Stuff to do in SW NY over Memorial Day?

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Spending 3 days with the GF at my dad's little cabin outside of Troupsburg (aka middle of nowhere) over Memorial Day Weekend. Places for us to ride bikes? (rails to trails kind of stuff would be ideal) Good farmers markets/fairs etc where we can kill some time looking at stuff.

I figure we will have to travel at least 2 hours to do anything. Watkins Glen?

[Todds]

Corning glass museum is nice.
Letchworth state park has some easy pretty hikes. Not sure about biking.

[wooley12]

Ride bikes right there in Tburg. Lots of quiet country roads. Careful of the horse shit in the road as you are in Amish country. Glen Curtis museum in Hammondsport and it's an nice artsy little town. You can spend a few hours at the Windmill farm & Craft Mkt south of Penn Yan. Hike the glen in Watkins Glen. Corning has a nice main st. to walk. Rockwell Museum of western art. 100+ wineries in the Finger Lakes region. Be sure to get county/regional map and take the back roads as you travel. Get the map at most any mini mart there.

http://www.glennhcurtissmuseum.org/

http://www.thewindmill.com/

http://www.rockwellmuseum.org/

[Tippster]

Drink Faygo and Vodka and go cow tipping.

[RShea]

Letchworth State Park as mentioned above has some nice things to do- hiking trails and a gorge with great views and vistas. Closest Ski resort with Lift served mountain biking in the Summer is Swain Ski Center just north of Hornell, NY. Hornell is one of the closest towns- but I have only driven through it- not spent much time there so no recommendations for food or restaurants. Corning is the other and probably bigger in the area with restaurants.

There is a Mountain Bike Group in the area with some other options listed on their web site www.wnymb.org in the area. Looks like the trail maps have a few others listed but clicking though results in errors. They do have a forum that would have discussions of access and trail rides.

Naples, NY (Italy) has High Tor Wildlife Management area which has some good backpacking and hiking trails also near the southern part of Canandaigua Lake (Finger Lakes) with Bristol Mountain Ski Resort further up north. Did a 3 day backpacking trip up in that area last year. Another one of the Finger Lakes Seneca Lake with Watkins Glen (known for the race track of course). Plenty of Wineries in the Finger Lakes area if you want to go on a Wine Tour.

It is about 2 hours over to Ellicottville, NY- Holiday Valley Ski Resort with mountain biking and a great little town, Brew Pub, plenty of bars and good restaurants and things to do there also.

On the PA side you have the PA Grand Canyon and Wellsboro, PA. Pine Creek runs down through there and has trails for hiking and biking both. Less than an hour probably depending on where the cabin is located.

Depends on how much travel and distance you want to go for your 3 days in the area.

[smmokan]

Head up to Keuka (or Seneca) Lake and do a winery tour. Have lunch at Bully Hill (just north of Hammondsport on the west side of Keuka), you won't regret it- the food and the views are amazing.

I grew up in Corning, which isn't too far from there, and it's definitely worth a half-day of exploring. As todds mentioned, hit the Glass Museum and then walk around the downtown shops and restaurants.

[booner]

Wineries are a no brainer around here...keuka and seneca have the best. Hi-tor is good. Ithaca is always fun...great food and bars. One of the only cities around here with any real culture.

[iceman]

You could do a campus tour of SUNY Binghamton. I'm not sure why you would, but you could.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

bump. We don't drink, so wineries aren't in the cards.

[ass-to-mouth]

Rob a bank to pay off a $4500 debt.

[wooley12]

That's cool. I bet her dad want's to spend some time with you to see if you are acceptable anyway. I still vote for a back road road trip to Hammondsport, check out Penn Yan and a stroll through Windmill farm & Craft Mkt. The best trips are adventures going where the back roads takes you.

[RShea]

You could do a campus tour of SUNY Binghamton. I'm not sure why you would, but you could.

There are closer SUNY campuses than Binghamton. I consider Binghamton to be at least South central NY or really the Eastern part of the Southern Tier. - only thing it is west of is NYC.... ;-)

[wooley12]

You could tour Alfred Tech or Toilet Bowl U. across the street. But why.

[iceman]

Always kinda forget how big NY really is, it sure seemed like a hell of a long way from Binghamton to Albany last time I drove it.

[nopainnojane]

Being from Watkins Glen, I am bias to the State Park there, nice hike through the gorge. You can also hit up the lakefront. I understand that also have a rails to trails from Watkins as well. Corning is also another nice area, The Glass Museum is fun, still does not get old after my first trip over 30 years ago.

I would say you could head towards Elmira for everything Mark Twain, but that place is a shit hole. Ithaca is a good possibility, about another 1/2 hour from Watkins Glen.

[Tunco]

This weekend is Cornell graduation, come to Ithaca some other time.

[warthog]

That is one of the prettiest areas of this country that time of year. Just chill, take pictures, fish, etc. I wouldn't go too far from where you are going to be. That 6 weeks of summer in NY, no place I'd rather be than in the Southern Tier.

You fly fish right? Bass flys- topwater, at dawn and dusk. Jealous.

[warthog]

If you've never been to Ellicottville, just do that. You will love it. Feels like a western town like a small Aspen or Telluride. The brew pub there is the best. Memorial day should be pretty busy, which is a good thing. Lots of stuff to do. They have an alpine adventure course thing up at Holiday Valley now, plus the mtn biking is some of the best I have experienced. Go over to Mud Sweat'n Gears- they'll hook you up.

PM Baconzoo for better, more current info. I think he is the mayor by now.
http://www.ellicottvilleny.com/

[Loon]

Get up to the finger lakes. Plenty of cool stuff to see and do besides wine. I'd suggest hopping from lake to lake by car or bike. Lots of state parks. As everyone has said its just plain gorgeous up there. Take advantage and check it out

Nice to see some of my fellow upstaters posting. REPRESENTING Big Flats muthafukers

[huckbucket]

Listen bitches. Stop outing WNY. We like it nice and quiet here.

[Tunco]

REPRESENTING Big Flats muthafukers

Big Flats, home of Stan's Notubes.

[booner]

bump. We don't drink, so wineries aren't in the cards.

oh...yer fucked then. the middle to south end of the lakes and everything just south of them is the gem around here. It's perty.

[iceman]

Listen bitches. Stop outing WNY. We like it nice and quiet here.

I never even heard of Hemlock lake before. Pretty.

[smmokan]

Big Flats, home of Stan's Notubes.

Yep, I've known the Koziateks for about 20 years.... but it's funny, I refuse to go tubeless on my bikes.

[huckbucket]

I never even heard of Hemlock lake before. Pretty.

It's a reservoir so no houses on the lake and horsepower limits for boats. Just about perfect.

Purchased by the state of NY in 2010 along with another lake right next door to create the Hemlock - Canadice State Forest. Hopefully will never be developed like its brethren to the east (Honeoye, Canandaigua, Cayuga, Seneca, etc).