quickly finished packing up Andrea’s apartment into the truck and her Jeep, before mom and I had to head to the airport to fly home.

It was definitely a great weekend, and probably one of my last trips to the Buffalo area.