Things to do at the Finger Lakes - indoors

June 29, 2023 7:36 AM

My wife and I are on our way (like, in the car as you read this) to New York's Finger Lakes for a much-needed vacation, and had planned to spend most of our time outdoors - hiking, kayaking, etc. Given the air quality numbers, this plan is... not looking great. So, what can we do instead? We'll be staying near Wayne but pretty willing to drive as needed to not feel like we've wasted our vacation.

Other possibly relevant info:
* Yes, of course the Corning Museum of Glass is on our list.
* We do like good food but don't really want this to be a Restaurant Trip. We're still open to suggestions of really remarkable stuff - "this little shop has cheeses you've never even heard of" but don't need restaurant tips per se. (We also already did a fair amount of dinner- and lunch-planning anyway, even before the smoke rolled in)
* With all due respect to the lovely folks of the finger lakes, we're not huge fans of most of the local wines, have a couple of well-recommended wineries lined up for tastings already, and don't want to drink a lot anyway. Please assume we're all set on that front.
* We're not much into "shopping as an activity" but wouldn't mind spending some time with really great home goods, furniture and antiques, etc.

posted by Tomorrowful to Travel & Transportation around Schuyler County, NY (14 answers total)

Visit the DeWitt Mall in Ithaca for a little indoor break. There's a restaurant with good breakfast/lunch, interesting toys and antiques, a local stuff store, a branch of the local Co-op, Greenstar. There used to be a great second hand bookstore but I think the guy retired.

Also don't miss the farmer's market in Ithaca.

Sorry about the weather! I am hunkered down indoors feeling doomy in central Ohio.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 7:48 AM on June 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

The Johnson Museum at Cornell is quite good (and free). In addition to the art, there's a spectacular view from the top floor.

Nearby Ithaca in Trumansburg is Atlas Bowl, which is a fun bowling alley with classic 10 pin lanes and good food.
posted by veery at 8:05 AM on June 29, 2023 [3 favorites]

Ithaca:
- seconding the Johnson Museum on Cornell’s campus
- Buffalo Street Books is a great bookstore (not used)
- Autumn Leaves is a great used bookstore
- Angry Mom Records is new and used vinyl and used CDs - upstairs from Autumn Leaves
posted by chr1sb0y at 8:12 AM on June 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

Mark Twain country bus tour in Elmira? https://www.marktwaincountry.com/mark-twain/trolley-into-twain-country-tours/

That was what popped up first googling, but I bet there are other Twain tourism options.
posted by LizardBreath at 8:24 AM on June 29, 2023

The Rockwell Museum is also worth a visit if you're in Corning anyway.
posted by CheeseLouise at 9:12 AM on June 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Housewares, you say? You may or may not love the design aesthetic of McKenzie-Childs, but their HQ is on a lovely farm in Aurora, on the east shore of Cayuga Lake. It's been a couple of decades since I lived in the area, but they used to have a lovely cafe with delicious food, and you could watch the artisans at work.

Seneca Falls at the top end of Cayuga Lake played a part in the history of women gaining the right to vote and has some tourist sites about that.

I agree with you on Finger Lakes wines. And even if the wine is meh, in good weather at least you could have sat outside in a beautiful area overlooking the lake and eating good food.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 9:14 AM on June 29, 2023

I know you said you were set on the sweet, sweet wines, but we found a brewery that was good, climbing bines.
posted by RoadScholar at 10:58 AM on June 29, 2023

The Jello museum is in the neighborhood.
posted by COD at 1:31 PM on June 29, 2023

The Harriet Tubman Home museum is in Aurora and worth a visit.
posted by lhputtgrass at 3:15 PM on June 29, 2023

the martin house complex in buffalo is a frank lloyd wright jem, and not far.
posted by wowenthusiast at 7:41 PM on June 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

In Canandaigua, Sonnenberg Gardens is, of course, a garden complex, and you may not want to walk around out there, but they also have a house to tour.

You said you were fine on wine, someone else suggested, Climbing Bines, and that is great. There are excellent breweries in the Canandaigua/Bloomfield area:

Young Lion
The Other Half upstate location
Peacemakers
The Twisted Rail
Frequentem

There are even more if you want me to list some that are about 20 minutes away from Canandaigua proper. There's even an excellent cidery about 10 minutes outside of Canandaigua called Star Cidery. They have Mexican food and a selection of really excellent ciders.

There is the Granger Museum and Homestead.

There's also Ganondagan.
posted by oflinkey at 12:41 PM on June 30, 2023

the martin house complex in buffalo is a frank lloyd wright jem, and not far.


Incidentally, there's also a Frank Lloyd Wright house in the city of Rochester as a private residence. You can't tour it but if you happen to be driving through Rochester, it is on East Boulevard (not East Ave!)
posted by oflinkey at 12:42 PM on June 30, 2023

If you visit Ithaca, you might enjoy a stop at the indoor antique mall Found while you’re there. It’s big enough and diverse enough that one can lose their sense of time, in the best way.
posted by marlys at 6:53 PM on June 30, 2023

You can wear masks for outdoor activities if the AQI is still bad. (Here in Buffalo, we're headed into the moderate zone for the next few days.) Definitely check out the Ithaca farmer's market this weekend—it's quite special, featuring booths of local artists along with the food items.

And if you want to venture as far as the Hudson Valley, the Olana house is amazing. https://artistshomes.org/site/olana-state-historic-site
posted by Scout405 at 6:57 PM on June 30, 2023 [1 favorite]