It’s time for some adventures!
Emerging from the pandemic, we’re feeling the urge to get out there and explore again.
But the kids — Max, 8, and Miki, 5 — haven’t been on that many trips recently. So we want to start with baby steps and go on a few short jaunts to test things out.
Buffalo, NY turned out to be a great choice for a spring weekend trip.
By American standards, the city with a population of about 277,000 (around 1.25 million in the metro area) is really close to much of the Finger Lakes. It takes less than three hours to get there from Ithaca, and from Rochester it’s just over an hour.
I’d only been to Buffalo a few times, and never with a lot of time to explore.
Once we started doing a little research, it became apparent that our 2.5 days were also hardly going to do the city justice. But we got a taste and will definitely return for another visit.
For example, we never made it to the Explore & More children’s museum; I’d like to go up to the observation deck in City Hall (it was closed); and I want to walk by the Freedom Wall, among many other things. Canalside (which we’d seen a few years ago) is also worth a visit.
Buffalo, NY trip planning
For planning your own trip to Buffalo, I highly recommend taking a look at the official tourism site: visitbuffaloniagara.com
You’ll find loads of information, visual inspiration, itineraries, stories, events, and more. The staff is very friendly when you call or email. They’ll have lots of ideas for things to do in Buffalo with kids and family-friendly hotels in Buffalo.
If you’d like to know more about areas near the water, specifically, check this site: buffalowaterfront.com
For events try: stepoutbuffalo.com
DAY 1
We arrived in Buffalo around noon after an uneventful drive from Ithaca.
I think the kids managed to keep the number of “are we there yet?”s to under 50 — pretty good.
Residence Inn Buffalo Downtown
After years of accumulating Marriott Bonvoy points, we used them to book a couple of nights at a very nice extended-stay hotel close to downtown.
The receptionist was accommodating to our kids’ — very loudly expressed — wish to be on the top floor. And I’m grateful, because the room had a great view of downtown and Lake Erie in the distance.
Pro tip: We usually try to book hotels with a pool, even small ones. It’s something fun to do without leaving the hotel, especially in the evening or on a rainy day.
We also enjoyed having lots of space, with a sitting room, kitchenette, and a large bathroom. It was nice to be able to close the door to the bedroom once the kids went to sleep.
Having breakfast included is also very nice. One less thing to worry about.
Delaware Avenue
From the Residence Inn, it was about a 15-minute walk to our first stop, lunch.
It turned out to be an interesting route along Delaware Avenue, with beautiful buildings and even a mansion or two.
In fact, in the in the late 1800s/early 1900s, the section of road just north of the hotel (in the opposite direction), between North and Bryant Streets, was one of the wealthiest few blocks in the country — aka Millionaires’ Row. It is now an official historic district.
Plus, everything was in bloom! Gorgeous trees covered in delicate white or pink blossoms, shrubs trying hard to keep up, and flowers bursting with color.
Lunch: Ted’s Hot Dogs
Website: tedshotdogs.com
After a morning of only snacks, we wanted lunch to be something we knew for sure the kids would eat.
Hot dogs FTW!
Ted’s Hot Dogs is a Western New York institution.
Its earliest beginnings lie with Greek immigrant Theodore Spiro Liaros, who operated a horse-drawn hot dog cart in Buffalo. In 1927 he started his first stand. Today it’s a small chain of restaurants.
Ted’s claim to fame are, of course, hot dogs — ranging from kid size (and skinless) to footlong. They’re grilled over hardwood charcoal, so they have nice markings and a satisfying snap when you bite into them.
You can also order burgers, chicken sandwiches, sausages, fries, onion rings, and milkshakes.
Max and Miki ignored the kids’ menu in favor of the footlongs. I don’t think they had any idea what they’re getting themselves into — but they still managed to devour them completely. Only the veggie dog felt a little puny in comparison. (And, if I may be so frank — harhar — I would have liked the buns grilled as well.)
Overall, we left happy, and the staff was very friendly.
Walk through downtown
After an appointment downtown, we took a different route back to the hotel.
It led us through the Theater District along Main Street. As the name implies, there you can see plays, movies, shop, and eat out. During the day it wasn’t the liveliest place, but I imagine it would be fun on a weekend night.
We also passed through the artsy Allentown that was much more vibrant. It’s west of Delaware Avenue, centered around Allen Street. Someday, with a little more time, I’d love to explore the boutiques, galleries, restaurants, and nightlife.
The district is also home to the annual Allentown Art Festival during the second weekend of June.
Playground at Buffalo Harbor State Park
After a short rest at the hotel, we wanted to get close to the lake and into the sunshine!
We made the short trip to the Outer Harbor area of Buffalo.
The Outer Harbor consists of more than 200 acres of green space with a variety of parks and trails. It’s a great place for walking, biking, water sports, and simply hanging out or enjoying concerts in the summer.
A new concert venue — a converted abandoned warehouse — will be ready for big events by spring 2024.
We were there for the well-reviewed playground at Buffalo Harbor State Park (thanks, Google maps!). It’s modern, with a comfortable bouncy, rubbery ground and plentiful parking.
On a really sunny day, you’ll want to bring big bottles of sun screen, but there is some shade in two large pavilions with picnic tables and under a few small sun sails.
There are great climbing structures, swings, plus a separate play structure for younger kids. Plenty of seating for adults.
It’s also fun to run around the lush green grass expanses (watch for goose poop) or sit in the Adirondack chairs at the top of a giant grass mound with a panoramic view.
The atmosphere is pretty unique because you get the contrast between the water and green on the one hand and the old industrial structures and big wind turbines in the distance on the other.
Tifft Nature Preserve
Website: tifft.org
We also stopped into the lovely Tifft Nature Preserve, right across the road from the playground.
The 264-acre preserve is only five minutes from downtown and free to visit during daylight hours.
Its restored habitat of marshes, ponds, and woodlands sits on top of a converted landfill.
The preserve has an environmental education center and offers interesting-sounding events and summer camps.
We didn’t have time to take full advantage of the 5 miles of trails and boardwalks, but we got a peek at the wildlife. It’s a great place for birding (designated by the National Audubon Society as an “Important Bird Area”), so I definitely hope to be back to catch a glimpse of green herons and warblers!
Dinner: Takeout
Another bonus of sleeping in an extended-stay hotel is having a proper table with chairs and tableware for our takeout dinner. At this point, it would have been way too much to ask of the kids — or, quite frankly, of any of us — to sit through a restaurant dinner. Plus, we wanted different things anyway.
Friday night = pizza night for the kids, so we got a large pie from Lovejoy Pizzeria on Main St. Very friendly staff. If you like your cheese in a generous, thick layer, this is the place for you. (Turns out, sadly, that’s not our kids’ preference.) I also tried my first-ever char-b-que wing, which was tasty. (It seemed de rigeur to have some type of chicken wings while in Buffalo.)
Our adult dinner was from right up the street at Buffalo Tikka House, which serves halal Indian food. The paneer naan was amazing, beautifully chewy, and I loved my mango chicken. Andrew was also happy with his fish vindaloo.
We finished the day with an hour in the hotel pool.
DAY 2
Niagara Falls
We were really excited to introduce our kids to Niagara Falls for the first time!
The town and falls are only about half an hour from the center of Buffalo.
We just wanted to get our feet wet, so to speak, so we’re saving the full program (Maid of the Mist boat tour, Cave of the Winds etc.) for a dedicated future trip.
Follow this link to read about our day in Niagara Falls.
Hertel Avenue
After the morning’s adventures (we walked into Canada!), we needed the rest of the day to be low key.
We took a rest at the hotel and then made our way to the Hertel Avenue neighborhood. It centers around the east-west road by that name.
Hertel Avenue is a diverse neighborhood with a variety of restaurants, interesting shops, and nightlife. Right in the center is the historic North Park Theatre, a newly restored, 1920s single-screen movie theater.
As we strolled around and checked out different restaurants with sidewalk seating, we noticed many young families. It was pleasantly lively on a Saturday evening, in a relaxed way.
We ate some poutine (fries with brown gravy and cheese curds, a Quebecois dish) at Poutine and Cream (eatpoutine.com). Their “freak shakes” (milkshakes with toppings) looked pretty amazing, maybe a little intimidating, but we already had other plans for dessert.
At Churn Soft Serve & Coffee (churnsoftserve.com) we tried some delicious soft serve ice cream. They use milk from pasture-raised cows and clean label coconuts for the dairy-free version.
Churn is the sister brand of Lloyd, a taco truck that has spawned a couple of restaurants (one right next door, Lloyd Taco Factory). It probably also explains why the ice cream place combines soft serve with churros. They were nice and crunchy, with a soft and creamy interior, and extra good dipped in warm fudge.
Shoshone Park
Now that the kids were sugared up, we let them get out some excess energy at a nearby park. When traveling, we love finding regular playgrounds to hang out with locals and just be in everyday life.
Shoshone Park at the eastern end of Hertel Avenue was the perfect place to spend the rest of our Saturday evening.
The park was abuzz with multiple Little League, basketball, and hockey games. Families were cheering from the sidelines and kids were crawling over the playground structures like ants.
If we hadn’t already had dessert, Lake Effect Ice Cream (lakeeffecticecream.com) right next door would have been our next destination. They make artisan ice cream in such interesting flavors as black sesame, glazed donut, whiskey brown sugar, and gin and juice sherbet. (And yes, vanilla and chocolate.)
And after all this, the kids somehow still had energy for the pool at the hotel.
DAY 3
Buffalo Museum of Science
Website: sciencebuff.org
We regularly go to Ithaca’s Sciencenter, so wanted to make sure to check out the larger Buffalo Museum of Science.
With a Sciencenter membership — or, more generally, an ASTC Passport Program membership — you get free reciprocal access to the general exhibits. (Special exhibits cost extra.)
At the register, ask the friendly staff for their best tips on what to see and scan the QR code so you get a museum map on your phone (very practical!).
We were lucky to catch Reinventing Reality (through June 18, 2023). The touring exhibit explores virtual reality from all angles (technology, creativity, social impact).
And we got to put on Oculus headsets to explore VR landscapes and try our hand at VR games. Super fun!
There’s so much to see in the rest of the museum, you really can’t take it all in during one visit. But that didn’t stop us from trying!
We wandered through halls on outer space, bugs, biodiversity, the body and health, motion, extinction, nutrition, and more.
As an anthropologist, I was naturally biased towards the fascinating collection of artifacts, including a real Egyptian sarcophagus.
Miki was more drawn to the mini play supermarket in the Yum! section. She also recorded ten sessions as a weather announcer.
Two particular highlights impossible to miss are Stanley, an Albertosauraus, and Seymour, a Mastodon.
Little kids may find the SensERIE most interesting. It’s an early childhood play space with an Erie County twist, e.g. with allusions to the Tifft Nature Preserve and the Buffalo skyline.
You can easily spend 3 to 4 hours at the museum.
If you’re considering a visit, note that there’s currently no food sold at the museum, so bring snacks (which you can consume on the second-floor balcony) or have a plan in place for eating elsewhere.
(We ended up making a desperation trip to the closest fast food joint when we realized we were headed towards some major meltdowns. We had brought snacks — but none the kids wanted. 🙄)
In total, the Buffalo Museum of Science is another place we’d love to return to for a closer look.
What we learned
The museum was a nice way to bring our little Buffalo weekend trip to a close, especially on a rainy day.
We left for home satisfied with our adventures. There were lots of kid activities in Buffalo, and we’d only explored a fraction of them.
We also learned a few things along the way.
Because of the pandemic, we’ve done a lot less traveling with the kids than we would have liked in the past few years. We’re still figuring out how to venture out into the world with two kids under 10.
This weekend it became very clear that we should only plan for one “big” activity per day, or else things start to fall apart. Having a conveniently located hotel with a bit of space (and a pool!) is nice as a home base to come back to for a break between outings.
We also need to train the kids to build more walking stamina, but I’m sure that’ll come with time.
And in the end, while the kids like to see new things (though which ones actually impress them is surprisingly unpredictable), they can be happy simply with a nice local playground. And ice cream, always ice cream.
You may also be interested in:
- Our fall camping trip in Fair Haven Beach State Park.
- Have a (kid-free) mini adventure day in Watkins Glen.
Please note: We were very grateful to visit the Buffalo Museum of Science as the museum’s guests. This did not impact our review.
PIN THIS POST FOR LATER:
Ithaca is Fun: Festivals and Events for All Seasons
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