A Beautiful Destination the Finger Lakes
“I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, “This is what it is to be happy.” — Sylvia Plath
When I told my friends that I was headed to the Finger Lakes for a week, they all went “Hunh! Finger Lakes? What? Where?” and I had to go into a long explanation.
This region has so much to offer, I’m not sure why it is such a well-kept secret on the West Coast.
Just a quick diversion on our way to the Finger Lakes, the town of Lockport and the Eerie Canal. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes.
As we wandered along the canals and watched this tourist boat navigate the locks, I was glad that we were too late for a ride on this one and too early for the next one since it appeared agonizingly slow to sail through the locks. Yet it speeded up the movement of goods tremendously in this part of the world.
The Finger Lakes are a group of eleven long narrow lakes. While there is a scientific explanation of the ice age and how these were created, I love the native American legend. A Great Spirit dearly loved this area of the Americas laid his hands on the earth to bless it. when he lifted his hands, he left behind the imprint of his fingers which filled with water. The eleventh I suppose was a bonus.
We drove 850 miles over 7 days exploring waterfalls, wineries, the lakes, the universities, the noted notables, museums and ate some fabulous food along the way. Oh, and let’s not forget the hiking and walking. I personally beat my personal best total walking streak and managed to climb 500 plus stairs which I also descended making it a total of approximately 1100 stairs.
We met up with Rita’s niece and nephew-in-law over coffee and John asked us about “skinny atlas”, it turns out he was talking about Skaneateles. A lot of the names are Native American in origin and not pronounced as we would, so it was like learning a new language. Since that is a part of wandering in them thar foreign lands I loved the fact that this element was also added to our itinerary.
Seneca Lake is the largest of the lakes and is the deepest lake in the United States. Every few yards along the lake are wineries along what it is known as the Seneca Wine Trail. There is the Cayuga Wine Trail and the Keuka Wine Trail as well. This region produces mostly Rieslings and while we stopped at a few wineries along our way we did not do a lot of active wine tasting.
We did stop at the award-winning Keuka Springs Winery and while I did not participate in wine tasting, I tasted a few towards selecting the perfect glass of wine to enjoy. Sitting on the patio gazing at the beautiful scenery and sipping my wine, I could feel all my cares and the tiredness of the day just slipping away.
Amongst the fabulous scenery, the historical pier, marina and sail boats, Watkins Glen is also considered the home of Grand Prix racing in the region.
The 6.6-mile circuit of the Grand Prix race run on October 2, 1948, runs through the streets of the town and can be done as a self-guided trip. The street signs are race cars and there are murals of race cars on the walls along Franklin Street which is the main street in the town.
We stopped at the Shtayburne Farm for an ice-cream and cheese tasting and to get a closer look at the farms that we had seen in passing as we drove along the roads from place to place.
The farm is home to about 60 cows and family owned. Rita of course went out to interact with these calves who came right out of their tents when we approached looking for treats of which we had none. Not to be deterred this adorable calf decided to lick her jacket to see how it tasted.
Normally flights are four, eight, twelve. I decided to go with a mixed flight of 2 + 2 (ice cream and cheese) but couldn’t make up my mind so the young man serving us threw in the fifth for free. Both the cheese and ice-cream were delicious.
After originally demurring that she was going to pass, Rita actually went back in and got her own flight.
The Taughannock falls, supposedly are as tall as Niagara though not as wide and without the force of water. Doesn’t quite seem so but that’s them facts.
There was a sign along the 2-mile roundtrip walk that stating that we have accomplished in an hour what took nature 1000s of years to create.
Lots and lots of waterfalls and we saw most of them including the one that just flowed right along the road as we drove by. I will certainly try to share the beauty of some of these falls along the way, but I also loved these little bowers of green woodland along the falls that almost seemed like fairy woods.
We certainly couldn’t be so close to Ithaca and not stop to see the Cornell Campus. Tired from two days of hiking, and with rain and drizzle in the air I decided to do my sightseeing around the campus via car instead of walking.
Mark Twain spent a lot of his summers in the Finger Lakes in Elmira and wrote some of his most famous works here. Elmira College is where they relocated his study so it would be more accessible to the public.
Accessible it might be but it’s a well-hidden secret and for a while Rita looked at me like I had lost my marbles when I insisted it was here, but we couldn’t find it. It took me wandering into this chapel with its beautiful stained-glass panels and two young ladies who came to turn these lights off to find the study.
Trip to Elmira College finally marked a success since we located Mark Twain’s study and actually found a docent manning the study willing to talk with us and answer questions.
I would have traded better signage from the parking lot over the live docent, but you take what you can get especially since we did ultimately find the study.
Corning was our home away from home for the 4 nights we were in the Finger Lakes but regardless a visit to the Corning Museum of Glass is definitely a must do when in the region.
Corning downtown is full of interesting shops and restaurants. A soulful cup was an interesting choice for a coffee and bagel and a chance meeting with the owner who travels all over the world in search of the perfect coffee to serve her customers.
The Finger Lakes Region was active in reform and Utopian movements, and we managed to visit a few memorials and museums to the cause, look for this post next week since I’m not quite done with the Finger Lakes yet.