wednesday aug 5

the Barton house

On Wednesday we had a 10:00 am reservation to tour the Darwin Martin House. I made the reservation for the 1 hour tour but should have looked more closely at the website and made it for the in-depth 2 hour tour. Now that more buildings are available for touring the upstairs of the DDM house has been left out of the 1 hour tour. The one hour tour includes the main floor of the DDM house, the pergola, conservatory and carriage house. The two hour also includes the second floor of the DDM house, the Barton house and the Gardener’s Cottage. All tours start in the new Eleanor and Wilson Greatbatch Pavilion.


Darwin D. Martin house

We had a very knowledgeable guide and interesting tour. I took lots of photos of the outside. Photos are not allowed inside.


the Gardener's Cottage

After the tour I drove us around the Delaware Park and surrounding area. The park is surrounded by streets and streets of mansions. This is the area where all the wealthy people lived when Buffalo was booming. It was nearing lunchtime so we drove over to the Larkin Building. I showed them around the building and my office then we headed down to The Chautauqua Café for lunch. After lunch I drove them down Delaware to see more mansions and we had to decide what we wanted to do next….shop on Elmwood, visit the new Burchfield-Penney Art Museum or hit a few wineries on the Niagara Wine Trail. We decided on wine so first off we went to NCCC and visited Bill in his office. I had him print off directions to Freedom Run and Honeymoon Trail which are right near the college. We went to Freedom Run first and tasted. It was fairly packed for a weekday. We had a cute guy pouring our wines. He was flirty so we flirted back and had a lot of fun. Mary Jo bought six bottles and had them shipped home. I bought 6 bottles and took them with me. This is the best place for dry reds out of all the wineries on the trail. Then we went to Honeymoon Trail. I liked a white called Vidal there so bought two bottles.


the stage in Delaware Park


dessert

Our planned evening activity was to attend Julius Caesar at Shakespeare in the Park. Outside venue in Delaware Park. So we left wineries and drove to Wegman’s to pick up things for a picnic. We selected two sandwiches to split amongst the three of us. Turkey with field greens and roasted red peppers on multi-grain baguette and chicken Caesar (appropriate) on herb baguette. Food Should Taste Chips in Sweet potato and in multigrain flavors, fresh peaches, Pinot Gris purchased earlier in the day and Wegman’s ultimate chocolate chip cookies dipped in chocolate.


the play

Mary Jo and Donna got a little cold during the play so I gave up my blanket (they were sitting in chairs) for them and stood during the rest of it. It was a bit hard to follow being outside and not being able to see too well. On the drive home we decided it was too early to go back to the room so drove on to Regal to see what was playing. We decided on 500 Days of Summer because it seemed like a chick flick and not something our husbands would mind missing. But it turned out to be so good. I really liked this movie. Back to the room. A little more wine and more talking then lights out.