Watkins Glen

Going to Watkins Glen was completely unplanned. My wife's parents had been there before and made the suggestion. We had been driving all day and were pretty tired from our 5 and 20 road trip. By the time we hit Seneca Falls, it was around 4:30 pm and we still had no plans for the rest of the day. The GPS calculated that it would take us about 1 hour or so to get to Watkins Glen. The park closed around 6 pm, from what I remember. So we had to get down there quickly and start the hike. We really had no idea what it looked like, how hard the hike was and how long it would take to complete the hike. But we made the decision to do it, despite our hesitations. Watkins Glen is a NY State Park, at the bottom of Seneca Lake. The road that takes you down to Watkins Glen is adjacent to the lake. At times it's hard to focus on the road. All I wanted to do was look at the lake. It's a very pretty drive.

So we got down to Watkins Glen around 5:30 or so. You have to pay a fee to do the hike. We were the last group allowed in. Talk about luck! A shuttle takes you to the top of the hill and you hike it down. The hike is absolutely gorgeous. It's a rocky canyon, with water running through the canyon, waterfalls, tunnels, bridges, etc. It took us about 1 hour to hike it down. Make sure you bring a bottle of water and wear some comfortable shoes. Because it was getting dark as we were going down and because the trees cover most of the trail, it got a little chilly, so go prepared. It was totally different from what we were expecting. It is worth the drive. We came out of there tired, but very glad we made the trip down there. We didn't eat anything down there, which is a shame. So I can't give any suggestions on restaurants. I hate driving at night, especially on roads I'm not familiar with, so we decided to just make the drive back to the hotel and eat around there.

5 and 20

Ok. So here to the right you'll see a slideshow. I'll leave it up for this month. It's our trip to upstate NY. I just can't post all the pictures right here (we took way too many), so it's easier to just let the slideshow tell the story.

There's actually quite a lot to see up there. If you enjoy driving around, this is the perfect spot. Here on this map are all the spots we drove to. I put little pins on the spots we went to, and the green route is where we actually drove.

Today I'll just mention the 5 and 20 drive. It's the one in green from Canandaigua and Syracuse. We actually went from Victor to Skaneateles, where the wife lived for a few years when she was a child. The route doesn't really go all the way up to Syracuse, but on the map, that's all I could show. The drive will probably last around an hour and a half, if you don't stop along the way. I would definitely suggest taking 2-3 hours so you can stop and visit the little towns along the road. It's called the 5 and 20 because it keeps switching from Route 5 and Route 20. You cross several small towns on this drive and they're all very nice. Most of them have a small downtown area, usually a Main Street or something similar. Flowers decorate sides of the roads and just make you feel welcome. You'll see several wineries on the side of the road as well. We went at the end of August, so it was about 75 degrees and it was very pleasant. When you go by Geneva, make sure you stop by the Lake Seneca State Park and go for a walk.

If you get down to Skaneateles, right across from the city library there's an awesome ice cream shop. Actually, if I remember correctly there were 2 shops, one next to the other. Grab a scoop and go for a walk up Genessee street. There are quite a few antique and gift shops there.