I am still experiencing the emotional roller-coaster that was Paula and I's trip to Buffalo. My euphoria is still dancing in Cloud Nine, but I'm also battling the realization that our mid-week two day getaway is over. It was so amazing that I may get this blog out on time for once ... but I doubt it.
I have been planning and anxiously awaiting this trip for a long time. You are probably wondering, "Why did you take two days off of work, to go to Buffalo in the middle of the week?" The answer is simple! The RuPaul's Werq the World Tour was performing at the University of Buffalo and featured some of the show's amazing drag queens including the amazingly gorgeous and obsession-worthy Naomi Smalls (see my previous Pride Night blog post to get the whole picture of my obsession). Also, they were in Toronto on October 17th, but the show sold out and Buffalo was the closest second location and I just HAD to go!
I had bought the tickets, booked the hotel, and organized directions. All Paula had to do was drive. So, it was quite the surprise when Paula called an hour before we were supposed to leave to tell me that her car wouldn't start. I think my anxiety level jumped up a notch when she called me, but I just took a breathe and said, "Okay, I guess we are taking my car". I hurried up my morning routine and headed over to pick up Paula. Paula is the more experienced city driver, so either way, she was still going to drive. Things were made a little bit more complicated when we realized that the driver's seat in my car doesn't move forward enough to accommodate Paula's height difference (she's 5'2"). We both looked at each other and just shrugged, "Oh well!" Off we went!
I think Paula and I were both quite stressed since neither one of us had traveled this far nor crossed the border alone. We had plans to jam out on the ride, but stress levels were high since the traffic was heavy and it was pouring rain. It wasn't ideal driving situations, but we were still able to have a good time. At one point the car started hydroplaning which wasn't fun, but we were able to laugh at our panic afterwards. We also saw a Toyota Tercel and we had a good laugh about "WTF is a Tercel". The trip was filled with little joys and great conversation.
We arrived at the General Brock Parkway border crossing around 1pm. At first, we had thought we had taken the wrong road since there were zero cars around us, but we at the crossing. I guess not many people cross the border at 1pm on a Wednesday. While we waited in the brief line up, I reviewed with Paula everything she would need to say when we got up to speak with border patrol. Since I booked most of the trip, I had to go over with her where exactly we were going, for how long, where we were staying ... you know, all the usual questions. We had it! Then, it was our turn ... and she lost it. To be fair to her, she said that the officer was cute and it totally threw her off. He was super nice and patient with us as we (painful) fumbled through our answers. He let us through and we were in officially in Buffalo!
Once we were in Buffalo, we only had to travel approximately 20 minutes across the border, so we didn't venture too far out of our comfort zone. I hadn't booked anything other than the drag show, so our goal was to get to the hotel and relax before attempting to drive around Buffalo. Did I mention that my car doesn't have the miles conversion? Yeah, so that was unexpectedly stressful. Paula and I just kept repeating the basic conversions to ourselves (40mph = 60km, 50mph = 80km, 60mph = 100km) and, truly, we just followed the traffic. The show was being held at the University of Buffalo Center for the Arts and our hotel was right next to the UB campus. We stayed at the Red Roof Inn. It was still raining and gloomy when we arrived, but we were so happy to have completed our journey. We were a little early, but I was able to check us in.
Lucky for me, my mom taught me to come prepared with all of the possible documents I may need for the trip including the hotel confirmation. As I was checking us in, the clerk stated that they didn't have a booking under my name.
"Excuse me?"
Honestly, I was surprisingly calm during this stage in our journey because I had that confirmation email, so there was no way we wouldn't have a room. It took a couple of minutes, but the clerk figured out that SOMEHOW the booking had been changed to Paula's name as she was listed as a second guest, but the booking had all of my personal information under it. Everyone was incredibly confused by the whole situation, but Paula and I were just happy to be out of the car and the rain, relaxing in our - shockingly - comfortable beds. By the way, we slept like absolute babies that following night!
Since it was already 2pm and neither one of us had eaten lunch, we headed out for some New York pizza and buffalo wings! Paula had heard that New York pizza was best (something to do with the water in the dough) and I really wanted to try buffalo wings since we were in Buffalo after all, so I found a place the offered us both and was only a 2 minute walk from our hotel. It was a small, casual dining restaurant called Zetti's. Their pizza was delicious and definitely didn't disappoint when the single slices we ordered had to be served on two plates due to their sizes. The buffalo wings were also good - even though I don't normally like saucy wings. Also, the server was cute and THAT threw us off AGAIN. Buffalo had some hilarious ... and attractive people. When we were ordering the wings, he kept asking what sauce we wanted on the wings and Paula kept saying "Buffalo sauce!" I kept having to tell her that they were "Buffalo wings" and that the server would need a more specific sauce - I guess "buffalo sauce" is an oxymoron whilst in Buffalo. Is 'buffalo sauce' a Canadian thing? Anyways, it was hilarious! We eventually just ordered hot wings. He probably thought we were crazy and DEFINITELY knew that we weren't from around the area.
While we were eating, one of the employees arrived and asked us,
"Can I fold my pizza boxes at the table next to you guys? This is my pizza box folding station because apparently I'm not done work yet..."
Honestly, it was kind of a 'you had to be there' sort of moment, but we thought it was hilarious. Then, who we could only presume was the owner/manager, shouted from the kitchen that the box-guy was folding the boxes wrong. This was after he had already folded half of them! They looked fine to us, but we felt bad for the box-guy.
After our bellies were full, we went back to the hotel to relax and slowly get ready for the show. We initially intended on walking since it was only about a 15 minute walk into the campus, but we decided against it when we realized (of course) it would be pitch black at 7:30pm. We slowly started getting ready and even had time to try out a new game that I had bought called Unstable Unicorns. I had never played it before, but it sounded interesting, so Paula and I gave it a whirl. It's a card game and was fun, even though I'm sure we were missing a couple of key instructions. At 7:00pm, our anticipation and excitement got the better of us, so we headed to the theater early.
Side note: I forgot my camera AGAIN - which didn't matter because flash photography is always frowned upon in theaters. However, I wish these pictures were better. Also, yes, Paula and I are wearing matching leather jackets. Completely unplanned.
Parking was surprisingly easy and we didn't have to wait too long before they opened the doors to the theater. Paula and I were shocked by the lack of drag. We expected to see more people come in drag or even more self-expressive outfits. We were also surprised by the average audience age, which seemed to be settled in the 40-60 range with an obvious lack of University students attending. It was a tad disappointing because we knew that the audience for the Toronto show would have been a lot more expressive. Oh well, we were here and WE were excited and looking hot! I had fully volumized my hair and was wearing the tightest little black dress I own. I also wore a touch more makeup than I normally do, but I was feeling fierce!
I, honestly, can't even begin to describe how amazing the show was. Our seats were amazing - probably like the 7th row - so we could see everything! The show started off with an opening number that introduced all of the queens. The queens that were there (for RuPaul fans) were Asia O'Hara, Detox, Plastique Tiara, Monet XChange, Aquaria, Evie Oddly, and - of course - Naomi Smalls. Then, each queen came out and performed to 2-3 songs. Each performance was jaw-dropping. I literally think I spent some of the performances with my jaw hanging open because I was so awestruck at what I was witnessing. It was a remarkable show. Unfortunately, Naomi Smalls' first number was overpowered by the smoke machine on our side of the stage, so I completely missed it. I was so disappointed, but I completely loved her second number. She even included some of her signature moves including her back bend.
Highlights of the show:
- Seeing Naomi Smalls
- Asia O'Hara hosting the night and being absolutely amazing and hilarious!
- Every time Monet X Change pulled her middle finger out of her hat during her performance
- Aquaria (somehow) sliding across the stage mid splits - it was a sight to see!
- All of the dancers - they were true MVP's!!
Everything about the show was amazing from the beginning to the very end. At the end of the show, they shot streamers out at the audience and I kept one as a memento from the evening. Whenever I think of the night, it puts a smile on my face. It was one of the best nights ever!
After the show, Paula and I headed back and re-hashed what had just happened. We were both still pumped with adrenaline from the show. I was also slightly depressed that it was over because it was so incredibly amazing in the moment. It was a night we will never forget!
Finally, Paula and I went to bed and had amazing night sleeps filled with happy dreams!
(Follow up post coming in the near future about our Day 2 in Buffalo and our journey home since this post ended up being longer than expected)
