What's Halloween without a giant pumpkin, some toasted pumpkin seeds, and a little pumpkin carving? Nothing. For me, I love anything that has to do with pumpkins - and not just around Halloween time - all year round! This year, I've been enjoying going to Dunkin' Donuts and picking up a pumpkin muffin in the morning, or stopping by Tim Horton's and grabbing a pumpkin donut for a snack. Pumpkin products are just out-of-this-world good to me. I remember last year when I went home for Thanksgiving break, when I walked into my house for the first time in months and was searching through all the cabinets for something tasty to eat. I remember being in awe at the number of pumpkin products in my house at that point in time. My mom, dad, and sister had all gone on the pumpkin craze. There were pumpkin waffles, pumpkin spice oatmeal, pumpkin english muffins, and pumpkin flavored coffee all within my house. I too went on the pumpkin craze this past weekend with my friend Preston. We decided that Saturday was a good day to trek over to the Great Pumpkin Farm in Clarence, NY to pick us out two nice pumpkins for carving. But first, we stopped for lunch at Paulter's Drive-In (also in Clarence). In the summertime, this wonderful little diner is a great place to stop for ice cream, but we utilized it for fulfilling our cravings for grilled chicken sandwiches, which were very good but a little bit overpriced to be honest. The diner is closing soon for the winter season; therefore, they didn't have pizza logs, onion rings, or mozzarella sticks available. For our next stop, we made our way to the Great Pumpkin Farm. As we drove by looking for the parking lot, we saw a huge pyramid of pumpkins, a ferris wheel, and could almost smell the delicious cider donuts. We were so excited to get our pumpkins and cider, but once we walked up to the gate, we were hit with a $7 admission, which we quickly refused. We then were faced with the dilemma of where we would get our pumpkins now. Across the street a little ways up there's a little place called Joe's Farm Market, which is where we decided to go. We ended up getting two fairly large pumpkins outside for only $5 each! It was such a steal, and we picked the prime time to go. Inside the market's store, there was a nice selection of corn and bean salsa, peppers, acorn squash, and cider.
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I can't even begin to tell you how excited I was for this day. I'd been wanting to go to Letchworth for such a long time, and this weekend, I finally got to! Anyways, Joey, Emily, and I set out for our day of hiking bright and early (aka 9am). We were all so excited because we knew that it was going to be a gorgeous, 70-degree, mid-October day. Letchworth State Park is in a town called Castile, NY and is about an hour and a half away from Buffalo. We got to Letchworth around at 11am, and one of the first things we did was ask one of the park rangers for directions to the Gorge Trail. We made our way to the St. Helena part of the park, and continued in the direction that (we thought) was the right way. We ended up getting lost about five times when we first got there; nevertheless, it was an adventure. Finally though, after asking many other fellow tourists if they knew where the Gorge Trail was, we approached this older couple who seemed to know anything and everything about Letchworth, and they helped us immensely. The Gorge Trail is absolutely breathtaking. Flat, winding trails through the forest bring you to spectacular views of the canyon around every corner. Back in Massachusetts, we don't have hiking places this cool. Waterfalls and gorges are nonexistent where I'm from, so every time I get to experience a place like Letchworth, I take it all in. I am completely convinced that we picked the absolute best day to go hiking at Letchworth. This is the prime time when the leaves on the trees start changing colors, and you get to see a beautiful display of reds, oranges, yellows, and greens within the foliage (insert heart-eyes emoji here). I felt like I was in a different realm of the Earth at this place - like nothing else in the world mattered besides the views... and taking zillions of cool photos on my iPhone 4s (quality) camera. Honestly, I know I keep saying this, but it's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. I kept thinking about just how peaceful all the animals are who live in the gorge and in the forests in the canyon. It must be such a paradise, since no humans can possibly ever get to them or their land. It gives me hope to see that there are still places in this world where the animals are safe, the plants are healthy, and the nature is 100% pure. We ended up hiking almost 11 miles. It didn't quite feel like that many, but two days later my legs are definitely feeling it. The Gorge Trail is relatively flat, except for a few steep hills and a couple sets of stairs. Now that the week has started, I have the sudden urge to go back to Letchworth immediately. I think it's so beneficial to get away from everything in life sometimes, and to just go to a place like this in order to relax and get everything else out of your mind for a little while. In the words of Ferris Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast, if you don't stop and look around once in a while you could miss it."
Last Sunday, I woke up with the urge to procrastinate my day away (or at least half of it) by watching the Patriots-Bills game. I am finally realizing just how broke I really am, and I'm currently trying to save up for the next fun, big Buffalo-esque adventure. Anyways, I invited myself over to Joey's and plopped myself down in the newest addition to his apartment: the ever-so-comfy Papasan chair. Joey is a die-hard Bills fan, and when I say die-hard I mean every time the Bills score he gets up and dances to the "Bills make me want to shout!" song with absolutely no shame. As for me, I grew up ten minutes from Gillette Stadium - so needless to say, I am a Patriots fan. Our friendship thrives on this Patriots-Bills rivalry, and sometimes things get a little bit heated between Joey and I when we trash-talk each other's teams. It's all in good fun, though... (usually). So we watched the game, as boring and disappointing as it was. It was embarassing to be honest, and I really didn't get the chance to talk any trash because the Patriots were playing so horribly. I mean, they were playing with their third-string rookie quarterback, but damn did it suck to lose to the Buffalo Bills.
If you know me, you know that I love the New England Patriots and Tom Brady probably almost more than life itself. So when they lose, I lose - and it's a severe shot to my ego. However, in my fourth year here in Buffalo for school, I'm used to being the sole Patriots fan in the room. I'm always getting bashed on for loving the Patriots, but I really have no problem with it, and feel like it's almost fun being the outsider. You can take the girl out of Boston, but you can't take the Boston out of the girl! |