Western New York in January 2007

Never thought keeping my New Years resolutions would be so easy, its only January and I already took my second major trip of the year. This time it was not exactly something I was looking forward to, instead I had to make a traffic court appearance to answer for a ticket I got last August while driving back from Canada. But, as an adventurous person I planned ahead and when life threw lemons at me I made lemonaide.

I decided to fly to Rochester and again Jet Blue was my best choise so I booked it. The court was in Stafford, NY a little spec of a town between Buffalo and Rochester and since they've been getting freezing rain and snow since the winter began I didn't want to take any chances driving my car for 400 miles. Jet Blue was a bargain, I found a SEVENTEEN magazine offer to save $17 bux each way off of already discounted $49 dollar each way fares, and with my Florida vacation credit of $40 bux ended up paying about $44 total with taxes for the trip out of pocket. The only thing that bothered me was parking my car at JFK which would have been prohibitevly expensive so I relied on the good old public transport system and spend only about $22 bux on NJ Transit bus, NYC Subway and the Air-Train. The flight JFK to ROC was incredibly smooth, even with the snow at the destination.

I booked Enterprise at the Greater Rochester International Airport not so much because it was the cheapest but because they had the lowest surcharge for drivers under 25. With my Rutgers Alumni Association card they dropped the surcharge altogether and gave me a 10% discount. The dude at the counter though tried to rip me off by placing me in a Chevy Aveo when in actuality I booked the next step up which was a Dodge Neon or similar. Luckily the next step up there was a Chrysler PT Cruiser, and the one that I got was vanilla color so it was a beaut! I was never fond of these until I got to check one out in person, and the next 24+ hours I spend in it were really fantastic. And it only cost about $45 taxes and fees included.

Upon getting out of the one terminal small airport I went to downtown Rochester to familiarize myself with the city, but with all the Inner Loop, all those I390's and I490's it wasn't so easy. First impressions of the town were somewhat run down and industrialized community, but towards the center of the city there were some neat office buildings and best of all I was able to leech some free WiFi to work on my web site and send out a few last minute e-mails that I couldn't do at JFK because I couldn't authenticate there. Go figure...

Shortly after getting done with all that I set out on the road towards Stafford. The trip was supposed to be 27 miles and just over a half an hour but it took more because of the light snow along the way. I arrived very early anyway and decided to go explore Le Roy, NY the town nextdoor. Did you know Jell-O was invented there? I didn't... They got a whole museum dedicated to it. I guess besides that fact the only other exciting part was signs for Six Flags which must be a big attraction out there, its located about twenty miles out of Le Roy towards Buffalo. But I didn't go that far, instead I went to D&R Depot restaurant which looks really old and very cool. It sits right next to the rail road tracks and on the walls throughout the building are paintings and pictures of what life used to be and how travelers on the locomotives paid that house a visit hundred of years ago. It was nice. I ordered an ostridge burger and some root beer, both tasted like nothing I've ever had before, very authentic.

The court itself was uneventful, I was able to plead my case and got the charge amended to something I could live with. The judge was fair, to the point that since the trooper didn't show up he wanted to adjourn the case until the date he does, but I wasn't up for that because of the long and expensive trip and we worked out a deal.

Shortly after I headed out I90 Westbound towards Buffalo and ultimately Niagara Falls. My goal was to go to Niagara Falls, Ontario and dine at the Skylon, the bubble in the sky high above the falls with the rotating restaurant in it. Going across the border was easy although I don't think the Canadian officer took me seriously when I told him I'm going to Canada for diner. Neither did the US border agent who kept on asking repeatedly what am I hauling from Canada in my PT Cruiser? The diner itself was expensive! I was a little price shocked to see anything on the menu above $45 dollars, I mean its in Canadian dollars but still... damn! I only had a Lobster soup and Ceasar Salad but the bill came out to $50 anyway... might as well had ordered stake.

I didn't bring my camera so I didn't get any shots of the trip, but unlike my Key West adventure if I were to take pictures all I'd see is snowflakes in front of the car, because the storm only worstened on my way back to Rochester. I didn't book a hotel room as I was not planning to stay too long, in fact I was going to go on standby with the first flight out. And its exactly what I did but not until I tried a Rochester tradition: a garbage plate from Mark's Texas Hots. The dish was a surprise, I could swear I made something this bad myself on one of my hungry hungry hippo fits where I spend a few minutes throwing anything I could find on a plate and eating it in a rush. The dish consisted of some macaroni salad, a cheeseburger, a burned hot dog and some hot sauce all on one plate. At midnight it was delicious.

From there I went back to downtown Rochester, spend some more time Online checking e-mail and working on my web sites and then headed to fill up the car for the first time, all that driving around and it only took one fill up $33 bux for about 330 miles and gas was rather more expensive in Western New York.

I got on the standby flight out back to JFK, and already felt pretty tired because of being up for so long. Before we took off they de-iced the plane which I've never experienced before but was always curious how its done, now I know. Then hopped on the subway, switched to a bus at the Port Authority and was home by eleven. It was a productive trip, I hope I never have to do it again!


Links:

Jet Blue: www.jetblue.com
Enterprise: www.enterprise.com
Skylon Tower: www.skylon.com