Sunday, November 29, 2015

Photo Diary | Upstate NY Road Trip

Preston & I had an exciting Thanksgiving. Let me start from the beginning. Last minute, Preston's dad and brother got flights up Wednesday evening which resulted in David's Tea shopping, dinner at Talde, and a night of board games in our apartment in Brooklyn. Of course, we started the next morning with Bagel Pub- a favourite we introduce to all our guests-and headed off to New Jersey. Thanksgiving day was full of family and food. Before the quintessential meal, we went on a walk to White Rock. I love how welcoming Preston's family has been to me, ever since we were just two crazy teenagers in love.

Friday morning started our road trip through upstate New York. Preston and I have been living in New York City for almost five years and wanted to see a different side of the state of New York. The extra days of Thanksgiving weekend made it a perfect opportunity to see the sights. Our ultimate destination was Niagara Falls. We went through Scranton, PA humming the office theme song along the way, rode around Ithaca and Cornell, and edged our way up the wine country of the Finger Lakes, passing small farm town after small farm town. What we can only imagine as a complete one-eighty from the life we live in Brooklyn.

Our first major stop was Watkins Glen park. A beautiful hike of a million waterfalls. I think it might be the coolest natural location I have ever been to. I'll confess, the park is closed for the season, so we had to jump the fence. The rule-follower in me freaked out a bit a lot, and I only let go my breath when I saw others had done the same. It was an uncharacteristically warm day, so it wasn't dangerous. With ice it definitely would be though, so I would suggest coming in season.


We had a lovely dinner at an Italian restaurant in town, enjoying some of that local wine. At 4pm. We were exhausted from the long day of travel and the gorgeous hike, so it felt way later than that! For 'lodging' we decided to set up camp in the Finger Lakes National Forest. It was so fun to light a fire and play some cards in the tent. We went to bed early, and woke up the same and traveled the final leg to Niagara.


It was a weekend of waterfalls. It was amazing to see the roaring rapids of Niagara Falls. I'll admit,  I imagined them a bit taller, but I hadn't conceptualized how powerful the waves were! Now, I really can't understand the whole going over in a barrel thing. We brought the drone and managed to get an amazing video of the falls. We were nervous with the risk of losing it, but all is well. We stayed on the U.S. side-so we didn't get the panoramas- but we loved the feeling of standing right above the falls. For a souvenir, we stopped at Starbucks to get the You Are Here Niagara Falls mug to increase my collection. I am excited to drink holiday teas from it.

Another 7 hours later and we were back to Preston's grandma's house in New Jersey. We ended our Thanksgiving weekend by helping decorate her house for Christmas. It was the perfect ending to our Thanksgiving weekend. I am so thankful for having my travel buddy. I mean it has to be love when you enjoy spending 14 hours in a car together, right? I love that we can share adventures together and family time too.

No comments:

Post a Comment