Buffalo All 84 photos with high-res versions HERE at Flickr. This shot means I am headed north in the middle of winter, in the middle of an extremely cold week, to a bad city, to watch my favorite sports team (on a 4 game losing streak) play. Buffalo, New York. Fly in Saturday morning, fly out Sunday afternoon. As usual, Priceline wins, this time with a room at the Hyatt Regency (which also happens to be the Buffalo Sabres official visiting team hotel). I took my food advice from the HFBoards Sabres forum, hoping and praying that I could trust them. Caution must be taken when trusting that bunch, but they must have decided to go easy on me because their choices were good. Saturday I had a quick lunch at a downtown Jim's Steakout. Basically a buffalo chicken sandwich with bleu cheese dressing. To kill time while waiting for people to arrive in town, I took the bus out to the Albright-Knox gallery near Buffalo State. Albright-Knox is a pretty well known modern art museum, which is really the only type of painting that interests me. Van Gogh, Monet, Gauguin, Warhol, etc. Did I mention it was COLD? So cold that I was freaking out the entire week before leaving about whether I would survive. Turns out I was actually quite comfortable with a lot of winter clothing on. Wind chills were hovering around zero and into the negatives at times I believe. There was a wing in the gallery of optical illusion paintings; the kind of stuff that makes you want to vomit when you stare at it too long. Buffalo State College. Back downtown, it was time to meet up with the gang. A couple Canes fans driving up from Raleigh, a Canes fan and a Sabres fan (D:) from Rochester, and sadly enough even more Sabre fans. The North Carolina four. Next Buffalo food, the beef on weck. Don't really understand this one; if you want to eat enough salt to have heart disease, this is your food. Not too bad, though. The dirty Sabre fan who somehow hoodwinked a Carolina girl into marrying him. And hoodwinked me into spending my money and my time to come to Buffalo. I came to Buffalo expecting a fight, readying myself to end up in jail, the hospital or worse. But it seems all of the bad Buffalo fans actually moved down to Raleigh. Most of the people up here, well, they were actually kind of nice. Back out in the cold, we took the metro, which stopped right outside HSBC Arena. As stupid and drunk as I look in this picture, I have no choice but to post it because it is otherwise a pretty great picture and we didn't take another one there. HSBC Arena opened in 1996 in downtown Buffalo on the shore of Lake Erie. This was the first time I traveled to an away Canes game. The view from our seats at HSBC Arena, which regularly sells out. The Sabres have one of the more passionate fan bases in the NHL. Definitely not as loud a building as the RBC Center, though. A new HD jumbotron was installed last season. Do want. Since Buffalo is so close (literally a matter of yards) to Canada, the Canadian anthem is sung before games in addition to the American one. A panoramic view of HSBC Arena during the Star Spangled Banner. Larger versions as always at Flickr. Carolina entered this game on a 4 game losing streak. They would exit it on a 5 game one. The last time that happened was in the 02-03 season, during Paul Maurice's FIRST tenure as head coach. Who is that I spot down there? Another group of Canes fans spotted. At this point it was just 2-0 Buffalo. Still hope. The smoking slug means it was 3-0. No more hope, although Ray Whitney would at least add a goal in the third. Retired jerseys in the rafters. One of the fun things they allow here is for fans to hang signs and banners, such as this one. A frustrated Carolina bench let me down after my long travels. Final score: Buffalo 3, Carolina 1. Back outside, snow was coming down and it was extremely cold. One last look at HSBC Arena before we go to drink away our troubles. I can only assume this was at the end of the night. This picture was just too stupid not to post. I awoke the next morning (or afternoon) with a day to kill in Buffalo before my flight out in the evening. There was one thing, of course, that just had to be done. Anchor Bar, where the Buffalo wing was invented. Back in town, it was a very peaceful and snowy afternoon. Walking around downtown Buffalo on a Sunday is like being the last man alive after the apocalypse. There isn't a soul to be found anywhere. That said, I found Buffalo to be a better city than it is generally stereotyped to be. There was a marina with a military park on the lake. In the Spring and Summer you can tour some of the boats and a submarine. This ship isn't sailing anywhere in this weather. This was a neat little unexpected stop that I was lucky to stumble upon. There were monuments for all of the US wars. I'm sure this is a much different scene in the Summer. This restaurant definitely has a memorable building. The snow was starting to come down harder and harder. Within an hour of my bus leaving for the airport, it really started to absolutely pour. One thing I missed out on was Tim Horton's, as the downtown location was closed on the weekend. Finally, another sign of life! City Hall is the coolest building in Buffalo. It's one of the largest municipal buildings in the country. There is a nice little theater district downtown. There was actually some life here and on parts of Main Street where the metro runs. Fountain Plaza is frozen over into a public skating rink in Winter. Downtown Buffalo is also home to minor league baseball and the Buffalo Bisons. Cold, wet, and ready to get back to North Carolina where it is warm. Except it isn't warm. And it snowed two days after I got back from Buffalo. That said, despite the weather, despite the loss, it was a blast. I would probably go back again. Return Home Content copyright Jonathan Hawkins