My partner Susan and I had the recent fortune of traveling to New York for a wedding. My buddy from graduate school was getting married to his girlfriend of 7 years. They live in Geneva, New York so we made the long drive out there from Illinois for the wedding.
Luckily, we had friends along the way we wanted to visit and traveled to Pittsburgh, PA the first day in order to break up the drive. We continued on to Geneva the next day, which was in late October. The leaves were about peak color for most of our drive.
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| With the bride and groom. Rocks denoting table placement at the wedding dinner. |
The day of the wedding we had some time so we visited a winery. We stayed with a friend of the bride and groom and she directed us to Fox Run Vineyards in Penn Yan, NY. We had a nice lunch and did a wine tasting. After picking out a few bottles to take with us, we headed south down highway 14 to Watkins Glen. The air was chilly, but the sun was shining and the Finger Lakes region was beautiful.
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| Beautiful day for a drive in the Finger Lakes region |
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| At Fox Run Winery, Penn Yan, NY |
Watkins Glen is the name of the town, but it is also the name of a large gorge in town, named Watkins Glen State Park. It was highly recommended and it did not disappoint. It cost $8 to park but it was well worth it. The park was busy as expected on a fall Saturday, but it was still amazing and the beauty started as soon as we left the parking lot.
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| Waterfall near entrance to Watkins Glen State Park |
The gorge at Watkins Glen State Park was carved by Glen Creek, approximately 12,000 years ago. Thousands of years of erosion created the deep chasm, and a rock pathway and stairs lead the visitor up the canyon from the main parking lot on the southeast end. We gorged ourselves on the Gorge Trail.
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| As they say in the area, "it's gorges!" |
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| Along the trail and behind waterfalls |
The park was opened in 1863 and since then it has seen many changes, The trail has been reconstructed several times as weathering and flooding have deepened and widened the canyon. Two dams have been built far upstream in order to alleviate severe flooding. Humans try to tame nature, but the geologic forces will continue, whether we like it or not.
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| Along the Gorge Trail at Watkins Glen |
Most of the underlying rock in this area is shale, which is a combination of mud and clay that formed when the area was covered by a shallow sea about 400 million years ago. Since the last Ice Age, glacial meltwater and large rain events, as well as freezing and thawing action, have removed the layers of rock little by little and we are left at the perfect moment in geologic time to observe a natural wonder.
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| Main Waterfall |
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| Lover's Lane |
Next we went to Watertown to see some of Susan's friends and we stopped in for lunch at the town's oldest restaurant, built in 1909!
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| The Crystal Restaurant, Watertown, NY |
After a nice visit to Watertown, NY we returned to Geneva, but on the way we stopped at Niagara Falls. We forgot our passports so we were not able to see the better view from the Canadian side, and the sun was behind us so photographs were tough, but we took one anyway.
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| Niagara Falls, NY |
We visited our friends in Geneva again on our way back and continued on the next day to Pittsburgh to see friends and explore the city. On our last day of the trip we went to the Andy Warhol Museum. It was super cool and not something one can describe in words. You just have to go there and see it for yourself.
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| Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA |
Outside the museum was the Andy Warhol bridge, the only bridge in the United States named after a visual artist. Pittsburgh is the city of bridges, as three rivers converge here.
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| Andy Warhol bridge |
The museum visit made for a perfect morning and from there we went to an overlook to see the city.
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| Overlooking Pittsburgh, PA |
For lunch, our host asked if we wanted to go to church. He took us to the Church Works Brewery, an old church converted into a brick fire pizza oven place and brewery!
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| Church Works Brewery, Pittsburgh, PA |
It was a great way to end a great vacation!
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