Spent last night in the cozy little town of Buffalo, in the wonderful, very historic Occidental Hotel. I was originally tucked away in a cheap, little room at the back of the building, but when the opportunity arose to upgrade, I chose to splurge. I spent the night in this room, named after the famous general Sheridan.
Great decor, both in the room and throughout the rest of the place. Sadly, their restaurant (The Virginian) was closed, but I had a juicy, tasty Buffalo burger in the splendid saloon instead. Apparently their webpage isn't 100% up to date, as the promised 23 bulletholes in the ceiling had been covered up following a redecoration last year. It's still a brilliant room, with friendly staff.
The 4th of July is mainly a family day, so even though it was a Saturday, it was fairly quiet. There was no special event scheduled for Buffalo last night, so many people had gone out to a neighboring town for fireworks and barbecues and whatnot. I whiled the hours away in the saloon, listening to a guy do tons of old country tunes. It was nice enough, but things didn't pick up until I got to talking to a very nice couple from Newcastle, England who'd been coming to the US every year since the early 80s. Both were now retired, with no kids and a solid economy, which allowed them to travel to their hearts' desire as far as their money allowed. They seemed to be having a jolly good time and I can only wish I'll have it that good, both health and moneywise when I reach my early 60s.
Through the Brits I also got to talking to the country player, a nice whitehaired guy called Chris, who was also in his early 60s. He told me he worked at the hotel all summer - performing for tips on the weekends, clerking and doing maintenance and security weekdays. The rest of the year he mostly spent in southern Arizona, playing music and just enjoying a carefree life. He played for over 4 hours straight without so much as a bathroom break, so I figure the 20 bucks I put in the hat was a cheap concert ticket all things considered.
My room:
Outside:
The lobby:
The saloon:
The tiny gift shop:
All Occidental pics here.
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