Finger Lakes, NY October 21 – 28. Driver Al Johnson, escort Frances Johnson. Passengers Barbara and Marcy.
We started off the trip with an overnight stop in Lancaster, PA. The highlight of the evening was Al’s scenic drive through the Amish country and eating at Good ‘N Plenty restaurant.
Sunday we drove to Corning, NY to tour the Corning Museum. What a spectacular place to visit. After spending the afternoon touring the museum and the nearby village we drove on to our destination for the next five nights, Geneva, NY. For dinner that night we ate at the best Italian restaurant, Cosentino’s Ristorante which was across the street from the hotel.
Geneva sits at the top of lake Seneca about in the middle of the Finger Lakes Region. From there we did day trips out leaving in the morning around 9 and getting back to the hotel around 8pm.
Monday we toured the Sonnenberg House and Gardens in Canandaigua then ate lunch at Eric’s Office. A quaint local restaurant. From there we took a lovely drive through the countryside stopping in Naples to purchase a local delicacy; grape pie. Dinner that night was at Uncle Joe’s in Geneva,owned by the brother of Cosentino’s.
Tuesday we headed north to Lake Ontario to Sodus Point to visit the Light House Museum. Lunch at another local favorite Captain Jacks then drove over to Chimney Bluffs State Park. The feature of the park are the glacier-created peaks called drumlin. Marcy and hiked through the woods to get to the actual peaks. Beautiful scenery. On the way back we left the wooded trail and walked along a very stony beach along the lake. Dinner that night was at Connie’s Dinner in Waterloo.
Wednesday we stopped at Taughanock Falls on the way to Ithica. Downtown Ithica features the stunning Ithica Fall which runs from downtown Ithica Commons up to Cornell University. Marcy and I hiked all the way to the top seeing the prettiest sets of waterfalls along the way to the grand finale at the top. After the climb we shopped in the Common’s area and ate lunch at The Ithica Ale House. We then drove over to nearby Buttermilk Falls and Lucifer Falls. Buttermilk is the lower and Lucifer the upper. Marcy and I again hiked down to the Lucifer falls on a nicely cemented and staired trail seeing beautiful falls and canyons along the way. We took another route back up to the parking area climbing about 200 stairs in switchback and platform sets back up the mountain. Al then drove us to Newfield to see a neat covered bridge. Dinner at Friendly’s in Geneva.
Thursday we toured Rose Hill Mansion, a lovely Victorian home. We spent the afternoon shopping downtown Geneva eating lunch at the Water St. Cafe. We spent Thursday afternoon getting the truck packed then had dinner again at Cosetino’s. If you are ever in or near Geneva you have to go there for a meal.
We left Geneva at 8am on Friday toward the Hudson Valley and Hudson, NY. Al took the very scenic and lovely route 20 to Albany. We spent the afternoon in Hudson shopping Warren Street. Lunch at a lovely bakery and sandwich shop, the Patissie Lenox. From Hudson we headed for the Pocono’s in PA for the night. Dinner at Twin Rock Diner by the hotel.
We left Saturday morning for home at 7am for home arriving back in Winston around 5:40. It was so early I decided to come on home instead of spending the night and waiting until Sunday arriving in Sparta a little after 7pm.
Great trip. I will post pictures later. If you have not toured the Finger Lakes you must go for the food, scenery, and waterfalls. Yes, it is known for being wine country but there is so much more to see and do. Frances planned a great trip and of course, we had the best driver in the world with Al.