45.

So this is what 45 feels like. On Saturday I turned 45 and I have to admit that I don’t feel much different than I did before I was 45. I did make a remark to Earl on my birthday, “I’m almost to my halfway point!”. I have decided that my halfway point will be 51. People get excited when someone lives to be 100. I’m going to really excite them and get to 102. It’s just the way it is, baby.

The birthday was relatively low key and quite frankly it was just the way I liked it. Lunch at a favorite diner in Rochester, The Highland Park Diner. We then made our way to the greater Buffalo-Niagara Falls area by staying pretty close to the Lake Ontario shoreline along the way.

We ended up passing through Niagara Falls (no barrels were available) and spending the night in Buffalo.

The weekend then really became about food, because our hotel was smack dab in the middle of “A Taste of Buffalo”. Billing itself as the largest two-day food festival around, apparently I share a birthday with this annual event.

So we tried some food.

Kale salad.

Beef on weck (one of my favorite sandwiches).

Saturday night we went out for another bite to eat and then for a drink. Though we considered it, we did not go to Anderson’s, because after all, Beef on Weck is now the official sandwich of All Things J.P. I do believe that when we start our road trip in a couple of weeks, we will have to stop and pick up a Beef on Weck on our way through the area.

Beef on weck minus one bite! Horseradish for the win!

All in all, a good birthday celebration and an excellent way to start another ride around the sun.