What is there to see in New York?
We were able to make it to all the locations on my list today! With around a half an hour drive between each stop, everything worked out perfectly.
Breakfast
We loved the Vintage Gardens B&B. The rooms were decorated and clean, the breakfast was to die for and the home holds a lot of history. It was a great decision to stay there.
Peter Whitmer Farm
This is the land upon which the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized. It’s also the location where three men were shown the plates that Joesph translated by the power of God. Though the home is a replica, and the exact location of the original home is unknown, it was amazing to be on the property in the middle of peaceful nowhere.
Taughannock Falls State Park
This waterfall can be seen from above on a platform just off the side of the road. You can see it from the top, and/or go down a few stairs for a slightly closer look.
Very close by, a little further down the highway when you get back on it, is a parking lot. It’s $9 to park and the pass is good for all other State Parks for the day. There is a trailhead here called the Gorge Trail. I assumed it would be a lot of ups and downs and by a huge cliff. Wrong. It’s a super chill, well trafficked, loose gravel, pretty flat, gorgeous trail. It’s about 2 miles there and back and I’m so glad we decided to stop here! There are additional longer hikes here, some by cliffs, if you have time for a longer adventure.
Watkins Glen State Park
Getting here was a little interesting. AllTrails has never led me astray until today. It took us to some random residence, luckily it was only seven minutes away from the entrance. There are two entrances to the State Park. We parked at the following address; 1009 N Franklin St, Watkins Glen, NY 14891. This parking lot is at the bottom of the stairs, which I prefer; it always seems nicer to end a hike going down rather than hiking up.
We headed around the store and the restaurant by the parking lot, to the hiking area also known as the Gorge Trail. Other trails split off this main trail but we followed the Gorge Trail up until the mile marker, then took the Indian Trail back towards the parking lot. The Indian trail is mostly through the woods with a couple cool views of the Gorge below. Eventually this trail meets back up with Gorge Trail. The sign at the entrance says the trail is 1.5 miles…but the Gorge Trail is all stairs…so it feels a little longer…at least it felt longer to us…
It started raining somewhere along the way. The stairs were nice and wet and the rock wall separating you from the chasm below is not very tall. So we watched our steps pretty carefully. The rain chased away the mosquitoes and reduced the temperature. Awesome! I took around 200 pictures here, everywhere I looked was a dream.
Corning Museum of Glass
This museum is fascinating. They have shows throughout the day where they’ll make glass pieces right in front of you. I’ve never experienced something like this before, except in video form. It’s such a mezmorizing process and takes great skill. I was very impressed. There are also a number of exhibits covering a variety of topics involving glass. If you like reading and art, you could easily spend a day here.
Parking is by the entrance, there are quite a few visitor slots. The bottom floor of the building is a glass store. There are escalators in the back that lead to the ticket area on the second floor. The second and third floor are exhibits and auditorium areas. Pretty neat place.
We stayed near Albany New York tonight. That’s more than a three hour drive from Corning, so we got in kind of late. It was a full and great day!