Life's a Beach :)

Whenever anyone asks me what I miss about my hometown,I always answer by saying I miss my friends, family and being around water.

Now that I'm down to my final week and a half in Buffalo, I'm trying to fit in as many of these things as I can!


A couple of nights ago, my friend Jen's sister turned 30! We headed to the local beach club for drinks and dancing for the occasion!
Jen and I! :)

They even had a live band playing, so we danced the night away. Even when we were standing RIGHT in front of the sound system and were nearly going deaf. We made accommodations and kept right on dancing! :)Jen, Lauren and I spent the following day at Bennett Beach, our favorite beach in WNY!


After a few hours of laying out and swimming, Jen's boyfriend surprised us by showing up.

With. His. Jetski.
He handed the keys to Jen, and off we went (after a short photo op)!!!



It was SO MUCH FUN!!!!! I think Jen and I spent more time in the air than on the water, and boy did my body pay for that for the next few days. But it was SO much fun! What an awesome surprise! Thanks for the fun, Nick! :)

Riverwalk! :)

Last week, my Mom and I went down to the River walk, a walkway that goes out into the Niagara River (which eventually goes down to Niagara Falls) in Buffalo.

You can't tell, but the current is really strong behind me!
Below is the Peace Bridge. Once you cross you're in Canada (Canada is to the left)!
More Peace Bridge and lots of ducks!

Behind me here is the city of Buffalo!

Mom and I!

Surfing, anyone?!
After our walk, we headed to the Small Boat Harbor for dinner and drinks! :)

Sunset!
Another fun day in Western New York! :)

Roadtrip to.... Albany?

This week, I went with my Mom to Albany.

If you've ever been there, then you know... well... it isn't too exciting. She had to go for work, so while she was at her meetings I was lounging around the hotel at the pool or reading a good book (just finished Perfect Match by Jodi Piccoult, oh my GOSH what an amazing book).

BUT, we did find the time to do some exploring and fun
(and of course some time to have some wine!).

Our second night in Albany, we walked around downtown
and checked out all of the cool buildings.

This was the original capital building:


It was gorgeous!

Here are a couple of views of downtown Albany:

This was a windmill type piece of art, that was fun to stand under.
You felt like you were going to get hit with one of the blades!The building below is called "The Egg" (go figure) and has an amphitheater inside! If you didn't know, my Mom is quite strong. She actually carried it in her hands! :)
View of the entire downtown area:
I almost fell in. For real.


It was a fun trip :) And I can now say that I've been to the capital of New York!

Cedar Point!

It's going to be a long one... so get ready! :)

June 1st was a very, very long day. It began with my moving my entire apartment out, and into my new casa! After moving (4-5 hour process, phew!), I then met up with my good friend Marisa, who drove me to Phoenix to catch the midnight flight out of Phoenix, to Buffalo, NY (where I'm from!). Thanks again, Marisa!

My new place is currently a pile of boxes, and I'm actually looking forward to getting back and unpacking! Unpacking party, anyone? :)


Anyways, a few days after getting home, I went to Cedar Point with one of my best friends from High School, Jen! Cedar Point is a HUGE theme park about 4 1/2 hours from Buffalo (actually, Orchard Park, home of the Bills where I grew up).

On the trip it dawned on me that I had been in 5 states in two weeks: Arizona, Georgia (connection on my way to B-Lo), New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Kind of cool!


Anyways. We have been talking about going to Cedar Point for YEARS, and we finally actually got the chance to go! We went from a Tues-Thursday, with the thought that the park should be pretty quiet (we were right for the most part).

I haven't been to Cedar Point myself in about 8 or 9 years. I used to go with some of my family, Aunt Marcia and Uncle David, The Contos and Sabuda families! (I thought of you all so many times while at the park!) So I was more than ready to go back!

Tuesday, we got to Sandusky, Ohio around 4:00, just in time for a late lunch and a late entry into the park!

The bad news? It was raining! Of course, that didn't slow us down!


But it did slow the park down.


We were only able to get on three rides in five hours. The park kept shutting down rides (there was no thunder or lightening), and it of COURSE always seemed to happen when we were one of the next people to get on.

In line for the Millennium Force, one we actually (eventually) got on that night.

Oh well. At least we tried! We headed back to our hotel at 10:00pm (after waiting for over an hour to get on the Dragster, only to have it shut down at 9:15 for rain) for a good nights sleep. We had a long 2 days ahead of us!

We got up early, and were in the park by 9AM (because we were staying in the hotel, we got in an hour before everyone else). We were EXHAUSTED by 1:00pm. Maybe we're getting too old for this? Nah.

We headed back to the hotel, and took naps. I'm OK with it.


At about 3:15, we were re-energized, and headed right back into the park.

I got to ride the "Top Thrill Dragster" for the first time ever -- the tallest and fastest coaster in the world.

It. Was. Insane.

It shoots you up over 400 feet (STRAIGHT UP), and then straight down, at speeds over 100 MPH. 120 to be exact.
Even scarier? Sometimes the coaster does. not. make. it. over.

You heard me.
Sometimes, it actually gets close to the top, then comes straight back down.
Backwards. It is hard to "not be concerned," let me tell you.

In addition, you haven't seen a bad hair day until after riding on this thing!

We rode the Dragster 6 times in two days. It was AMAZING.

Anyways. Few more pictures from around the park :)


My other favorite ride in the park (Jens, too) was The Maverick.

It is supposed to be like riding on a horse. It also shoots you up a hill (but much smaller than the dragster), then down 95˚. You heard me, not 90˚ but 95˚. I won't say much more, for those of you who will eventually ride it (full of surprises) - I wouldn't want it to be ruined. But it was awesome!

We spent the rest of that night in the park (until 10pm), then headed back to the hotels hot tub.
It felt GREAT (as you can imagine)!

Thursday morning we woke up, headed into the park for about 4-5 hours, and headed home.

SUPER fun trip -- I can't wait to go back in another 10 years! :)