The National Wingfest was held in Dreamtown this weekend, with (naturally) beautiful warm weather throughout. The Food Channel was there. So was the Travel Channel.
I think the coolest part must be the 0.5k “race” with a stoplight half-way where people throw donuts at the contestants. Easy to see why the Fitness Channel wasn’t here, but hey, it’s one weekend a year.
More on the Ira Gross Aerospace Museum relocating from Niagara Falls to Buffalo. It’s now open temporarily in the HSBC Arena.
There is speculation they’ll try to move it into the DL&W Terminal. A long-shot, perhaps, but that would be really cool.
Finally got downtown to the Canal Harbor project (needs a catchy name). It’s kind of nice. We were there late so there were no goings-on and the naval park was closed, but the site itself is nicely done. Kind of reminds me of Old Town Alexandria, but without all the restaurants and shops and stuff that will hopefully be sprouting up.
One thing’s for sure: anyone who doesn’t think the Skyway should come down need only visit the site. That thing is awful. Getting rid of it might make room for the Aviation Museum, which is apparently still looking for a home and it would be a nice fit down there.
Also visited Frank Lloyd Wright’s Graycliff (which is a short drive from downtown) and his Heath House right in the city (where you’ll also find the Darwin Martin house–see them all here).
So much to see in Dreamtown USA.
The Richardson Center Corporation mission is rehabilitation to the highest standards, creating a mixed-use, multi-purpose civic campus of public and private activities.
It certainly is a distinctive place. I thought this was kind of funny:
The former Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane was a state-of-the-art facility when it was built, starting in 1870 and completed almost 20 years later.
A state-of-the-art facility for insane people? Could they really tell the difference? Just sayin’…
This is kind of cool:
It is based on designs from 1901, but the White Electra might just be the future of boating on the Buffalo waterfront.
The 28-foot electric boat is the prototype for a fleet of electric water taxis envisioned for the waterfront…
Wynne said he envisions a water taxi service that would travel from Grand Island to the harbor and help revitalize the waterfront.
How about a ferry service that included other stops along the rivers? A whole new way to get people downtown. Interesting…
The newly restored Erie Canal Harbor officially opened on Wednesday. The politicians were out in full force: Sens. Schumer and Clinton, Gov. Paterson, Mayor Brown, Rep. Higgins. And they had, of course, a beautiful day for it. (See photos here.)
There are still some issues, like parking and restrooms, but things are happening and it’s looking good for Dreamtown.
This Niagara Aerospace Museum is officially moving to Dreamtown.
The board hasn’t chosen a location in Buffalo for the museum but is focusing on the waterfront area, near the Buffalo & Erie County Naval and Military Park
I like it. And this is particularly cool given Buffalo’s aviation history.
In the June 2008 issue of “Men’s Health” they have an article called “Plates of the Union” (didn’t see it online) where they rank the best regional foods.
For their “Best of the Northeast” they rank Buffalo Wings (ugh, please, they’re chicken wings!) from Anchor Bar as #1. Not a huge surprise there; our wings are known ’round the world. (I saw them on a menu in Zimbabwe.)
And at #2? Beef on weck from Schwabl’s in West Seneca (a Dreamtown suburb). Cool. Love the beef on weck.
Dreamtown is much maligned for the lake-effect snow it gets during the winter. Even though we don’t get as much as we used to, and even when we did it was no big deal.
But you never hear about the lake-effect sun (I couldn’t even find a good link for it). When the summer wind is blowing weather west-to-east across the lake (as it most often does), storms tend to break up over the cooler water, often reforming by the time they reach the finger lakes. It happened today (except for the reforming part).
Sitting on the backyard deck facing west, you could look up and see storm clouds to the north and south, and blue sky with patchy clouds overhead. Wish I’d had a video camera or super-wide-angle lens handy. We did eventually get about a 15-minute shower, but that’s fine.
It’s also been very hot in the northeast the last couple days, but not as hot here in Dreamtown thanks to the cool breeze coming off the lake. Gosh, why isn’t the Weather Channel here reporting on that?
This does not surprise me:
Buffalo is No. 1 for JetBlue Airways. The airline announced Wednesday that Buffalo tops its flight counts, with 10 round trips a day — the most in its 53-city network.
A daily average of 2,068 travelers flies from Buffalo to New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, the most on any route in its system.
I fly this route regularly and can tell you the Dreamtown side is way nicer than the JFK side. We’ll see what JetBlue’s new JFK terminal is like in the fall.
Oh, and my last (very recent) trip was delayed by weather both ways. And both times, the weather problem wasn’t in Dreamtown.