Watkins Glen State Park is a photographer’s wet dream (pun intended). The narrow gorge reveals amazing beauty at every turn. The gorge trail is seamlessly integrated with the surroundings and is spectacular in its own right with several bridges, tunnels, and a spiral staircase. We spent the night in the adjacent campground affording us an early start and a good bit of solitude on our five mile hike.

We continued our trek across the Finger Lakes region somewhat disappointed that severe drought conditions have left several waterfalls dry.  Our final destination for the evening was Letchworth State Park, renowned as the “Grand Canyon of the East” and winner of the USA TODAY Readers’ Choice Award for Best State Park in the United States. Jeanine managed to secure us lodging at the Glen Iris Inn even though it was fully reserved when I tried to book a room earlier in the week.  The inn overlooks the most majestic of three major waterfalls in the park and serves an amazing dinner which we enjoyed after several more miles of hiking in the area.

Jeanine and I departed for a long-weekend, waterfall tour of New York state this morning. We stopped in Albany to visit with my mother and sister for lunch and then again in Schenectady for a brief visit to the “Little Italy” neighborhood.  Perreca’s Bakery is mentioned in one of the stories in Jeanine’s forthcoming memoir cookbook and she requested that I take a photo of it. Across the street we visited Civitello’s Spumoni Shop where they make the best lemon ice on the planet.  I had a pint and later wished I had order a quart. We continued driving until we reached Watkins Glen State Park where we arrived just in time to pitch our tent before the sun set.