Coming Home to Buffalo: The Town That Shaped Me

So why the trip back to Buffalo? Well, Lynn and I had to go back for a family birthday party.

And, you know, we got in kind of late on our first night and landed around nine o'clock in Buffalo.

So it was dark when we got there and we haven't been there and it's been probably about a year.

And driving from the airport in Buffalo to the town of East Aurora, where we were staying, it was dark and we couldn't find landmarks to really show us where we were.

We had to use maps to get to East Aurora because things have changed so much.

And at night, we couldn't tell where we were.

So it was kind of interesting.

But we stayed out in East Aurora and...

If you've never been to East Aurora, New York, it's very like Norman Rockwell.

The whole town has that postcard, small-town Americana look.

And, you know, a fun thing about East Aurora is it was actually the setting for the Buffalo Bills Christmas Hallmark setting, Buffalo Bills Hallmark Christmas special that was filmed there last year.

But a neat little town.

It's not far out of Orchard Park, New York, where the Bills Stadium is, but a nice little walking town where you can get up in the morning, We took a walk over to the Elm Street Bakery.

You know, it's within walking distance.

That also was used in the filming of the Hallmark Buffalo Bills Christmas story as well.

But with East Aurora, it has that very small-town Buffalo charm.

It's not that far out of Buffalo, like 35 minutes or so, and it's just an amazing little town if you've never been there.

And one of the cool things about the town of East Aurora is it actually has the original rink from the first winter classic episode That was played between the Buffalo Sabres and the Pittsburgh Penguins out at what now is the Highmark Stadium, which is actually gone now and only half a stadium right now.

But that's the original rink.

They have it outdoors there, which is still pretty cool.

They put a roof over it.

And I did play there quite a few times over the years.

Some buddies and I would always rent the rink out on Thanksgiving and have a Thanksgiving skate and our kids would come out.

It would be kind of cool.

But yeah, it's the original rink.