Finger Lakes !! - Home of trails, wine and food!!

It all began when I started convincing my husband about going on a trip to Finger Lakes region. well, my husband had reasons not to go there (no, there is no problem with the place or my husband, it was basically ME). I will tell you the reason.

I used to hate (remember used to, not now) going on hiking, since I did not like to walk so much. I remember the time we went to Hocking hills and we ended up most of the time either driving around or in the hotel (Courtesy: Of course me :D).

Well this time, I somehow convinced him that we are going to have a wonderful time because I started liking to go on trails, enjoy the nature and walking of course.(All credit goes to my YMCA)
So we went there during Labor day weekend and then started the fun of trails, wine and food.
I must say, this time, I did enjoy a lot of walking, hiking along the gorge, amazing waterfalls, beautiful wineries and yummy food.

Buttermilk falls state park

Buttermilk falls state park

Let me start with Ithaca. We stayed in Ithaca, a place known for Cornell University. We went on a small hike to Buttermilk falls state park, then went to the beautiful campus of Cornell University. It is located on a
hill with nice views.

Cornell - Reminded me of Hogwarts

Cornell

The next day, we started driving around. We drove along Lake Cayuga till the town of Geneva and from there came back along Lake Seneca, stopped in between some wineries, state parks etc.
There were a lot of wineries, we chose to visit two of them. We got a tour of how the wine is made and got a lot of wines to taste as well. We ended up buying a bottle of specialty wine.

Lake Seneca

Wine on vine

One of the many wineries in the region

Then we went to hike the famous Watkins Glen gorge. It was just amazing, a must place to go. Its a beautiful gorge with lots of photo opportunities.

Watkins Glen

Watkins Glen

Falls in Watkins Glen

Let me tell you about the food now. Ithaca has a lot of good small restaurants. We went to a place called Moosewood. This restaurant claims to be using organic food grown by local farmers. For a vegetarian, there were pretty decent options.

There is another restaurant called Mia, an Asian place which was outstanding. The quality of the food, decor can be compared to that of New York City restaurants. Their dessert, three flavored creme brulee (coffee, chocolate and vanilla is a must try) was just out of the world.

Finally, we went to Corning glass museum before heading back home the next day. It was an amazing experience. We got to see a lot of live shows, where they blow the glass into different shapes, break the glass ( yes, you have to watch that).

One of the many shows we watched in Corning Glass museum

A beautiful art of glass

Overall, Finger lakes was well worth the visit. We had an awesome time there. I would definitely recommend the place.