Buffa-hole.

So yeah, Buffalo was a blast! I left at 9:30 am and got home at 2:30 am, and ever hour was worth it! I actually enjoy being in a car, driving around (sometimes aimlessly) so I agree that getting there is half the fun. We (being me, Erik, Mariana, Nichole and her brother Robbie - Chris was going to come but he was too sick!) made it to the border and spent about an hour waiting to actually cross it. The border dude thought Erik was nuts because when he asked him why he rented a car, Erik replied with "I was worried mine would get stolen." Either nuts or a terrorist, but he let us cross anyway. It was 1 pm-ish, so we stopped at Wendy's - it was the first thing we saw and peeing was imperative. Nerds that we are, we compared everything as we ate - cherry coke on tap? am I dreaming? - how much would that cost in Canada? - does the ketchup taste the same? - are these bigger here? - and so on... Shopping at the outlet mall in Niagara was the best - I was ecstatic about the Eddie Bauer outlet and bought two shirts I had seen in a regular store, but were too expensive for my budget. Then it was onto Buffalo, the biggest hole of a city I've ever seen. (Well, Cincinnati was a hole too.) There are so many large cities in the US, that many of them (I'm sure) have been abandoned and left to decay as people move to "nicer" cities, unlike Canada, which only has a few. The buildings were decrepit, the highways empty and the waterfront is virtually uninhabited. I'm sure there are nice areas there, but I didn't actually see them. We shopped at Target (bought some Kettle Corn popcorn and funky flavoured pretzels), Walmart (bought Cherry Coke in cans, vanilla Suave shampoo, and some chocolate), the Walden Galleria Mall (bought a union jack keychain) and finally Borders (bought the long sought after movie Bitter Moon.) We had dinner at the Olive Garden because we all miss it, and the waiter also thought we were crazy. I was envious of Nichole because he actually ID'd her and she's older than me! We drove through Niagara Falls on the way home just to see the pretty lights and the falls at night. Now I'm eager to go back!

Visit the dentist #4 for a filling was pretty easy, because there was only one to do. Now I have one more appointment tomorrow morning - on my birthday :( - and then all this catching up will be over.

P.S. This is my 100th post.