After breakfast the next day (the vitamin container said MON…  although my husband had his upside down, so his said NOW), we went for a walk around the ‘hood, strolling through the Victorian /craftsman/can’t quite identify styles of homes.  We made it over to Elmwood and toured down the south end of the street, identifying the iconic Charlie the Butcher deli (they are supposed to do the best Beef on Weck.) Turns out that it is warm rare roast beef on a kummelweck roll (which has kosher salt, and caraway seeds), and a nice portion of hot horseradish sauce you put on to your own taste.  Tender and delicious, with enough heat to clear my sinuses!  Of course we couldn’t resist the rice pudding – since it was loaded with whip cream and thankfully had no raisins:😊

It was 22 degrees out (so maybe minus 7 in Celsius?) and wasn’t bad – until we had to turn around and face north, where the breeze was enough to make your eyes water and your legs sting!  There were a lot of interesting shops though, including an artist one – but it seems that they were all closed for Monday.  Apparently Mondays aren’t big shopping days here in Buffalo in winter.

One of the big perks of being in the US for a week is being able to order things on Amazon that are either not available to ship to Canada, or are much cheaper when NOT shipped to Canada. 

My husband bought a Pickleball set, which was 2 sizes of nets (on wheels), and a set of 4 balls. 

He was really excited about that, but we were missing out on the pickleball times available in our home town.  Not that we had ever played before.  It seemed like a good idea to look up any indoor pickleball courts around Buffalo.  Ding Ding Ding – Pickleball Island!!!  Randy gave them a call (perks of buying a sim card after we crossed the border) and found out that the beginner 60 minute pickleball times on Mondays and Wednesdays were actually FREE for your first time out, and they taught you how to play!  That sounded fantastic!

Oops, I didn’t bring any shoes.  It is winter, what do I need running shoes for?  Apparently for this.  So, our free pickleball could cost me a hundred bucks for new shoes???  Ummm…  Let’s go for plan B.  So, off we went to Savers (aka Value Village in Canada), where I picked up a pair of jade green Nike shoes that looked pretty much new, for a grand $12.99!  And we had a 20% off coupon.  Score!

Being Buffalo, it was snowing.  And Pickleball starts at 5:30, so = rush hour.  We left early, allowed something like 45 minutes to get there.  But it was fine – so we were arriving and in our court approved shoes by 5:15!  The owner greeted us, and said we might as well start now.  BONUS!  We were able to use their paddles and balls, as part of the deal.  So we were on the court and playing around with trying to keep the ball going back and forth in no time.  By the time the other folks arrived, we looked like pros!  (really – my sporty husband looked like a pro  - I was just along for the ride!)  About half way through they had us playing against another couple.

I was so sweaty, my racket was spinning a bit in my hand!  But it was really fun!  We were invited to stay for the next open session which ran from 6:30 to 9, and join in the other players (the instructor said Randy and I could keep up with the other players just fine – yay), but – Chani needed her dinner and her meds, and we had planned to go home and change into dry clothes, then go out for dinner. TIP - I had signed up to be on the email list for Texas Roadhouse, since they send you a coupon for a free appetizer.  Mmmmm!

So off we went. 

Dinner was great – they do melt in your mouth hot dinner rolls with their signature cinnamon honey butter (which I was able to buy in Walmart whoohooo), we got a free Cactus Blossom, and shared a steak dinner.  Excellent dinner – probably undid all the extra calories we burned off playing pickleball…and we had two boxes of leftovers to bring home with us, since everything is American size.