Our lunch destination on Saturday of the Buffalo Fling was
Silo City; "
a unique post-industrial landscape that holds the world’s largest collection of historical grain elevators." Or as
Visit Buffalo writes, it's just "
your average, everyday historic grain elevator complex that doubles as a music venue, theater backdrop, poetry site, and industrial film location." There are also
apartments in the complex.
That's the restaurant where our lunch was served...
Duende.
Unfortunately the post-lunch restroom line was so long that by the time I was out, the group had already left to tour the greenspaces and
nursery, and to learn about the onsite
ecosystem restoration. I started out in the direction they'd gone...
(hmm, this looked like a scene from
The Walking Dead)
By the time I got about here I lost my desire to try and catch up. Part of it was the fact I was already behind and who knew where they were headed, if I could find them, and what I'd already missed. And part was the warning we'd received the day before about how to dress for the tour to minimize tick exposure (including closed toe shoes... like I packed any closed toe shoes!?). I'll admit I am rather freaked out by ticks, having grown up with them in Eastern Washington and knowing how small and insidious they can be—and ours didn't even carry Lyme disease or trigger Alpha-gal syndrome!
So I turned around and headed back towards the buildings, thinking I'd just spend my time getting a few atmospheric photographs (shout out to
Heather who was with me on turning back).
I wish there had been an alternate (tick-free) tour of the buildings.
Artsy art.
Behind the restaurant there was an outdoor seating area, with a few plants.
I was rather taken with this rebar structure.
And the rebar fence!
We hung out here for awhile, it was a nice spot.
Finally the rest of our group returned and it was time to head to the buses.
There they are! (lower left)
I fell out of line on the way to the buses to get this shot.
Little did I know both
Wyatt Emig and
Becca Matthews aimed their cameras at me while I was photographing, here's Wyatt's photo. It definitely shows the scale of the buildings!
Ticks! No no no. I really like that rebar fence. Where are the apartments? Do they have windows?
ReplyDeleteI didn't see anything that looked like apartments, just read they were there in the description. I hope they have windows!
DeleteWhat an incredible site, but I'd have been torn about turning back too, even with closed-toe shoes. My mom got Lyme disease late in life after a brief visit "back home" to Massachusetts and it affected her health ever after. The ER docs in Long Beach refused to consider she'd been infected, even with her presenting with the classic bulls-eye rash on a lower leg. Shows how under the radar the issue was in SoCal as recent as 2015ish.
ReplyDeleteWow, that's horrible! I don't know of anyone finding a tick on themselves during the Buffalo Fling (unlike the DC event) but there was no way I wanted to deal with that.
DeleteInteresting, even if the buildings were also a little creepy (at least on the exterior) - and that was before I saw the reference to ticks. I hope the restaurant's food was good ;)
ReplyDeleteI loved the buildings, nothing like a little industrial concrete when mixed with green leaves! Interestingly I don't think we ate the restaurant's food, lunch was brought in
DeleteA contrast between the beauty of nature and the ugliness of industrial architecture
ReplyDeleteDefinitely a contrast!
DeleteSometimes having a person in the shot is just the thing to show scale and make the photo excellent.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe the group didn't wait till everyone was done in the restroom. On the other hand, it may have been a blessing in disguise, because of the ticks and all. Better off without that stress.
Chavli