Okay, so I'm from the Mojave Desert in California, both my parents are from upstate New York, and I now live south of Seattle. I've trained the rags and tatters of my Buffalo roots in out of my speech (I now say "water" instead of my childhood "wudder," for example), and I pride myself on being accent-free.
So a couple years ago, my sister, Mom, and I visited Buffalo for my grandmother's 95th birthday, and sister and I were a little giggly (privately) about the Buffalo accent. There is no "ah" sound in Buffalo, did you know that? It's a short "a" as in "apple" instead, and in extreme cases (like my Aunt Mary) it's pretty nasally.
So sister and I went garage-saling in my mom's childhood neighborhood, and I started up a conversation with the 2 ladies conducting a sale. Mid-conversation, one of the ladies asked where I was from. When I told her Washington state, she replied, in broadest Buffalo, "Oh! I thought I heard a touch of Vancouver in your accent!" I mentioned (tactfully) the Buffalo accent, and both seemed amazed that there was such a thing.
Accents...who knew?
--Nikki