Shuffled Off / Back From Buffalo

Anne's Long Weekend To Western New York: Food, Folks, and Fun

Food:

1. The Ho-Sta-Geh's Petite Filet Mignon with twice baked potato
2. Angee's Elephant Ears All The Way: Fried thick cut balogna on a roll with sauteed onions, peppers and cheese
3. Traditional Hot Chicken Wings with bleu cheese and celery sticks, Bread and Butter Fresh Corn on the Cob

Folks:

1. My cousins and their friends
2. My cousins and their new kids
3. My aunt and uncle

Fun:

1. Bloody Marys with spicy olives and Cuba cheese curds while cruising on Cuba Lake
2. Watching the sunset over the Enchanted Mountains with a glass of wine on the deck of the Ho-Sta-Geh Restaurant (Indian for "up-on-the-rocks")
3. Jumping off the same boat house I jumped off of 30 years ago again, and again, and again

The Best Line I Heard All Weekend: After a brief encounter with a very local fellow my cousins know, his parting line to me (and another cute broad), "Well, it was nice lookin' atcha..."

The Best Surprise: Realizing that the cottage I spent so many summers in over the years as a kid hasn't changed a bit, making the weekend a bizarre step back in time.

The Second Best Surprise:

Purchasing an economy class rental for $69.00 for three days and walking away from the counter with the keys to this:

For those of you who do not personally drive luxury vehicles and may not be familiar with the stylings of the VOLVO S60 Class, THIS IS WHAT THE VOLVO S60 CLASS STYLES LIKE! I was stylin' and profilin' my way from Buffalo to Olean! Deep navy blue exterior with tan leather interior? What? Sun roof? What, what? CD Player? What what what? All kinds of other cool shit I didn't have time to tool around with? WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT? I could get used to this kind of car, which means only one thing: PLAY MORE LOTTO. You can pass an Amish fella with horse and buggy, an old lady in Chrysler K, a truck haulin' hay: 0-100 in 2 seconds flat.

The Worst Surprise:

Speeding back to the airport to return my sweet ride only to find that my flight was delayed.

And delayed.

And delayed.

And delayed.

And delayed.

Long story short: Yours truly slept in the airport and was kindly awoken by the janitor who asked, "Are you on that flight over there? They're boarding now..." Finally. 5 hours later. That's the kind of buzzkill that can take the shine off of a Volvo S60. A little bit.

Not entirely.