While Antique World was a bit different than I expected, I still nabbed a few items and would definitely return under different conditions.
We left early to hit Antique World upon its opening but only of its four buildings was open, so we drove for a while to kill some time for the other buildings to open their doors.
So we drove into what was the outskirts of Buffalo and after stopping at a few places to break up the time, I saw a Duff's in the distance.
Duff's is known for their famous wings and they are also known for its rivalry with the Anchor Bar, which originated the Buffalo wing.
Fred Landucci and I had visited the Duff's on a visit to Rochester a few years back and while I had forgotten about them in planning the trip, I was instantly reminded of how delicious the food was at the previous Duff's and asked Cherie if she was hungry.
We planned a small lunch and ordered accordingly as we shared some boneless wings and a beef on week sandwich, the local sandwich of renown.
The food was terrific as I remembered as well as an excellent waitress named Kayla, who was equal to the food.
Cherie remarked how much she enjoyed Duff's and I'll certainly return on a future visit.
After we finished, we drove back to Antique World and I realized that this trip could be good but the place would be even better in warm weather.
One of the larger buildings has multiple storage units and there are several rows of units outside the main buildings that a few folks had opened up but I would imagine that would be perhaps hundreds more available in a summer visit.
In one building, I bought a Christmas present or two and bought Cherie a picture of the Flintstones with their Water Buffalo hats entitled "Let's Go Buffalo"!
After striking out in building two, other than seeing perhaps the most creepy mannequin head that I've ever seen (it was listed as from the 1800s) and buying nothing from the outdoor units, the final stop was the remaining open building (the fourth large building had a sign that stated it was open during the weekdays) and this is more like the antique malls that cater to collectors of who knows what as it had numerous showcases and collectible areas.
I saw several interesting items but I hadn't seen anything that I had to have until late in the visit.
I looked through many cases and saw a few things that I considered until Cherie called over to me that she had found a stuffed Dino from a Days Inn which was from the early 90s.
She then said that she had found a pile of pennants and in that pile was the pennant that I had been looking for and arguably came for - a Buffalo Braves blue version shown above.
I was a little reticent because it was a little more than I wanted to pay and I might have saved a little money buying on eBay.
It did have three small pinholes from where it must have been originally hung and a slight bend that didn't affect the look of the pennant, which was quite bright and vibrant for a pennant of over fifty years of age.
I asked if they would consider working with me on price and I was told that if I paid in cash rather than via credit they would knock twenty percent off, which I agreed to with much thought.
Cherie made me decide when she (she's often my voice of reason on these things) commented "If you are agonizing over the decision, you want it and should just buy it".
So I did and bought one other item along with the pennant.
In one case, there were many items from the Braves and Buffalo Sabres from a gentleman that must have worked at the Buffalo Auditorium as he had an old business card from the Aud inside the case along with a book that he authored about collecting the teams from Buffalo.
I bought a glass from the case with a basketball player shooting with the Braves logo along with an ad from the Braves official radio station, which is always interesting to me on any item of the era.
We ended the day returning to Batavia and stopping at a Walmart for Cherie to pick up a few things for her friends before deciding to stay in for the evening with a light snow beginning to fall.
I had wanted to return to Bourbon and Burgers, a Batavia eatery that Mike Oravec and I had enjoyed on a 2016 visit but considering it was a long day and a Saturday night, we decided to order from a pizza place, and after receiving two recommended choices from the front desk, we chose Ficcarella's.
We ordered a small pizza to split and a chicken finger sandwich.
The pizza was fine but not exceptional, the sandwich was tremendous!
The chicken was breaded but not overly so and the bread was perfectly suited to the chicken- Highly recommended!
It was a nice day hunting for the Braves and spending time with my lovely wife as the snow lightly fluttered in Eastern New York (at a far lesser rate than it would only one week later!), I thought of how lucky I am for all that is wrong with me, I have a lot that is right with the people around me.
I need to remember that more often.
The trip home was fun with a stop straight from "The Office" and a neat find of something that I never knew existed but I'm glad that I found!
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