2011-06 Watkins Glen, NY

We traveled up from Ft Chiswell, Virginia to Watkins Glen, NY stopping overnight in Winchester, VA.  The drive up, especially the last 100 miles or so was through some really beautiful countryside in Pennsylvania.  That last section in PA was through rolling hills/mountains.  The terrain in northern PA and southern NY is more "rounded" than the mountains in the southern smoky mountains, but the elevation seems about as high.  We had a few long climbs up some fairly steep grades, but most of the route followed along rivers and through the mountain valleys.

The one word to describe everything was "green".  Our views were primarily of green forests and fields of grass.  With so much rain in the area, everything was very lush.  The farmers grow lots of grass for hay as well as corn.  I imagine the reason is that there is a lot of dairy farming.  We have seen many farms with multiple silos for storing grain with dairy cows in the surrounding fields.  In fact we have seen more dairy farming here than the areas we have visited in Wisconsin and Vermont, two states know for their cheese and dairy production.  The picture above is of a typical barn in the area.  This one is on the hill that sits above Watkins Glen and the campground we used.

 This a view of the farm on the hillside from near the campground, which adjoins a marina.

Below is the view looking from the farm down at Seneca Lake, one of the beautiful NY Finger Lakes.

These photos are of the area south of Watkins Glen.  This valley leads to Corning, NY which is about 20 miles south.

Here is a view from the south shore of Seneca Lake.

Were are a couple of sunset photos taken from the city park that is just across the road from the campground.  We often took a late evening stroll along the lake.

The city put on a very nice fire works display from this park.

We have enjoyed our stay in NY.  However this campground has been a far cry from the peace and quiet we enjoyed back at Solitude Pointe in SC.  This campground sits next to a very busy highway, especially on the weekends.  Plus for the July 4th weekend, there was a festival in the park across the road with a loud band.  We had to leave.  We rode over to Ithaca, NY to spend the afternoon away from the noise getting back shortly before the fireworks.  Fortunately the band did not continue to play afterward.