Watkins Glen

After an arduous 150 mile drive from Bellefonte, PA, on Monday, just before the Sandusky sentencing on Tuesday, we arrived at Watkins Glen, NY.  Actually, at a KOA about five miles south of WG.  In the past I've griped a bit about the rules some RV parks have, and stress, but this park had a new one on us: they asked us to wear wrist bands, you know, the kinds that can be removed only by scissors, so that if they saw us roaming around the park they would know we were legal!  I was deeply offended.  I don't mind wearing a wristband at a weekend bluegrass festival as proof that I bought a weekend ticket and to let me go in and out, but this seemed an unwarranted invasion of privacy, or some such constitutional abomination.  The park also had incredibly thin, flimsy toilet paper, but that's another topic.  I'm looking forward to getting the email asking us to rate our stay.

Monday afternoon we looked around the village, found an ice cream place, and took a short drive along Seneca Lake, the largest of the Finger Lakes in this region.  Came across Hector Falls.

This part of NY is full of vineyards and wineries. 

Next morning I went to Watkins Glen State Park to hike the WG Gorge. The trail through the gorge is about 1.5 miles in length and is actually a well-constructed (WPA-era) walkway with lots of stairs and tunnels.  Lots of waterfalls along the way.  .

I returned via a trail along the top of the gorge and happened upon this cemetery.

Later in the morning we took a drive to explore the Finger Lakes west of Watkins Glen.  Somewhere in the tourist material we had picked up I read that Hammondsport, which is on Lake Keuka, had been declared the Coolest Small Town in America winner for 2012.  That's an online contest sponsored by Budget Travel magazine.  Supporters of Hammondsport and Beaufort, NC had crashed the servers with so many votes that they were declared co-winners.  Watkins Glen has a banner up in down town imploring its fans to start voting now for next year's contest.  Here are some scenes of Hammondsport and the area.

 

Picked up some corn on the cob, tomatoes, and other veggies on the return drive.

Next day we explored east, primarily Ithaca and Cayuga Lake.  Found a covered bridge (the oldest in NY in continuous use) and a large, old barn (the date says 1883) along the way.

Susie spotted this barn and insisted I get a picture.  The many orifices got her attention -- reminiscent of the old Laugh-In wall, but no Goldie Hawn popped out.

Sandia colleague Floyd Spencer is a graduate of Cornell U so I had emailed him asking for a lunch recommendation.  He suggested the Moosewood Restaurant, a vegetarian establishment with, by my tastes, a fairly exotic menu (no barbecue or fish and chips).  I had sesame noodles: "linguine served with a spicy toasted sesame sauce, gingered carrots and broccoli and Ithaca Soy tofu kan."  Very good.  Later in the day, though, I had this craving for meat so when we stopped at a farmer's market I got a well-filled gyro sandwich.

On the way home, driving up the west shore of Cayuga Lake, we stopped to see Taughannock Falls.  It has a 'single-drop' height of 215 ft. making it 33 ft. higher than Niagara Falls.  Not quite the volume, though, particularly this time of year.

I walked in about 3/4 mile to see the falls.  As we were leaving we saw a sign for a road to a falls overlook, so we got this shot from above the falls.

Next day we drove across to the east side of the state to a KOA in Copake, NY.  From there we'll do some exploring in NY, CT, MA, and VT.  See you there.

Rob and Susie