For all of my 16 years, I have lived in Washington, D. C., and have experienced and enjoyed much of life in our nation’s capital. I’ve spent Saturday afternoons downtown exploring museums, and Sunday evenings eating dinner by the Potomac River. The Capitol Building and Washington Monument have been familiar sights of my childhood, and I’ve often roamed between the two, using them as landmarks on school field trips and jogs.

At my high school, I have listened to powerful people, including George Stephanopoulis and Christopher Hitchens, who reside in Washington and come to speak to local students.

But none of these experiences can compare to what I have encountered spending summers on the lake in Buffalo.

Ever since I can remember, I have spent either part of a summer,

or a whole summer, at my grandparents’ house on Lake Shore Road in Hamburg. Facing Lake Erie with its front lawn right next to the water, this house holds years of memories of summer relaxation and big adventures with my cousins and neighbors.

In the summer of 2006 my grandmother passed away, and my family took over the house in order to continue to spend our summers on the lake. Through the years I have come to appreciate the little things that make up summer here, small things that year-round residents of the area might never notice but cannot be found in long, hot, sticky Washington summers.

Red Top hot dogs, roadside vegetable stands and Shakespeare in the Park are just a few of the experiences that make summers in Buffalo so special to me and my family.

Every year on the Fourth of July, we spend the morning watching my aunt’s parade on Central Avenue in Hamburg, where she dresses up as Ms. Firecracker and marches down the street with an army of neighborhood kids on bikes behind her. We then proceed to re-enact the battle for independence between Great Britain and America with my other aunt and uncle, who also are our next-door neighbors. At night we cross Lake Shore Road to watch the fireworks on a golf course. For as long as I can remember, July 4 has highlighted my summer in small and personal ways I could never enjoy in such a big city as Washington.

The variety of summer festivals also contributes to the Western New York area’s sense of family and fun. I remember the first time one of my older cousins took me to the Taste of Buffalo, and trying to eat as much as I possibly could so I could experience foods from seemingly everywhere. This year I went to Burgerfest in Hamburg for the first time, and enjoyed a Hamburg- made hamburger. But every year, no festival can compare to going to the Erie County Fair. I’ve never come across anything like it in Washington.

The times I enjoy most, though, are the lazy afternoons on Lake Erie. Spending hours reading and having picnics with my family and playing with the neighbors, I can relax and enjoy the moment in ways I never can in Washington. With the hot dog stand just down the street, festivals around every corner and days spent among neighbors who know and watch out for each other, I feel as if I belong.

I’ll always be a Washington, DC girl. But in summer, there’s no place I would rather be than Buffalo, New York.