dillard, jane, chrystal, and i have been wanting to do another trip together since our cleveland trip a few years ago, but between all our different schedules and living in four different cities the biggest task is finding time we're all free. about 6 m…
dillard, jane, chrystal, and i have been wanting to do another trip together since our cleveland trip a few years ago, but between all our different schedules and living in four different cities the biggest task is finding time we're all free. about 6 months ago i managed to convince the three of them to block off memorial day weekend and then used all my charm to talk them into coming to me and driving up to explore the finger lakes region of new york. because they are all nice people they readily agreed and we got to planning.
dillard found us a great group of places to stay, and we eventually landed on the greenbriar getaway in canandaigua — it was right next to canandaigua lake and had multiple bathrooms which were really our only requirements, and it wound up being a really great place for our group. if we had it to do over again we would likely prioritize everyone having their own bedroom, but apart from that it was great.
once we had our accommodation we set about figuring out how we would spend our days, and below is a day-by-day recap of how we filled our time plus some good things to know if you are also interested in exploring the region.
loved showing them my neighborhood. astoria, new york. may 2024.
thursday.
jane arrived midday thursday, chrystal landed around 5, and dillard had to deal with flight delays and only got in around midnight. chrystal and i had a few drinks at shady lady before meeting jane at sweet afton for dinner. we had an early night so we could get some rest for our drive the next day.
friday.
everyone had requested bagels for friday breakfast, so we met at my neighborhood branch of new york city bagel & coffee house. and then when we finished it was time to hit the road.
thanks to dillard's research we knew we would pass through corning on our drive, and we were all interested in visiting the corning museum of glass. we got to see some really cool exhibits along with two demonstrations and all had a really great time. it was also a nice way to break up the drive and stretch our legs.
from there it was on to canandaigua to unload the car and get ourselves settled into our place for the weekend. dillard surprised us with goodie bags and hats which was so unexpected and lovely. we wanted to see the lake, so we set off for a walk and ran into a few very nice neighbors who provided some great tips for our weekend. our neighborhood had a cute little park, crystal beach park, which was a great place to watch the sunset on friday and saturday and where i enjoyed a sunday morning reading session as well.
our neighbor jeanne had recommended twisted rail brewing at the top of the lake as a good local spot, so that was our friday night dinner spot. we got food and drinks and a table on the deck where we could enjoy the live music and the weather — it was the exact perfect place and we had a great time. this is also where jane taught us how to play taco cat goat cheese pizza which is my new favorite card game.
we made a quick stop at wegman's to pick up snacks and other provisions for the weekend before heading home. we got the food put away and started on the jigsaw puzzle dillard had brought and then called it a night.
saturday.
my requested activity of choice was to visit some of the region's wineries, so for saturday we hired a driver and popped around to four wineries on the west side of seneca lake. i'm going to write a separate post with all the details of our stops, but if you want to know our favorite winery it was unanimously scout vineyards. tell olivia, daniel, and don we sent you.
we got home from our wine hopping in the late afternoon, rested for a bit, and then walked up to pizza sangiorgi to grab dinner. jane had a calzone and the rest of us had sandwiches and wraps and we chatted about our wine tour highlights before heading back down to crystal beach park to watch the sunset.
we took advantage of our early night and finished the jigsaw puzzle which was a proud moment for us all.
sunday.
we needed food on the way to seneca falls sunday morning and chrystal found f2t kitchen in nearby geneva. it was a beautiful day to eat on their patio, and after our meal we enjoyed a walk out onto the pier.
from there it was off to seneca falls to see the ripples of change and when anthony met stanton statues before stopping by the seneca falls visitor center to learn more about the history of the town and its role in getting women the right to vote. from there we made our way over to the women's rights national historical park where we enjoyed reading the declaration of the rights of women and basking in the history of where we were.
we were all ready to let loose a little after that so we made our way down the east side of seneca lake to two goats brewing where the others enjoyed the beer and we all enjoyed the view of the lake while we finished our game of phase10 from the day before.
our big highlight of sunday was our sail true love sunset sail on seneca lake. we made friends with two older couples and spent the two-hour sail having a grand time getting to know them and some of our other fellow guests. we had such a great time with patty, cliff, leigh, and jim that after the sail we went with them to tiki bar seneca lake where we taught them how to play taco cat goat cheese pizza and regaled them with tales of our friendship.
monday.
we checked out of our place monday morning and after trying a few places for brunch and finding them closed we finally lucked into wild ginger in corning and were very pleasantly surprised at how much we all enjoyed our food. from there it was a battle through the rain to get chrystal to the airport.
jane and dillard had one more night in the city, so we had momos for dinner at nepali bhanchha ghar and then had a nightcap at raines law room [the east 39th location] before calling it a night.
know before you go tips + tricks:
bring cash! it comes in handy for tips at wineries, on boat tours, etc
be prepared for a bit of driving between the towns. five of the lakes are quite large, so keep an eye on how far the things you want to do are from each other
on that note, keep in mind there are different towns around the lakes. around seneca lake alone we visited penn yan, geneva, seneca falls, watkins glen, and probably a few others whose names i didn't catch
do your research! going along with the previous two tips, do some research ahead of time to plot out what you want to do. you want to make sure you have enough time to get to all the things on your list and also allow for travel time and rest. we booked the wine tour driver and the sunset sail ahead of time and used the drive on friday to plot out a few of the other things while also leaving time for spontaneity
don't always trust hours on google maps. multiple times we showed up to a restaurant who claimed to be open on google maps only to find it closed. some of it likely had to do with the long weekend, but have a backup option or two to be safe
be careful if you're driving at night. the roads are quite deserted, but you'll encounter a few deer and some buggies while you're out at night
bring a deck of cards or a game with you. i already mentioned taco cat goat cheese pizza above and jane also brought phase10 with her as well, and both came in handy while we were bopping around to our various places. they don't take up a lot of space and provide copious amounts of entertainment
it was a very full and fun weekend and for me the highlight was having so much time to rest and relax with some of my favorite friends. i'm hopeful we can make this an every-other-year tradition because i always have a blast with these three.
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