With the changes in my work life combined with the various reasons that drove me from the autographing hobby (from the in-person version anyway), there had been only two opportunities to go anywhere, both with Mike Oravec for day trips to Fredericksburg Virginia and Washington Pa for two new stadiums.
However, I had planned this trip for months with Cherie as there was a convention scheduled in Indianapolis with Dave Foley (Newsradio and Kids in the Hall) attending.
Dave Foley, along with Tim Daly, is at the top of Cherie's celebrity meet list and I was excited to have the chance to make that happen for her but something that constantly looms in the celebrity convention business reared its head and changed our plans with just two weeks before the trip.
Celebrities usually book their convention appearances months if not years in advance but there is always a clause for the actor/actress that if they are offered a role in a film, television show, or stage show, the celebrity can take the part.
While that sucks for the attendees, I can certainly understand why an actor needs to take the role because one never knows where that could lead but Dave Foley had to drop out and with neither of us having enough interest in the remaining attendees that would be worth the drive to Indianapolis, I didn't really know what or where we would do or go.
The saving grace was of all things YouTube as over the summer I had watched a video on an excellent antique center with multiple buildings and many of the things that I collect and I had remarked on a few occasions that I really needed to go to this place and see what I could find.
So, I was surprised when Cherie mentioned that she'd like to see Niagara Falls (Mike and I had seen the Falls on a visit to Northeast New York a few years back) and added that she picked that so I could hit the antique center as well!
I was pretty happy with that and hoped to do well with items for the collection!
I decided to avoid the Pennsylvania Turnpike and go by Erie, Pa for a figure store named Action Toy Man.
We drove through the remnants of the recent Hurricane/Tropical Storm that had drifted north throughout the day and going into Action Toy Man, I was amazed at the amount of space and figures from various decades!
If you collect anything, three floors of items that have both opened and unopened figures from sports, comics, or any other genre' that generated collectible items are available there.
I actually felt like I didn't see as much in the store as I would have liked!
I purchased one item, the 1976 Mego Muhammad Ali figure for thirty dollars and I plan to take this Ali, which was missing gloves, robe, and headgear all of which I have with my childhood figure, and use the accessories with this Ali as my Ali is missing a hand which was a problem with the Ali figures.
Leaving Erie, we had questioned whether we should try Niagara Falls today as planned or wait until the following day when the weather was expected to clear but we decided to hit the Falls and brave the rain.
It was a good decision as, despite the rain, the views were very good, the other visitors were few, and even though we did get quite wet, we had an excellent visit.
I parked closer to the Falls than I did for my previous visit due to the rainfall and it did make a difference in my enjoyment as I can only imagine the amount of water that would have sunk into our clothing without the parking proximity.
On our way to the Falls, we drove through Buffalo and its Skyway that takes their interstate over the city rather than through it, and on the exit that we needed to connect on our way, we ran near Orchard Park, the home of the Buffalo Bills.
Cherie was kind enough to allow us to move a little out of the way to see the stadium and take some pictures of the exterior.
The Bills are building a new stadium in the next few years, so I was happy to visit the place that so many great players called home in the last fifty years.
I had reserved our hotel through my good friend Derreck and stayed in Batavia, which I had visited on a baseball trip a few years ago in my previous Buffalo/Niagara Falls visit.
Batavia was close enough to everything that we planned to visit yet far enough away to avoid the crowds from the weekend home game for the Bills and our hotel seemed pretty close to new with excellent breakfast and room.
We hadn't eaten all day and with dark approaching, we were looking for anything close and fast, so we chose a Chinese buffet when we wound up in its parking lot after a wrong turn.
The food was fine but the waitress was very rude but an added bonus was a loud concert from the cashier who apparently decided that tonight was her big break in the entertainment industry and made sure she made the best of the opportunity.
After dinner, it was back to the room to recharge for the next day with a warm room waiting to dry us off!
I'll be writing more about the remainder of the trip and a trip I took this weekend over the next few days.
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