Buffalo and London, ON

Last June was quite eventful.  Kevin and I took a trip up to Buffalo, NY to see my co-worker Judy and her love Becca get married.  Then we ventured up to Niagara Falls and into Canada to visit my Uncle Geoff (my dad's brother...my dad passed away when I was 3.5 years old and I hadn't seen Uncle Geoff in 24 years).  It was a fun trip, but also very emotional for me.  Let's recount the fun!

We arrived Friday, June 24...the day of the wedding.  After renting our car and driving into Buffalo, we found our AirBnB and stopped by Starbucks for a treat before getting wedding ready.

The wedding and reception were at the Foundry and everything was so Spicy and fun!

We watched them commit their lives to each other (with lots of happy tears) and then danced the night away!  Such a great night!

Early Saturday morning, we packed up and headed for the Canadian border.  Our first stop was a quick bite at Starbucks before doing the Cave of the Winds.  Called that for good reason...the wind is so strong at the falls, it's incredible!  We had on ponchos, but we still got wet.

Then it was time to drive over the rainbow bridge into Canada....and off to London, on to Uncle Geoff's house.  When we arrived, I recognized his voice immediately, but when I saw him, I was blown away.  He's aged so much since I saw him when I was 9.5 years old.  We visited briefly and then convinced him we needed to get off to lunch, we were starving!  Uncle Geoff is a story teller, so most of the meal was him talking, which was totally fine!

After lunch we drove around the campus where my dad went to school in London and then went to our hotel to check in.  We went back to Uncle Geoff's to visit for a bit before going to dinner and then took him home for the night.

After we left him all I could do was cry.  I think I cried off and on for 24 hours.  He was just so much older and we talked about my dad and it was just sad.

Sunday morning, we woke up and packed up our stuff.  We got Uncle Geoff and went to Tim Hortons for a little breakfast.

Then we ran some errands to get Uncle Geoff new shoes and clothes from the Hudson's Bay company.  We got him some stamps so he could write us and some canned goods and took him back to his place.  Then we needed to hit the road to get back to the states.

Kevin and I stopped for lunch at Subway in London before getting back on the highway.  And of course we needed another Tim Horton's stop! (timbits!)

We made it back to Niagara Falls before dark and parked so we could walk down and see the falls from the Canadian side.  We stayed until dark to see the light show on the falls and then had a quick dinner in the Casino before going back into Buffalo. (Gotta get that poutine when you can!)

When we finally got to our hotel in downtown Buffalo, it was late and we were tired!

Monday morning we spent hiking at Chestnut Ridge Park to see the Eternal Flame Waterfall.  There are natural gases in the earth that are released behind this waterfall and there's always a flame.  Pretty cool!

We left there and went down to Canalside in Buffalo for lunch at Liberty Hound before walking along the water and checking out the sites at Canalside.

For dinner we went to the home of the first Buffalo chicken wing, Anchor Bar.  I've never really had wings and these were delicious!

Then it was time to pack up all of our things (Uncle Geoff gave me LOTS of books to bring home) and crash for an early flight the next morning!

Thanks Judy and Becca for getting married and leading me back to family!