Sister Trip to the Finger Lakes Region- Keuka Lake & Hammondsport, NY

Sister Trip to the Finger Lakes Region- Keuka Lake & Hammondsport, NY

July 1-4, 2009

My little sister Megan and I had wanted to vacation at Keuka Lake in Hammondsport, New York for years. She had spent many summers at Keuka Lake as a nanny to a family with a summer home on the lake. Even after they sold their cottage, she still traveled to Hammondsport for summer vacations. Although Megan and my middle sister, Joanna, had vacationed at Keuka Lake, I’d only spent a day there and was looking forward to experiencing the Lake, the town of Hammondsport and the surrounding Finger Lakes Region on a long holiday weekend.

Day 1- Watkins Glen State Park

From Akron, Ohio the drive to Hammondsport is only about 5.5 hours. We listened to CDs of movie soundtracks, stopped at scenic overlooks and talked about our upcoming adventures as we drove Interstate 77 North to I-271N to I-90E to I-86E to New York Route 54N into Hammondsport, New York, where we’d be staying. But we’d gotten on the road early so our first stop was Watkins Glen State Park, just east of Hammondsport.

The little town of Watkins Glen, on the south end of Seneca Lake, is quite quaint with galleries, antique shops, book stores and other small town storefronts. We were amazed to find the Watkins Glen State Park ($7.00/car) right in the middle of town. It rained our entire trip but when we arrived around 2:00pm the showers had stopped and the sun was peeking out from under the clouds. The views from the parking lot were amazing- we could see steep cliffs on both sides and a bridge crossing over the first of 19 waterfalls.

As soon as we passed through the tunnel which is the entrance to Watkins Glen State Park, we were instantly amazed by the stunning beauty of our surroundings. We’d seen pictures of the park but were still taken aback by everything we were seeing- waterfalls shooting from narrow crevices in the rock wall, small footpaths curving around the gorge, arching bridges over steep cliffs. We decided to explore as much as we could and spent the rest of the afternoon hiking each of the main trails- Indian, South Rim, Lover’s Lane and the spectacular Gorge Trail. We decided to hike the Indian Trail to the top of the Gorge and then walk the Gorge Trail back. This was a very wise decision- there’s a 400-foot rise in elevation over 1.5 miles from the bottom to the top of the Gorge. The Gorge Trail consists of 832 steps- it was much easier for us to make the trek on the Indian Trail with rugged terrain but no steps and just do the steps on the way down.

The views on the Gorge Trail are striking! The sights got more and more impressive as we traveled down the Gorge behind the trickling Rainbow Falls, over a bridge crossing the 60-foot Central Cascade waterfall, into the Spiral Tunnel and behind the rushing Cavern Cascade waterfall. When we reached the bottom of the Gorge Trail we turned around and headed back up so we could do the Lover’s Lane path next. After that, we hiked the South Rim Trail back the Mile Point Bridge and hiked the Gorge Trail out again. Watkins Glen State Park was a great way to start our vacation and was one of the highlights of the entire trip.

From Watkins Glen we traveled beautiful country roads over hills and into valleys back to Hammondsport. We stopped to take in beautiful views of Keuka Lake from an eastern hilltop. After stopping at the Hammondsport Grocery for a few snacks including super-soft and delicious powdered donuts, we checked in to the Vinehurst Inn ($84/night, 10% AAA discount). We enjoyed the Vinehurst very much. The accommodations are very affordable and offer a Continental breakfast, a dining patio and an outdoor fireplace area. We had Room #1 with neutral decor, vaulted ceilings and a small kitchenette area with fridge, microwave, sink and dishes. We loved being the last unit because we had a lot of privacy- there was a landscaped area and a birch tree outside our window and a small area of grapevines beyond. A bench outside our room was a nice place to sit and read. We unpacked, got settled into our room and spent the rest of the evening drinking wine and playing cards.

Day 2- Wine Tasting and More

Although a high chance of rain was in the forecast for every day of our trip, we decided that we were not going to let that stop us from doing most of the things we wanted to do, including hiking a huge hill on the western side of the Lake called ‘Bully Hill.’ After enjoying the Continental breakfast at the Inn, we drove into Hammondsport, parked lakeside and started our hike up a 2.25-milelong continuously climbing hill. The sky was cloudy but blue and there were great views of the hillside, vineyards, lake and bluff. The sky turned dark as we walked back down the hill and rain started to pour as we were nearing the bottom but we just had fun with it, jumping in puddles, kicking our feet and laughing.

Wine-tasting was on the agenda for this day but we first stopped at the Glen Curtis Museum ($7.50/person, $1 AAA discount) because we saw a sign that said they were featuring vintage bathing suits. After watching a short film about Glen Curtis and all his accomplishments (avid athlete and sportsman, aviation pioneer, inventor, “fastest man on Earth”), we took in the bathing suit exhibit. It alone was worth the entrance fee. The bathing suits were fantastic! We loved examining the details of each suit as they were so unique. After the vintage bathing suit exhibit, we walked around the rest of the museum and looked at bicycles and motorcycles that Glen Curtis had built, furniture and jewelry belonging to his wife, and the airplanes, flying boats and other inventions that made him such an influential figure in his day. Visiting the Glen Curtis Museum isn’t the typical type of attraction that we’d take in but we really enjoyed ourselves- the bathing suit exhibit was one of the highlights of the trip.

From there we headed to the Bully Hill Vineyard for our first wine tasting of the trip. We decided to do the custom tasting, which was $1/tasting of any wine on their menu. Our wine guy was very helpful- he took the time to ask us what we typically liked and made suggestions. We chatted with him about hiking in the area while tasting American Riesling, Goat White, Bully Hill Riesling, Sweet Walter White, Ives and Banty Red. After selecting a few bottles to purchase, we headed over to the Bully Hill Restaurant to enjoy a mid-afternoon snack of tapas. We selected Olive Oil Roasted Garlic with Goat Cheese and Baked Brie with Sweet Walter Cranberry Compote along with a glass of Seasons wine. The portions we received were much larger than we had expected and we enjoyed both tapas very much but I think we’d probably give the Roasted Garlic and Goat Cheese the edge if we had to pick a favorite.

From Bully Hill we headed over to Dr. Konstantin Franks Vinifera Wine Cellars for a free tasting. We waited for a few moments to gather a group of about 10 and then headed into a tasting room where a wine guy would give us a choice between two wines, one sweeter and the other drier. Meg and I usually just got one of each so we could try each others, as well. We tried five different pairings including the 2006 Chardonnay, 2007 Gewurztraminer, 2007 Semi Dry Riesling, Salmon Run Coho Red and the Chateau Frank Celebre Champagne. The wine guy was a lot of fun- he kept us laughing the whole time.

After leaving Dr. Franks, our last stop was Heron Hill Winery. We each decided to try any 6 wines on the menu for $5. We loved our wine guy- although he was serving a few different couples he had a way of carrying on individual conversations with each of us. He gave us tastes of wines we had not chosen because he thought we’d enjoy them- all his suggestions were great. He was a blast. I tried the Classic Chardonnay Unoaked 2007, Classic Semi-Dry Riesling 2007, Classic Semi-Sweet Riesling 2007, Late Harvest Vidal Blanc 2007, Reserve Old Riesling 2005, Ingle Vineyard Riesling 2006, Late Harvest Riesling 2004 and Riesling Ice Wine 2003. We made a few purchases and then headed back to our hotel room to relax.

After resting, Megan and I thought it would be fun to go out for a few drinks. We headed to Maloney’s Pub, a place that the Heron Hill wine guy said had live music and a cool vibe. It was open mic night and a duo was playing bar classics like “Margaritaville” and “Rolling Stone.” We met a few locals who generously kept us in shots of Patron and Absolute Cran all night. I chatted with a local grocer Dan who made a few suggestions for the trip to Corning we had planned for the next day. Megan and I had a blast- it was the perfect way to cap off a day full of fun!

Day 3- Bath, Corning and Beyond

It was drizzly and we were recovering from the night out so instead of hiking we decided to just take it easy. Our first destination was Bath to do a little thrift store shopping. On our way we stopped at the Betty Kay Bake Shop to pick up a few treats. The glazed donuts and apple fritters were amazing (3 donuts, 3 cookies- about $3.50)- of all our travels only their glazed donuts have rivaled our own hometown bakery Archer’s.

After making a few purchases at the local thrift shop, we headed East on I-86 to Corning to visit the Corning Museum of Glass. When we arrived the place was packed with kids because they get in for free. Someone had told us that the gift shop offers almost as much to see as the tour does so we decided to skip the tour and visit the huge gift shop instead. What an amazing sight! Everything just gleamed and sparkled. Along with classic Corning and Pyrex bake ware, intricate pieces of art glass and crystal were displayed. Christmas ornaments and household decorations were displayed along with glass lenses used in the space program. As a couple of girls who love to shop, we could have spent hours in here!

We headed into historic Corning for lunch. On Dan’s recommendation, we tried Atlas Brick Oven Pizza (medium pizza, about $9) and it was scrumptious! We ordered the classic sauce and cheese blend, half plain, half with pepperoni. After a morning of feeling slightly under the weather, Atlas Pizza was all I needed to cure a lingering hangover.

That evening we headed to Maloney’s Pub to see ‘Blues Explosion.’ We just wanted to spend a little more time in Hammondsport on our last night so we had a few drinks, enjoyed the band but then headed back to the Inn to start packing up. We spent our last night in the room, playing cards, scrolling through the pictures and reflecting on our trip.

Day 4- Letchworth State Park

Our last day had arrived and we were up early and ready to go by 9:am. Before heading home, we had one last stop to make on our way. We wanted to visit Letchworth State Park, known as the Grand Canyon of the East. From Hammondsport, we headed up NY Route 15 to I-390 and followed county roads from there. Along the way we could see huge wind turbines on the hilltops that surrounded us. We pulled into Letchworth State Park ($6/car) and drove quite a way before we finally came to the Visitors’ Center. We walked from the Visitors’ Center to the lower rim and all the way to the Upper Falls, taking in the views along the way. Letchworth offers vast canyons, roaring waterfalls and grand sights. The Gorge is quite large and offers several spectacular waterfall views. Megan and I enjoyed standing in the misting spray and viewing the rainbows created by the middle falls. We watched a train pass high above the upper falls. We took in many amazing sights.

After leaving Letchworth State Park, we drove northwest until we met up with I-90W and followed that to I-271S to I-77S. We were home by the early evening. Our trip was made up of a combination of the things we enjoy doing the most- active recreation like hiking, relaxing with some wine, doing a little shopping, etc. By preparing and bringing most of our own food we were able to keep costs down. We had a great time at each of the places we ended up and spent our time on a vacation buzz of meeting great people, trying new things and laughing. We’re looking forward to returning soon, hopefully with friends!


More Watkins Glen & Letworth State Parks Pictures