Suicide in Buffalo May Not Be Redundant, After All

Tuesday closings have twice recently interfered with my cultural appreciation.  First the FDR Memorial on Roosevelt Island, now Frank Lloyd Wright's Martin House in Buffalo.

When in Buffalo, eat wings.  We lunched on a bucket of 20 at the Anchor Bar, highly recommended by a native friend of Joe's.  BTW, they ship anywhere.

Wanna bet that the hardbitten waitress above purchased her insurance just down the street?

The team indulged my passion for cemeteries with a drive-through at nearby Forest Lawn. About 150,000 souls and several once indigenous critters crowd into a pastoral space about one third the size of Central Park.

Rick James and Millard Fillmore, the 13th President of the United States are among those at rest.  James's epitaph:  I've had it all.  I've done it all. I''ve seen it all.  It's all about love.  GOD IS LOVE.  Or maybe coke?

Fillmore, a Whig elected in 1849, was the last President to be affiliated with neither the Republicans nor the Democrats.  Maybe it's time for a new party.

One husband left no doubt about his priorities.

With so much attention focused on statues commemorating the Confederacy these days, this Union Memorial came as a welcome tribute to the sacrifices born by those Americans who fought and lost their lives for a just cause.

Frank Lloyd Wright, born 150 years ago this past June, wrote the words inscribed on this prime parcel of eternal real estate:  A burial facing the open sky . . . the whole could not fail of noble effect.

It didn't surprise us in the least that the family buried beneath were also major benefactors of the Albright-Knox Gallery, our next stop.

In an effort to popularize a modest collection, the marketing gurus put all their marbles in Casey Riordan's "Shark Girl" basket.  Of course she has her own Twitter account now.

The permanent collection, housed in the new building, traces the evolution of art from Impressionism in eerily empty galleries.

The temporary exhibits in the old building underwhelmed, although Philip Guston probably would have appreciated the prominence given this work, which it shares with only one other.

Decorating a staircase in the style of Sol Lewitt provided a soothing photographic backdrop.

One of Magda's college roommates texted her the name of Buffalo's ritziest residential neighborhood.  Thanks to Zillo, she and Joe determined that they could afford a house there three times bigger than the condo they just bought in South Boston.  It seemed like a good time to remind them of a famous line from A Chorus Line:  "Suicide is redundant in Buffalo."

That may have been true in the 70s, but it isn't now.  After a porch hang, we cancelled our dinner reservations and headed to Food Truck Tuesdays where hundreds of young families gathered for reasonably priced food and live music.

Initially skeptical, Thom quickly sang his praises of Larkin Square, a re-purposed warehouse district.

Maid of the Mist

You haven't been to Niagara Falls until you've gone on the Maid of the Mist boat cruise.  It's beyond touristy--it's sublime!

Elevators inside the viewing platform take you to the dock below.

Slickers are included in the $18.50 admission cost.

But they don't really keep you dry.  Especially not your feet.

Not that it mattered in 85 degree weather.  Still, I wish I'd held on to mine for rainy bicycle trips around Manhattan.  Just the right amount of kitsch!

Wouldn't you know,  I ran out of video storage space on my phone just as we were moving past the magnificent American Falls.  They inspire the kind of adjectives our president uses routinely.

Surround-spray off the Horseshoe Falls, where the boats turn around, soon consumed the incredible views.

People in the yellow slickers are touring the Cave of the Winds.  They practically can reach out and touch the Bridal Veil Falls from the Hurricane Deck.

After the boat ride, you can climb steps that get you even closer to the American Falls but nobody was up for it.  We'd had enough awesomeness for time being.

Niagara Falls

The three falls (from left to right, American, Bridal Veil and Horseshoel) that draw water from one Great Lake (Erie) to another (Ontario) truly are natural wonders.  The visibility was so good we could see their rising spray miles away on the short drive from Buffalo.

A rainbow greeted us.

We could see the boat cruise docks on both sides of the Canadian border from the American viewing platform high above the Niagara River.

Canadian tourists wear red slickers on the Hornblower cruises.

Elmwood Village

Our Buffalo Airbnb was located in Elmwood Village, a neighborhood of old homes and churches now mostly populated by Millennials.

We spent a couple of early mornings and evenings on the front porch watching the three friendly bros upstairs come and go.  The American flag hanging from their deck and the name of their wifi network (Trump 2016) betrayed their political affiliation.  Thom stuck to swinging.

Some Airbnb properties pay more attention to staging than comfort.

Although there wasn't a toaster or a dish towel to be found in the kitchen, let alone a bureau in the bedroom, you could quench your thirst for $25 a bottle.

Fine cuisine is never far away in a Millennial neighborhood.  The appetizers at Vera were so good we couldn't finish our three pizzas.  Or maybe it was that picnic lunch!