Library #23 Elma Library

We arrived at the Elma Library after a few hours of sledding at Elma Meadows County Park. This was a blast! The hills were separated into 5 and under, 5 to 8 year olds, and then larger hills for everyone else. There was also a special hill for snowboarders. There were plastic toboggans and snowtubes flying everywhere! The girls had a great time. When we needed to warm up, we went inside the lodge and sipped hot chocolate by the huge fireplace.
The library was great. The staff librarians were friendly and proud of their library. We saw a new community room, still fresh with the smell of paint and almost ready for programing to begin in there in a few weeks. The end of the library featured a very old tree living inside a tall skylight type window. We found lots of books to keep us busy over the rest of the holiday vacation and long car rides coming up.

Library #22 Marilla Free Library

On a cold winter's day we visited two libraries: Marilla and Elma (described in our next post). Just down Transit Road to Bullis, Marilla has the feel of a rural community, only minutes from our city. We were happy to arrive at this cozy library, with built in furniture and warm paneling on such a cold day. The friendly staff pointed out that the library began by a couple that had a book club requiring members to purchase a book that would later be lent out, thus beginning the library concept for Marilla over 100 years ago. The library has a placque commemorating its being built during the Depression Era, by the Emergency Relief Agency in 1936.

After our library visit we walked down to the four corners to the very quaint Marilla Country Store. It felt a lot like Viddler's in East Aurora- they had a little bit of everything. There was a small museum upstairs with different antiques from the town.

Then we went sledding at Elma Meadows and visited the Elma Library.

(sorry for the lack of photos, we currently cannot find our camera after this trip!)

Library #21 Lackawanna

The Lacakawanna Public Library is a great library! Opened in 1922, it is the last Carnegie Library approved by Carnegie himself. Inside this beautiful building are several rooms all spread around the second floor. The rooms felt so homey because they each had a fireplace! One room even had a cafe- to enjoy your book with a coffee or hot chocolate! In the basement of the library is the Steel Museum where we found Mike, whose knowledge and enthusiasm for Buffalo's steel history is catchy. He gave us a tour of the small museum and answered all of our quesitons. He told us that the Steel Museum and the Rail Society will combine soon to open a large museum in South Buffalo, possibly as early as this Spring. We learned a lot here!
After the library visit, we headed to the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens to see the pointsettia show. It did not disappoint! It is a great place to ease the chill of a cold snowy day in Buffalo. We strolled through a Panamanian Rain Forrest, the Florida Everglades, hundreds of pointsettias, and beautiful photographs of flowers.
We made Mass at Our Lady of Victory Basillica where MaryGrace likes to (try to) count all the angels. We toured the new Father Baker Museum in the basement of this beautiful structure. The museum details the life of this extraordinary Buffalonian.
Finally we stopped at Daises, a great family restaruant kitty corner to the Bascillica. A great meal and great service. We went home tired and happy!