Well, it's official. My partner and I both received approval from our respective employers to take Monday 10/31 off as a vacation day, and I just booked a room for two nights at the
Adam's Mark Hotel in Downtown Buffalo! It was my first time using Priceline to book a room, and I was shocked that I was able to book two nights for ~$135
combined when most web sites for Downtown hotels want more than that PER night. My partner is paying to board our dog for nearly that much!
Anyhow, tentatively our plan is to leave our home near Downtown Pittsburgh on early Saturday morning, 10/29, and drive up I-79 to I-90 to I-190 into the area. Since check-in isn't until 3 PM we were going to drive straight to
Niagara Falls first (NY side only, as we don't have passports). We'll be rolling into the area late-morning and will probably look for a quick bite to eat before parking on Goat Island and exploring the views of the falls on foot. Any recommendations on a good quick CHEAP spot for lunch on the NY side of the falls between I-190 and Goat Island? A quick cursory glance via Google Maps shows approximately a half-dozen Indian restaurants (partner doesn't like Indian), a Hard Rock Cafe (we have that in Pittsburgh), and a TGI Friday's (we have that here, too).
How is
Donatello's on Third Street? We're "walkers". I walk 2.5 miles each way to and from work daily, and my partner is a fitness nut. Would it be feasible to park for free on a nearby residential street like Fourth Street, head over to Donatello's for hoagies, and then walk from there down to Goat Island? From Google Street View I don't see Fourth Street marked as permit only, and on-street parking appears to be ample. I've been told Niagara Falls, NY is a "ghetto", but that street doesn't look so bad that we'd have to worry about a vehicle break-in in broad daylight. Google says it is only just over a mile from Fourth Street to the Top of the Falls Restaurant, and being quick walkers this should be a 20-minute walk. If it's only a 20-minute walk, then why do so many people pay to park ON Goat Island? Is the surrounding city THAT dangerous, or do people just not want to park a mile away for free?
In Niagara Falls itself I wanted to do the
Maid of the Mist; however, my partner gets seasick. Does the boat rock you around enough so that those who are prone to seasickness may fall ill? If so, then we'll scrap it. There's also
Cave of the Winds, which was recommended to us by friends. Is that cool? How tight is it? My partner is claustrophobic. If it seems like both Maid of the Mist AND Cave of the Winds are a no-go then is it worth paying to go up on the
observation tower? Is there a
trail where you can walk along the river from the Maid of the Mist area up to
Whirlpool Point? We'd have no interest in the wax museum, aquarium, casino, or outlet stores.
After spending roughly 11 AM-5 PM in Niagara Falls my plan would be to drive us back to Buffalo to check into the Adam's Mark Hotel. From there we'd walk somewhere for dinner. I'm thinking that if the weather is agreeable it might be nice to walk to explore
Canalside. Any good dinner recommendations there? I'd be up for a good burger, and it looks like there's some places over by the arena like
Cobblestone and
Lockhouse Distillery.
We may or may not be up for a quick drink (nightcap) before bed, but we'd probably get that at the bar at the Adam's Mark, as many reviews of the hotel we've seen rave over one of the bartenders there. I also see that
Helium Comedy Club is nearby. Maybe we'll see if there are any shows that evening.
Sunday will be a FULL day in Buffalo, and, to be quite frank, while my partner is more excited to see Niagara Falls I'm much more excited to visit Buffalo! As I said, we're WALKERS. The last time we took a day-trip to Manhattan we walked 26 miles. I walked about the same distance one day when I was in Memphis for work several years ago. As such I don't want anyone to say "You can't walk all the way from Downtown to Elmwood Village" because we are.
Not sure yet if we're going to do breakfast or not on Sunday morning, 10/30. Tentatively I'd like to wake up relatively earlier and set out on foot, heading up Elmwood Avenue all the way to Bidwell Parkway. We are
Starbucks addicts, but I also want us to try out
SPoT Coffee, your local roaster chain. We'll either grab coffee at either company's location in Elmwood Village on Sunday morning and grab the other company's coffee on Monday morning along
West Chippewa Street prior to check-out. In addition to coffee, is anything else a "must-see" along or around Elmwood Avenue and
Elmwood Village? I like architecture and urban planning, so I may be tempted to wander off on a residential side street or two nearby. I also am very interested to see
Soldier's Circle in person as I have a lot of respect for Mr. Olmsted's landscape urban planning work.
I was then thinking we'd go down the Chapin Parkway to Delaware Avenue and follow that back to Downtown Buffalo via
Allentown. Not sure yet if there's anything we want to see/do in Allentown other than getting some wings at the
Anchor Bar. I wanted to take a tour of
Buffalo City Hall. but I'm not sure if we want to wait until noon on Monday hanging around the city. Could you enter the City Hall on your own on a weekend day and putz around a bit? Any other architecturally-significant buildings Downtown to see? I'd like to take us somewhere nice (albeit not fancy enough that a jacket is required for gentlemen) on Sunday night for dinner since we'll both be celebrating our 30th birthdays. Somewhere in Downtown Buffalo would be ideal.
Finally, we want to take a "
scenic route" back home since we both also took Tuesday 11/01 off and don't have to pick up the dog until Tuesday, either. Any suggestions? I was thinking of taking Route 5 along Lake Erie into Erie, PA and then hanging out at Presque Isle a bit before heading down to Pittsburgh. I was also looking at U.S. 219 South to PA 66 to PA 899 to PA 36 to PA 28 back to Pittsburgh. I thought this might be scenic, but I'm also sure this will be PAST peak foliage, so it may be dreary with a lot of the leaves off the trees. Then again we've had a very warm September, so maybe peak foliage will be delayed a bit this year?
I found this map detailing when peak color is expected in PA:
http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/cs/group...r_20032110.pdf
I'm guessing WNY's color will be even earlier since it's colder up there.