Watkins Glen, NY

We arrived in Watkins Glen, NY on June 30.  We are staying at the Watkins Glen KOA Resort.  They have a lot of planned activities for kids. Our site is a large, level pull thru with a stone patio, built-in fire pit, picnic table, glider, and lamppost with a hanging basket of flowers.

Seneca Lake in the distance, driving from the campground to Watkins Glen.

We are a short drive to the town of Watkins Glen, home of Watkins Glen International, an auto racetrack long known at the home of the Formula 1 US Grand Prix which it hosted until 1980.  Now it is home to road racing of nearly every class.  In July they will host the Vintage Grand Prix and in August they will host a Nascar Sprint Cup race.  From June 29 to July 2 they were hosting Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen.  There were races all day all weekend and we could hear the roar of the engines in the campground (and we were 3 miles away from the racetrack!). 

Watkins Glen was decorated for the 4th of July and the weekend races.

Also nearby is the Watkins Glen Gorge.  The gorge is the #1 attraction in the Southern Finger Lakes.  It has 19 waterfalls along a 1 1/2 mile trail with 832 steps from the bottom to the top. Elevation change is 400 ft from bottom to top.

We walked on bridges high above the water...

through tunnels...

under waterfalls...

Some waterfalls were so loud you had to yell to talk!

and up steps...

1/2 mile more to go...steep staircase ahead!

Almost done!

It was an interesting but exhausting trek!  There are 5 more waterfalls within 45 minutes of the campground but there were so many things to do we didn't have time to see them all.

We took a day to drive around the area and wound up at The Windmill Farm & Craft Market between Penn Yan and Dundee, NY.  There are nearly 200 shops/vendors selling everything from food, flowers, fresh fruit and vegetables, indoor and outdoor décor items, clothes, and more.  Several wineries from the region had wine tasting booths and we picked up a couple of bottles of wine.


On the day we visited, they were having a tractor exhibition.

They had the most beautiful flowering plants!  I resisted the urge to buy one because we're going to Montreal and I've read that you can't take potted plants across the border.

Our bounty--vegetables, kettle corn, pasta, and peaches.  The peaches were delicious!

The drive to Penn Yan was very scenic.  Lots of farms with rolling hills in the distance.  There are more than 50 wineries within an hour of the campground.  The Finger Lakes region has over 100 wineries.

Can you tell that I like to photograph old buildings, farms, and churches?  The older the better!

About 20 minutes away from our campground is Montour Falls (the town and the waterfall).  We went on a bike ride near the town then looked for the waterfall.  We used the navigation system and it lead us to the top of the waterfall.  We drove back and forth on the bridge over the waterfall looking for the waterfall!  You can see the bridge just above the waterfall.  We finally realized where we were and found the street that passed by the waterfall.  The waterfall is at the end of Montour Falls' main street. There are many historic homes in Montour Falls, some in better shape than others.

Montour Falls

This home is actually next door to the falls and is on the national registry of historic homes.

Another town that we visited is Corning, NY, population of 11,100.  It sits on the Chemung River.  It is home to Corning Museum of Glass.  They have a historic downtown area with restaurants, breweries, and shops. We spent an afternoon there after riding bikes on a bike path in town.

We had lunch on the roof of Market Street Brewery then walked around downtown and adjacent residential neighborhood.

Corning Tower

Market Street

Residential Area

The last thing of note that we did is take a dinner cruise on Seneca Lake.  At 618 ft deep it is the deepest of the glacial Finger Lakes.  Because of its great depth the water temperature remains a near constant 39 degrees except for the top 10-15 feet which in summer warms to 70-80 degrees.  It is 38 miles long.  It's the largest lake entirely within the state of New York.  It's touted as the lake trout capital of the world and home of the National Lake Trout Derby. There are more than 30 wineries on its shore.

Our dinner cruise was on Captain Bill's boat, The Legacy.  It was a 3 hour cruise with dinner of scallops and prime rib, baked potato, carrots, and cheesecake.  It was delicious.

The tour was from 7:00 - 10:00 pm so we got to see the lake in daylight and under moonlight.  The land on one side of the lake was very steep and had few homes on it.  The other side was more accessible and had many homes and vineyards on it.

The Watkins Glen area has so many things to see and do that I think we'll have to come back some time.

Still working our way north, on July 7 we head to Niagara Falls!