Watkins Glen, New York

Hurricane Florence was on our heals as we left our home in Virginia. It was a good time to be heading north to the Finger Lakes of New York. There, the skies were blue and the temp was just as nice, it was in the mid to upper 70’s.   

The major impact of the hurricane was well south of our home but our forecast was for heavy rain and winds. The local news warn of possible power outages, many down trees and flood conditions. I’m saying to Denise, “What’s holding us here? We’re retired! Let’s go somewhere north like the Finger Lakes!”

To be honest, we have been planning this trip for about a month. We needed to pick up our ‘new-to-us’ 5th wheel. It is a garaged kept, hardly used, 2005 Nuwa 32ft HitchHiker. It met all the requirements of our long extensive search and it is located in Watkins Glen, New York . We packed up our ‘new-to-us’ 2014 Ram 3500 diesel, left early in the morning just before the weather got bad and traveled the 500 miles north. 

We decided to stay a few days and get acquainted with our new home on wheels and also do some site seeing. There is a lot to see and do around the Finger Lakes.

Watkins Glen State Park

Giant glaciers once traveled through this area carving out the beautiful landscape leaving streams and valleys for everyone to enjoy. New York is left with the Finger Lakes. Water flows down these hillsides and erodes away at soft rocks to form the amazing and unique gorges at Watkins Glen State Park.

We entered the park through the main entrance and headed into the entrance tunnel. In the early 1900’s, tunnels in the gorge were hand-cut into the rocks. Simply follow the walking trail to the Cavern Cascade. This is one of two waterfalls in Watkins Glen State Park you can walk behind. This waterfall has eroded this narrow section of gorge and the deep pools below and deep into the hillside.

Next up along the trail is the Spiral Tunnel and Suspension Bridge.  After emerging from Spiral Tunnel, you will pass Cliff Path on your right. This leads to Point Lookout on Lover’s Lane, then on to the Suspension Bridge. There, you can access the Lily Pond, South Pavilion and swimming pool, or you can pick up the Indian Trail.

We continued on the Gorge Trail, and walked under the Suspension Bridge, which is 85 feet above the creek. It is really just one long trail and you either turn right or left or continue straight. As we walked along the Gorge Trail we then passed The Narrows section. The section here is very shady and cool. There were lots of wild flowers and moss here.

 

 

Corning Glass Museum

There is a ton of different artworks, all featuring unique glass materials and methods. In addition, there are live glass-making demonstrations using high quality and expensive machinery. Corning is a pretty sleepy town, more or less in the middle of nowhere. And then a glassmaking company moved from NYC to here, and then became a world class company. They pioneered a lot of the glassware that we all use, from fiber optics to measuring cups and casserole dishes. It was a place where a lot of innovation came from.

Rockwell Museum, Corning, NY.

First, this is not a Norman Rockwell art museum, the founders names were Rochwell. The art is southwest. Three floors of beautiful paintings, sculptures, and ceramic artwork.. Famous artist, Remington, Charles Russell, N.C. Wyeth, to name a few. It’s not a huge museum can see it in 1-2 hours.

We stayed at: