Fancy a Road Trip (Upstate New York)

She played last year. So did the Village People and Pat Boone!

(That said, I prefer the Altamont Fair, but that might just be nostalgia.)

Charo

I am going to be in Syracuse, Hamilton, etc. Tell me.

What do you want to know?

i'm sorry.

visit the finger lakes?

x-post -- How you're feeling. Tell him what's on your mind.

is that a euphemism

xp

I want to know everything. Dump your brain on me.

I'll be "visiting the finger lakes" on more than one occasion, don't you worry about that.

Uh, do you want to know like places to go and places to eat? Or whether or not you should move her?

Er, here?

yeah. the first thing. I'll move her later.

No I am just visiting

move her all night long, adam. you can do it!

rude

oh wait I'm not going to syracuse now. I'm driving to Hamilton from Toronto and back. What will I see?

what is the national dish of upstate new york?

oh wait I'm not going to syracuse now. I'm driving to Hamilton from Toronto and back. What will I see?

The Thruway.

Sounds great!

Most of the good stuff's out in the country. The best restaurant around here by far is Joelle's French Bistro, west of Syracuse, just outside Skaneateles. It's pricey, but really good. That town (not typing the name again) is nice too, a pretty lake and nice old buildings. Also a good Italian restaurant there called Rosalie's. Dinosaur BBQ, in Syracuse itself, is OK. Heid's hot dogs, in Liverpool (north of the city), is pretty amazing, if you get a chance.

Downtown Syracuse is mostly a sad place, but there are a few good things in Armory Square, particularly bars. The Empire and Syracuse Suds brew their own, and the Blue Tusk has a giant selection (and very good sandwiches).

Other stuff kinda depends on your tastes. There's lotsa kitchshy stuff to do, but not a lot of, you know, "good" things to do. For instance, I am probably going to the monster truck rally at the State Fairgrounds next weekend. To give you an idea of what there is to do. The best thing is probably to take a sunny day and drive along route 5, which passes through a bunch of pretty towns.

I've only been to Hamilton the town once or twice. I hear it's kinda dead these days. You mean the place Colgate is, right?

what is the national dish of upstate new york?

hillary.jpg

Oh yeah, then I take it all back.

Yes, Colgate

Thanks, Eppy!

Only 23 miles from Norwich! Could it be a sign?

yes, it could be a sign that says "Norwich - 23 miles".

np, though I should have said route 20 goes through some pretty towns, not route 5.

Yeah, I grew up in Syracuse, and there isn't all that much to see. Armory Square's kind of the default neighborhood to hang out in, and Eppy covered most of the highlights. The one good record store in Syracuse is on Walton St. there. The Middle Ages brewery is just west of there, too, and is an excellent place to drink for free.

Onondaga Lake is, I think, still the most polluted body of water in North America, but has a nice bike path/running trail system on the Liverpool side. Heid's, right across the road from the lake, has great hot dogs but somehow doesn't serve salt potatoes (Syracuse's only real enduring contribution to culinary America). The Everson downtown is a way better art museum than you'd expect to find in a city like Syracuse. There are some unbelievably great thrift stores all around the area.

En route to Hamilton, if you take US-20, you'll pass through Cazenovia, which is really pretty, and near Highland Forest, which is nice for hiking. If you have any abiding interest in boxing or baseball, their respective halls of fame are in Canastota and Cooperstown, each about 45 minutes or so from Hamilton. If you have any abiding interest in Benny Mardones concerts and playing poker against high school kids, the Turning Stone Casino isn't far away either.

The crappy local alt-weekly has a crappy website where you're liable to find entertainment listings and so forth.

God, it's the worst alt-weekly ever.

casino!

They don't have a liquor license!

Dry casino, unfortunately. But casino all the same.

america is so weird

Everyone around here has a weird resentment of the native american tribes, and so they do things like not give them a liquor license and try to take away their tax-exempt status.

(For the record, I grew up around here too.)

america is so weird

Check out the Destiny USA construction progress if you really want to see some shit. Is that big "SOME SEE STEEL - WE SEE JOBS" billboard still up on Hiawatha?

I don't think so, but the displays they have up in the mall are super-duper crazy. The Tuscan Village! And you can't smoke anywhere on mall property, even outside.

How much does gas cost in upstate new york?

Demi-timely revive, I might be around there in early September en route to Montreal, maybe. (Flying in via Burlington, which is ridiculously cheaper, then ferry ride across Lake Champlain and up via Amtrak.)

Depends on the area. Around here, $4.10 as of a few days ago.

xpost Ned the Amtrak ride through the north country is extremely slow, IIRC.

How hot/humid is it there right...now?

I was in Catskill and Hudson this weekend, and the surrounding hills. Purty.

and here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olana_State_Historic_Site

Revive!

We're going to be mooching around upstate with a car and without much of a plan at the start of next week, although we have to be in Ithaca by Thursday. Anything good happening, or must-go sights? Thinking about going up to the thousand islands, for one.

where are you flying into? albany? how many days do you have? 3?

Flying into JFK on Sat night, staying there and getting the car Sun morn and heading north, so four free nights, pretty much.

ok. thousand islands will probably be a 6 hr drive from nyc? maybe more. so i guess you'll want to stay in that area until you drive down to ithaca? upstate new york is pretty huge. i am from there.

do you like hiking?

Yeah, could definitely do a hike! Maybe on the pretty-scenery-with-mildly-challenging-slopes side of things rather than huff-puff-where's-the-bloody-summit, though.

I was thinking about getting as far north as Syracuse (and some Dinosaur BBQ if it's still good) on the Sun (about 4-5 hrs drive according to Google Maps), Then ??? and on to thousand islands on Tues/Wed, then finally down to Ithaca.

I just moved back to Syracuse (xpost to unemployment thread, etc).

Apart from my recommendations upthread: assuming you know about Boldt Castle already?

This is also probably when upstate NY is at its prettiest, weather-wise; if you can make it to the Adirondacks when you're up north, the foliage is even starting to change already.

I'm actually really partial to the west side of the park, which isn't nearly as touristy as the High Peaks area; there are a lot of cool decaying resort towns around Tupper Lake.

NB: Most of the summer stuff in the North Country shuts down immediately after Labor Day, so call ahead if you want to go anywhere in particular that might not be open. Anywhere in the 1000 Islands besides Alex Bay should basically be deserted by this point.

Dinosaur BBQ is still very good, also, and the Destiny banner has been replaced by something equally batshit (SAY YES TO SYRACUSE, iirc).

For hiking I really like Highland Forest, just south of Syracuse.

i've been to the salt museum in syracuse!
trying to think of easy hikes in the adirondacks to recommend but i might have to point you toward some website. they definitely exist. this one is the easiest of the high peaks with a nice view but it takes 4-5 hours. i remember seeing a group of kids going up it too.

that's 4-5 total, not one way. there is plenty of hiking all over, not just in the adirondacks, but i'm not as familiar with it. it could be too much driving, but nice driving.

oh yeah, i forgot about the post-labor day desertion too. but the leaves are a big draw for people (for some reason...) so some hotels should be open.

just now realizing how hard it is for me to advise tourists about new york because when my parents dragged me around when i was a kid i was like "boooooooringgggg." and most of the historical things i can think of are more localized. you might not be interested in the seneca falls convention or the home of abner doubleday. lol.

and definitely not the baseball hall of fame

haha i could probably say the same thing about the salt museum!

the harriet tubman home in auburn is actually pretty interesting though

This is top stuff guys, thanks a lot!

Yeah, definitely planning a visit to Boldt Castle. Didn't know about the Labor day thing, though, thanks for the warning! Should be able to make time for the Adirondacks -- am really glad to hear that about the weather. I wasn't sure what we'd get, and autumn foliage sounds great -- interesting that all the really pretty stuff on Flickr from that area seems to be taken as the season's changing, too.

The Cascade mountain climb sounds perfect too harbl: that's a lot less than some of the slogs I've endured in the Highlands here, so shouldn't be a problem.

Any hotels to look out for especially?
xp

hopefully it won't rain on you! i know nothing about hotels up there, sorry.

this is silly but if you see a stewart's you should get an ice cream cone. a taste of the real new york. they allegedly have the #1 vanilla ice cream in the world (according to their website).

I went to college around about 45 minutes from Ithaca for a couple years on the other side of Seneca Lake. The whole Finger Lakes region is beautiful. There are tons of vineyards if you're into wine tasting. Watkins Glen is a very cute town with a gorgeous park for walking/hiking etc. The Belhurst Castle in Geneva is probably really expensive but it's gorgeous for dinner or a brief stay if you do wind up traveling around Seneca Lake. http://www.belhurst.com/

If you are taking Route 17 between NYC and Ithaca then go to the Roscoe Diner for lunch or pie so I can live vicariously thru you.

And while you're upstate pls get some pizza and with a side for blue cheese for dipping.

ah, you know what, now that i look at the map cascade looks like a much longer drive from thousand islands than i thought. yesterday when i searched for it on google maps it showed something totally different than i was thinking of, and that thing was much further west. i'm going to see what i can find for something similar in the western adirondacks.

I will happily eat pie (and pizza, which is not pie obv) on your behalf. I'm sure Stet will do so too. If not, I'll have double helpings.

this stuff is around st. lawrence county five ponds and cranberry lake. bear mountain might be a good one. but be careful when looking for directions to places because there are multiple bear mountains in new york, including bear mountain state park downstate.

these are all in franklin county and will take about 3+ hours to get to from thousand islands. azure mountain and st. regis mountain look the most interesting but might be farther than you're willing to drive.

cosign on cranberry lake; my grandparents had a camp there when i was younger, and i spent a ton of summers there. really cool little town, with maybe 50 or so year-round residents.

i think a lot of the trailheads around there are pretty new, but i hiked around there a lot when i was a kid - if you can get access to one of the abandoned lumber railroads that are still around the area you'll see parts of the woods that haven't really been touched in a hundred years or so. the tooley pond area, just north of the village of cranberry lake itself, also has a lot of awesome waterfalls and is very remote (though i think there's still a marked hiking trail somewhere).

http://theband.hiof.no/band_pictures/watkins_glen_gd_ab_tb.jpg
cosign

has anyone ever gone to the FDR Museum & Library w/out a car? i'm trying to figure out how to get to it from the Poughkeepsie train station, but the FDR and NYS sites don't seem real helpful beyond "4-mile taxi ride." It looks like the local bus from P'sie doesn't go closer than the Hyde Park Stop & Shop...

This thread makes me think of:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxIZzTU53Ag

Sorry Morbs, that's probably not much help

to answer my own question, there's a shuttle.

http://www.nps.gov/hofr/planyourvisit/experience-the-roosevelt-ride.htm