June 2: Buffalo, New York

After a brief and pointless dentist appointment, and a supply stop, we headed west yesterday morning. As expected, the drive was rather uneventful – the first rest stop we went to was even called Blandford Rest Plaza. There were many hills and many trees, but we could tell that the landscape started to flaten out the nearer we got to Buffalo.

Buffalo held all sorts of excitement for us – at least in comparison to the drive. It was site of our first experience with couchsurfing. We had spoken to “Jennifer Buffalo” (as we called her) briefly on the phone, after a few emails earlier in the week, and she simply gave us her address and told us the house was open and to make ourselves at home when we arrived.

Luckily, one of her roommates was home when we arrived, and he gave us some suggestions for what to see in the city. But first we took a short walk around the block to stretch our legs and check out the plethora of hair salons in the area. Unfortunately, absolutely nothing was open, as it was already after 6.

It was a struggle to get downtown, as Buffalo signage is a bit unclear, but finally we found the famed “Theatre District.” We only saw one theater. There were many teenage bikers and several empty, or close-to-empty, bars. We may or may not have also been conned out of five dollars. No big deal. Hopefully it goes toward our karma fund.

After seeing everything there is to see in Buffalo, which did not take us long at all, we returned to Jennifer Buffalo’s house and chatted for the rest of the evening with her and her other roommate. While watching TMZ we realized that Emily needs to seriously brush up on her knowledge of celebrity gossip. And Louisa probably needs to read Twilight, since she felt a bit left out of the vampire conversation.

Since we were planning on an early start, we soon headed off to bed, preparing ourselves to brave the lopsided futon that may or may not catapult us out. (Don't worry, we survived the night.)