Things to do in the Finger Lakes area?
October 21, 2004 3:37 PM Subscribe
Time to kill in the Finger Lakes area (Geneva, Seneca Falls, Canandaigua) and what shall I do? I've already got the National Women's Hall of Fame and the Drain Tile Museum (yes, really) on the schedule, anyone know anything else that might be good for a couple of hours?
Seriously, though, there is the Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey Circus. If petty farm animals and seeing giant pumpkins is more your thing, there's the Spooktacular Pumpkin Display. If you like music, there's a Pro-Am festival in Aurora on the 23rd (that includes the Morgan Tabernacle Choir). If you want kooky, there's the 7th Annual Amazing Maize Maze (in Macedon).
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:49 PM on October 21, 2004
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:49 PM on October 21, 2004
Well, if you like wine there is the Cayuga wine trail. You could visit a couple of wineries. There are some great things south of Seneca Falls. It's 42 miles to the bottom of Lake Cayuga (about an hour, a pretty hour). Taughannock falls is beautiful. And Ithaca is fun. The farmer's market is supposed to be great. Like goat cheese? There are many good restaurants as well as great coffee.
posted by noether at 6:18 PM on October 21, 2004
posted by noether at 6:18 PM on October 21, 2004
Best answer: The National Women's Hall of Fame is, uh, really just a small hall. A very small hall. An undeservingly small hall.
The Wegmans in Canandaigua is a great visit if you love grocery stores, and the village itself has lots of history. Sadly there is no Nick Tahou's yet for the locals.
posted by TomSophieIvy at 6:29 PM on October 21, 2004
The Wegmans in Canandaigua is a great visit if you love grocery stores, and the village itself has lots of history. Sadly there is no Nick Tahou's yet for the locals.
posted by TomSophieIvy at 6:29 PM on October 21, 2004
You can read about the Womens Rights Convention before you go. Here's a calendar of local events. The Willard Memorial Chapel is a pretty one of a kind building if you're into weird Tiffany stuff.
posted by jessamyn at 6:34 PM on October 21, 2004
posted by jessamyn at 6:34 PM on October 21, 2004
Best answer: Ithaca is a great little college town where I went to school. In Ithaca, there's the famous Moosewood Restaurant, (of cookbook fame) and also the Nines for the best Chicago deep-dish I've had outside of Chicago. (Monday nights feature a pretty good blues jam session.) The Cornell Orchard Store is good for lots of interesting hard-to-find varieties of apples, plus very good cider. Also for food, the Ithaca Bakery is very good (as is its sibling, Collegetown Bagels), and Purity Ice Cream has been around forever. The Ithaca Commons was one of the first pedestrian malls, and it has some interesting hippie-type and craft stores around it.
The wine trails are fun -- Seneca, Cayuga, and Keuka Lakes all have their own.
Walk around the Cornell campus -- check out the deep gorges with the high suspension bridges. Go to Ithaca Falls or Taughannock Falls.
Watkins Glen State Park is in Watkins Glen, at the southern end of Seneca Lake. It's lovely.
Corning, just west of Elmira, features the very big and very good Corning Museum of Glass. Historical glass (dating back to pre-Roman times), contemporary glass sculpture, you can make your own glassworks, and you can see them make Steuben crystal.
Also, Mark Twain lived (and is buried) in Elmira, and the National Soaring Museum is there. (Aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss was from nearby Hammondsport.)
Have fun!
posted by Vidiot at 10:51 PM on October 21, 2004
The wine trails are fun -- Seneca, Cayuga, and Keuka Lakes all have their own.
Walk around the Cornell campus -- check out the deep gorges with the high suspension bridges. Go to Ithaca Falls or Taughannock Falls.
Watkins Glen State Park is in Watkins Glen, at the southern end of Seneca Lake. It's lovely.
Corning, just west of Elmira, features the very big and very good Corning Museum of Glass. Historical glass (dating back to pre-Roman times), contemporary glass sculpture, you can make your own glassworks, and you can see them make Steuben crystal.
Also, Mark Twain lived (and is buried) in Elmira, and the National Soaring Museum is there. (Aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss was from nearby Hammondsport.)
Have fun!
posted by Vidiot at 10:51 PM on October 21, 2004
Response by poster: Wow, folks, this is a treasure trove. Calendars, cheese, coffee, I am so set. And I do always end up in local groceries, and I'm staying in Canandaigua, so Wegman's here I come!
And now I'm bummed that I don't think that I'll get to Ithaca, for both Moosewood and Stefnet (whom I owe a visit whilst wearing an orange wig, false mustache and sunglasses -- a longstanding joke between us) but alas, I don't know that I'll have that amount of time. I'm wrapping all of these activities around a family wedding, alas. Just trying to do a little sightseeing in lieu of hanging around with annoying cousins.
AskMeFi comes through again, in a big way. Thank you!
posted by Dreama at 7:54 AM on October 22, 2004
And now I'm bummed that I don't think that I'll get to Ithaca, for both Moosewood and Stefnet (whom I owe a visit whilst wearing an orange wig, false mustache and sunglasses -- a longstanding joke between us) but alas, I don't know that I'll have that amount of time. I'm wrapping all of these activities around a family wedding, alas. Just trying to do a little sightseeing in lieu of hanging around with annoying cousins.
AskMeFi comes through again, in a big way. Thank you!
posted by Dreama at 7:54 AM on October 22, 2004
Wegmans is great.
If you just have a couple of hours and it's a nice day, just consider driving around between the various Finger Lakes. It's lovely country. Geneva is a cute little town as well.
posted by Vidiot at 8:11 AM on October 22, 2004
If you just have a couple of hours and it's a nice day, just consider driving around between the various Finger Lakes. It's lovely country. Geneva is a cute little town as well.
posted by Vidiot at 8:11 AM on October 22, 2004
Time to kill in the Finger Lakes area
Well, since nobody else has suggested it, I'd notify the local police that you've decided it is time to kill.
posted by kindall at 8:59 AM on October 22, 2004
Well, since nobody else has suggested it, I'd notify the local police that you've decided it is time to kill.
posted by kindall at 8:59 AM on October 22, 2004
kindall, my first comment already took that joke.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 9:25 AM on October 22, 2004
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 9:25 AM on October 22, 2004
I'd highly recommend dinner at Rosalie's in Skaneateles. Not cheap (by which I mean it's pricey), but worth every cent.
The bread! Oh, the bread!
posted by rocketman at 9:43 AM on October 22, 2004
The bread! Oh, the bread!
posted by rocketman at 9:43 AM on October 22, 2004
Somehow I didn't connect the big axe with killing. I've, uh, got a case of the Mondays?
posted by kindall at 11:35 AM on October 22, 2004
posted by kindall at 11:35 AM on October 22, 2004
Response by poster: I didn't get the axe thing either, I thought it was just because the area is nice and rural and has trees and stuff. If I were going to really kill anyone, well, I do own lots of firearms. But I only kill tin cans and paper targets. And deer. But I kill them with my car, and that's a whole other topic.
I'm looking forward to just driving around a bunch. My dogs are staying in Clifton Springs, the wedding is in Geneva, my cousin lives in Auburn, so I'll be up down and all around. But first stop is Wegman's. And I'm leaving... now! Thanks again, all.
posted by Dreama at 1:05 PM on October 22, 2004
I'm looking forward to just driving around a bunch. My dogs are staying in Clifton Springs, the wedding is in Geneva, my cousin lives in Auburn, so I'll be up down and all around. But first stop is Wegman's. And I'm leaving... now! Thanks again, all.
posted by Dreama at 1:05 PM on October 22, 2004
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:41 PM on October 21, 2004