The long drive east

I just returned from my first trip to Buffalo, NY. It wasn't as bad as I thought. I found an older city with some great architecture downtown, up and coming trendy areas, and lots of water. Of course, it's not winter yet. And, I imagine it will be a lot like Minnesota... with more snow.

The trip took 15 hours going north from Eau Claire, Wisconsin and hitting Lake Michigan just to the north of Green Bay. From there, it was across the upper peninsula of Michigan, across the awesome Mackinac Bridge, and down to Flint at the bottom edge of Lake Huron where we turned east to go across Canada to Buffalo. With Lake Ontario to the north and Lake Erie to the south, I managed to see 4 of the 5 great lakes in one trip. Having been to Duluth, I can actually say I've seen all 5 great lakes. By the way, remember HOMES (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior) as an easy way to remember the names of all the great lakes. Just a little trivia.

While in Buffalo, I visited Niagara Falls at night and saw the American Falls. I had been to Niagara Falls on a road trip east after graduating from med school and had seen the falls from the Canadian side. Definitely, a much better view. The American side was still impressive, and I was even more amazed at how many people were still arriving to see the falls at 10 p.m.

After 2 days of exploring most of the neighborhoods in Buffalo, and eating twice at a nice little restaurant called Pano's on Elmwood in the slowly gentrifying neighborhood to the south of SUNY Buffalo State College, I found an apartment in Amherst which is a nice suburb located on the northeastern edge of the city. I am sure the cats will enjoy having stairs and multiple levels again.

Over the next three years, I plan to keep a journal of my activities as an emergency medicine resident at the SUNY Buffalo program. I will be working out of Buffalo General Hospital (inner city), Erie County Medical Center (major trauma), and a couple of other surrounding hospitals. For the first time since med school, it will be the longest I've actually stayed in one place.

I hope you stay along with me on this next phase of my training. And, as we answer the question which has been bothering me since I found out I was moving: are there squirrels in Buffalo? Because, honestly, they keep telling me there are. I haven't seen one. Haven't even seen a dead one. I did see an article in one of the local newspapers about flying squirrels, and someone posted a pic, somewhat blurry, about a pair that lives in their backyard tree. I am still skeptical. So, we'll find out together.

I move on August 31st, so until then my postings will be random rants and raves, as well as sundry comments on the difficulties of packing up my life and moving, yet again.