In this episode of the Travel Squad Podcast, we’re exploring the Finger Lakes Region of Upstate New York, a perfect fall destination known for dramatic waterfalls, scenic lakes, and world-class wineries.

From hiking the iconic Watkins Glen State Park and chasing Ithaca’s best waterfalls to sipping Riesling at Sheldrake Point Winery and driving the Seneca Lake Scenic Byway, we’re sharing our full Finger Lakes weekend itinerary, travel tips, and must-visit stops.

Download our Weekend Finger Lakes Itinerary to take this exact trip already planned in the optimal route!

Finger Lakes Episode Highlights: 

• How to get to the Finger Lakes 
• Where to stay in the Finger Lakes 
• Finger Lakes Wine Trail 
• Best state parks in the Finger Lakes 
• Best waterfalls in the Finger Lakes 

Our top recommended stays in the Finger Lakes in Upstate New York:

• Watkins Glen: The Benjamin Hotel or Lakeside Resort
• Penn Yan: Hampton Inn Penn Yan or Best Western Plus Vineyard Inn
• Ithaca: Hilton Garden Inn Ithaca
• Or check out these hotels in Finger Lakes

If you love waterfalls as much as we do, then check out our Oregon Waterfall Road Trip too!

Find a great flight deal to Rochester by signing up for Thrifty Traveler Premium and get flight deals sent straight to your inbox. Use our promo code TSP to get $20 off your first year subscription.

Fingerlakes Weekend Trip – Episode Transcript

0:35

And get ready to embark on a new adventure with us around the globe.

Hello fellow traveler.

Hey, squaddies.

Welcome to this week’s episode of the Travel Squad Podcast.

Today we are taking you to the Finger Lake region in upstate New York.

So Brittany and I did a couple days in the Finger Lake region of New York in October of 2025.

0:56

We had a really good time up here.

We actually went with her dad and girlfriend and we did a lot of exploring of this region, the nature that’s up here from the waterfalls to the fall foliage color change, as well as doing wine tasting because this is a big wine tasting region just as well.

1:14

So I’m really excited to dive into this episode and tell you guys all about it.

I didn’t know it was a big wine tasting region.

I knew that it’s iconic for fall foliage.

Beautiful place, lots of waterfalls.

It’s been on my list of places I want to visit in the fall and I’m excited that you guys went.

1:30

It looked like a really beautiful trip.

It looked like there was a lot of wine.

Maybe a title for this could be Waterfalls and wine.

Yes, I did feel like that was the theme of the trip.

It was like we went and explored waterfalls.

We went to a winery, we went and saw more waterfalls, we went to another winery.

So it was like that all weekend long.

1:47

So it was definitely a waterfalls and winery type trip.

Where exactly is the Finger Lakes region?

So I mean, they say region and you think would be kind of like tight and small, right?

But if you just imagine the shape of New York State, it’s just in the north and it’s spread quite far out because the Finger Lakes is a series of 11 lakes in upstate New York, and it just stretches from West to east, east to West.

2:12

So it takes a while to get all around in that region because these lakes are long and narrow.

So they don’t have roads that cut across that you got to go up, down, in between circle all around it.

So just imagine upstate New York, just a nice long stretch where all of these lakes are.

2:29

So it is a large region, but just geographically and geologically this area is filled with, you know, not too tall a mountain, mountains, hills, gorgeous, etcetera.

So you really do have a lot of rugged nature up here as well.

But again, like we said, the the region is filled with waterfalls, lakes, wineries, there’s even a Finger Lakes wine trail.

2:52

So also there are a lot of craft breweries, cideries, and an amazing local food scene.

So collectively I believe there’s almost 200 wineries and breweries in the area.

So you get a good mix of outdoor activities and locals small town charm.

3:08

If you were going to fly in to visit the Finger Lakes, you’re most likely going to fly into, let’s say, Rochester and it’s southeast of Rochester.

Or you could fly into Syracuse, and it’s just southwest of Syracuse, so it just kind of spans in between that region.

3:25

There are some smaller regional airports that you could fly into, but if you’re looking for like a bigger, more International Airport, that’s going to be the ones you’re going to fly into instead.

So we do have some tips that we’re going to dive into before we dive straight into the episode.

And one of them is going to be that you do need a rental car.

3:42

Like I just mentioned, you’re going to be flying into, let’s say, Rochester or Syracuse, and then you’re going to need a rental car to get to the Finger Lake regions.

We flew into.

And it took us over an hour to get to Geneva, which is the first stop that we made in the Finger Lakes to get some food before we made our way down to our Airbnb, which was located in Burdette.

4:05

Another tip is pack layers because we went during falls so it can be cold, but during the day if you’re moving around doing a little bit of hiking in the trails and it’s not too strenuous of hiking at all, you can warm up but the mornings and evenings are cold.

The days were still kind of chilly depending on the day, but it can and warm up.

4:23

So just do have those layers.

And if you’re planning this trip, just be mindful of the weather and when things close in winter, a lot of the trails and gorgeous clothes because they get really icy and slippery and they start to close the trails down in mid to late October.

4:38

We were actually starting to see some of that because we did go, I want to say we went October 23rd to the the 27th.

So we were starting to see a little bit of that with the preparation of some of the trails being closed down.

And then in summer, it’s a really good time to go.

You can do some kayaking on the lake and in spring the waterfalls are going to be at their Max flow.

4:59

So that’s also a really good time to go.

But we went and followed more, particularly for the fall foliage.

And there are a lot of state parks in this region and most of them do charge for parking.

But be sure to keep keep your receipt because it’s good for all other state parks that you visit in the day.

5:17

So for us, I don’t think we visited multiple state parks in a day.

We kind of like spread it out one one day and then it’s at 1 the next.

But if you’re going to be hitting multiple in a day, save that receipt because it’s good for one day at any State Park in the region.

5:32

Another thing that we learned is if you are buying and purchasing wine, it is not sold in the grocery stores.

Beer is sold in the grocery stores.

So you you actually have to go to a liquor store that sells wine and spirits to get wine.

5:48

Did you learn that because you were trying to buy wine or did a winery share that?

We learned that because we were trying to buy wine.

I mean, the first day that we landed, we’re like, all right, we’re staying at an Airbnb.

We need to get provisions, you know, food, beer, wine, etcetera.

And we knew that our Airbnb had a hot tub more like how nice is it going to be to have some wine or beer sitting in the hot tub in this cool, crisp weather.

6:09

And we couldn’t find any.

And we were checking out then the lady and the grocery store told us, oh, like, you can’t buy wine in grocery stores.

You have to go to the licensed liquor stores.

And that’s one of the weird things that I just always feel like is so different.

And every state is their liquor and alcohol rules.

6:26

And I always think back to this one thing.

Everybody rags on California for being over regulated.

And I’m not saying that it’s not, but I feel like we are the most free when it comes to, like alcohol.

You know, you go to other states.

Well, yeah, sure.

And especially with like open liquor containers, other stuff like that, But I mean, just in general, like California, right?

6:47

You could buy wine and beer in a grocery store, a liquor store.

They’re not specifically licensed state liquor stores or there’s not certain hours that you need to buy it, But other states have that, right.

And so I just find that so interesting.

So just be aware.

Of it is closed from 2:00 AM to 6:00 AM by law well.

7:07

Sure, but unless you’re an alcoholic or a bum, and I hate to say that like, no one’s really going out between 2:00 AM and 6:00 AM to pick up some booze.

You may work the night shift you know and want to drink in the morning.

Yeah, well then go on your lunch break and go pick one up so you have it when you’re off, I guess.

7:23

But point being, Kim, you’re ruining what I’m saying.

Realistically, California is not like that, right?

But in New York, you got to go certain places to buy certain things.

Squatty’s Before we get into the thick of this episode, I do want to remind you about all of the resources we have at travelsquadpodcast.com.

7:40

We have a monthly newsletter that you can sign up for that gets you deals on itineraries and different travel.

We have an episode page for every single episode we have that has links to everything that we’ve mentioned, hotels, things to do, all of that.

We have links to our Amazon storefront there.

7:56

So if we’ve ever mentioned things like shoe bags or wine bags to bring wine back home from your trip, you can find that all there trumpsquadpodcast.com.

So we flew in to Rochester on a Thursday.

We left at 6:35 AM from San Diego, made it to Rochester at around 5:15.

8:15

We picked up our rental car and then we were like, OK, where are we going to have dinner for the night?

Because it’s all we were going to really be able to do.

It was already past sunset, so it was dark out.

And so we decided to drive into Geneva, grab some Thai food at the Elephant in Geneva.

8:32

Really good Thai food actually and we hit up a grocery store there.

We went to Wegmans and there’s two major grocery stores in this area.

There’s a grocery store named Tops and one named Wegmans and we would highly recommend Wegmans over Tops.

The quality there’s so much better.

8:48

So we picked up some fruit, some just snacks to have some charcuterie board things, some beer, and then we couldn’t pick up wine there because they didn’t sell spirits or wine in the grocery store.

But we picked up some things before we headed to our Airbnb and Burdett.

9:04

We rented A2 bed, 2 bathroom, amazing little Airbnb.

It had a great kitchen, this amazing front porch and back deck.

The back deck had seating and it also had an amazing hot tub that we used every single night.

9:21

So all we did that night was just kind of settle in, use the hot tub and have a beer and relax.

So Friday morning we hit the ground running.

We woke up early enough to just have breakfast at the Airbnb and go to walk in Glenn State Park.

9:36

Now we went to Watkins Glenn State Park first just because it was the closest to us where we were staying in Burdette.

I don’t think it was more than a 10 minute drive to get to this beautiful State Park.

The park is open dawn until dusk, but we got there when it opened around eight in that time range and we were there until 10.

9:56

So a really quick visit but a lot to do in this park.

Yeah, This State Park is known for the Gorge Trail.

It winds through this narrow Canyon.

There’s 19 different waterfalls that cascade over these ancient rock formations.

It has some stone bridges in it, these tunnels that are carved into the cliffs.

10:14

Even get to walk behind a waterfall.

The trail itself is like 2 miles long.

And you really only want to do it one way because otherwise you’re kind of getting traffic to go back and then you’re not seeing the waterfalls at their peak.

But it was just a really great trail.

And there wasn’t a lot of people on the trail.

10:31

But we went, and I don’t know if it was because of the time of the year that we went or if we went just first thing in the morning.

And they did have some construction on the trail as well.

So we decided to park at the South entrance and cut in because the construction was happening towards the main entrance.

10:46

I really like this trail because it gives you a nice perspective.

You’re starting kind of like at the top of the gorge.

You could see the fall foliage, but then you get down into the gorge where it’s following, you know, a little Creek, river, and of course you have the waterfalls there, but you are up monks, just straight rock formations in the gorge.

11:04

But what I really liked about this trail is that they make the trail fit in naturally to the gorge.

It’s carved out of stone.

It’s not necessarily like muddy.

You’re walking like it’s just done up in a way that the trail seamlessly fits in with the environment.

11:19

And I really did appreciate that.

It reminds me of the Flume Gorge trail that we went on before.

That was the vision I had in my head as you’re describing this.

I love gorge trails.

They are so beautiful because there’s so much water in waterfalls.

Everything’s like lush or dark brown.

11:36

And I love the vibe of these trails.

And it sounds like it’s really pretty.

I’ve actually heard of Watkins Glen State Park for many years, so it sounds like it lives up to the vision I had in my head.

Yeah.

Definitely.

So my dad’s girlfriend was a little bit intimidated about the stone stairs.

It listed that there was like 800 stairs, but that’s only if you’re walking from like one side to the complete opposite side.

11:58

We did come across some stairs, but we did not come across 800 stairs during our visit here.

And then we did do the rim trail on the way out so then you can look down at the gorge from a higher elevation.

But I would highly recommend going early in the morning to beat the crowds because we pretty much had it all to ourselves at some parts.

12:19

And then just after this quick little adventure in Watkins Glen State Park, we were like, you know what, We got ourselves a little thirst for some wine.

Why not go wine tasting early in wine region out here?

But along the way, we did stop at Hector Falls.

It is along State Route 414 and it’s literally right off of the highway.

12:40

So you would have to park kind of on the shoulder on the highway, but you’re just really up close with this beautiful waterfall.

It’s going to be hard to take pictures in this area because of course, again, you’re on the shoulder of the road.

So somebody can’t really step far back out to get a nice grand view of it for the photo.

12:59

But nevertheless, I would recommend if you’re passing this, you stop, you take a look and you can really appreciate it’s probably one of the nicest waterfalls and just on the road.

So if people are driving real quick, they’ll see it but not really stop and appreciate it.

Yeah, and the water flows directly into Seneca Lake, so it’s really nice Rd. stop waterfall real quick too.

13:17

So we decided after this stop that we were going to go wine tasting and we went to Damiani Wine Cellars.

And one of the reasons we went here was because when we arrived to our Airbnb, our host gave us A2 for one tasting cards to go to this winery and they had a selection of wine tastings.

13:37

They had white wine tasting, red wine tasting, their greatest hits, new releases, or you could do choose your own and it was 5 wines for $15.00.

So we all did the choose your own.

And this wine cellar had really amazing views overlooking Seneca Lake.

13:54

I want to give you guys a squad tip to start.

I’m just going to come out and say it right.

This is a wine region, but this isn’t like a Napa or Bordeaux region in France or anything.

The wine.

Wine is good, but of course wine, if you know anything about it, and I’m not saying I’m an expert, but of course certain regions, even if they’re known for wine, grow things better.

14:14

They do have red wine here.

If you like red wine, I’m not saying don’t try it, but I would steer away from it.

The red wines in this region aren’t necessarily very good, but they’re whites and the varietals of whites that they grow here amazing.

Like the Whites are good, but the Reds from this region that we all tried, I think all four of us were in consensus that nothing here was like great for the Reds, so.

14:37

What is it about these Reds that isn’t hitting for you?

Well, I don’t know the science on why, whether it be the soil, the temperature, whatever, but I mean minus the fact of just being really clear, like you taste it and it’s not very good, the Reds in general.

And I’m not talking about this winery particularly.

14:55

I’m talking about this region like we went to multiple wineries and none of the Reds we thought were great.

I think that in this region it gets very cold and white wines thrive in colder weather.

I mean it borders Ontario, which is a huge white wine region too, so that makes sense.

15:12

But just trying to understand the red, was it the flavor?

Like they weren’t strong, they were just like had an.

They just weren’t bold.

Not that I want like oh a bold like taste like I don’t know how to describe it other than no, not sweet at all.

Just no depth of flavor.

15:28

Like, I mean, it’s just one of those things where if you taste something, you can’t describe why you don’t like it.

You just don’t like it.

And I don’t think the Reds.

Out here come out to be good watered down table wine maybe.

It sounds like yeah.

OK, that’s a great way to put it.

That’s a.

Great way everywhere in the region.

15:43

The white wines were great, so no complaints about the white wines.

OK, well you love white wines, so you were probably loving it.

Yes, I was my dad and Jamal who tend to go more red heavy.

They quickly learned that you have to enjoy the whites and that’s where you’re going to find the value in the wine tasting.

16:02

And a lot of the wineries that you go to will tell you we are known for our whites.

They do have Reds, they do have other things that you could taste, but they’re known for their whites.

So just know that going in.

So we did A5 wine tasting, I think I got 1 red, but the rest of the wines that I got were all white and I did enjoy them.

16:19

Had really good views of the lake.

Fall foliage was in peak effect, so that was fantastic.

I’m really glad we went this time of year because I feel like we hit it in peak season.

I feel like we did too in this tasting room in the Damiani Wine Cellars.

16:34

I just really liked.

It has beautiful open windows so you could see down to the lake.

You can see the fall foliage colors.

It even has a deck and balcony area that you could sit on outside as well if you wanted to.

We opted to sit inside but it has that deck region too.

16:49

So great winery for the views and their whites.

From there we went just down the road, about 3 minutes, and we went to a Grist iron brewery.

It’s a microbrewery in the region.

And I decided actually not to get a beer.

I got an hard apple cider, which was delicious.

17:06

Everyone else did get a beer and then we were a little hungry, so we did split two pizzas.

So it’s a great little stop.

Also has lake views as well.

Has a big yard that you can go on, so if the weather’s nice, you can enjoy your beverage inside or outside and a lot of open seating.

17:21

Yeah, I really like this place.

It’s a good atmosphere.

I think it’s fun for groups of people, families, a great place to just kind of get a change of scenery, so to speak.

And of course, if you are going to continue drinking, whether it be beer here or anywhere else, or more wine, they do have good pub food that will help you absorb that alcohol that you will be drinking later.

17:41

So I enjoyed our time here at Crist Iron Brewery.

And Jamal, you mentioned earlier that if you go to two different state parks, you can actually use your same receipt so you don’t have to pay for parking twice.

So we actually did go to Buttermilk Falls State Park, and this State Park is just outside the town of Ithaca.

17:59

The main draw is the waterfall, and it’s just a beautiful wide cascade that goes down a series of natural stone steps.

And there’s a swimming area on the base.

Of course, it was too cold for us to go swimming, but this is a waterfall that you have like a lot of bang for your buck.

18:15

All you have to do is go straight from the parking lot to the overlook and you’re right there.

They do have a Gorge trail that you can enjoy, but the Gorge trail was actually closed Monday through Friday starting mid-october, so we didn’t hike it.

What did you go in mid-october?

18:32

We did more on the late October side of things, actually.

Late October, so like early October or even late September would ideally be the best time to go here for the fall and for stuff to be open I.

Mean for stuff to be open and trails because again like Britney was saying earlier, some of them start to close down mid to late October.

18:49

But if you go in September, I don’t know if weather permitting, right, because it’s one of those things every year it’s going to be just a little bit different.

But September, I would say might not get as much fall foliage color.

You may get the yellows, but I don’t know if you’re going to get the Reds and the golds and the oranges at that point in time too.

19:07

So just really all a matter perspective.

But going to see the waterfall is the highlight.

So it’s it’s an easy one to see.

It’s visible right from the parking lot area.

And then from here, we decided to go to New Field Covered Bridge, which is the oldest covered bridge in daily use in New York.

19:27

And it was built in 1853.

Nothing super exciting about it.

If it’s not on your way I would probably skip it, but since we were in the area we just decided to check it out.

It looks like a barn that straddles the gorge, so to speak, right?

It’s like a covered bridge.

And again, you can still use it in daily operation.

19:45

We drove through it.

But one thing I want to say about Buttermilk Falls State Park is we put it in in the GPS and it took us to a different parking lot where the waterfall is not.

It took us a little bit of time to figure it out.

Because it took us to where the Gorge trail starts so that you could end at the.

20:01

Waterfall.

So just when you’re putting it in, if you’re not trying to do the trail and want to just get to the waterfall, be mindful of where it’s actually taking you on that.

And to your point, Brittany, of where you were saying, oh, I said that about the state parks, I don’t think we did two in a day.

20:17

You’re right.

We did do it here.

But I think they stopped charging for parking at a certain point in time too, because I don’t remember having to show the receipt or maybe we put it on the dash.

But nevertheless, some of these places do stop at a certain point in time charging for parking as well.

But really fun Buttermilk Falls State Park.

20:35

So Saturday was a day that we were going to spend mostly around the Ithaca region.

We started our day in Taconic Falls State Park, and this was about a 30 minute drive from Burdette.

It’s located near Ithaca, and it’s home to one of the most impressive waterfalls in the entire northeast.

20:53

So it plunges about 215 feet down South.

Tall wise, it’s taller than Niagara Falls, and it’s in this dramatic gorge that was carved by centuries of rushing water.

So we did.

All of the trails in this region are called the Gorge Trail because all of the waterfalls are like carving these gorges.

21:13

So it’s like every time we go to a State Park, what hike are you going to do?

You’re going to do the Gorge Trail hike.

So that’s the hike we did.

We did the Gorge Trail.

It was 1.8 miles round trip, but it was a pretty easy flat for the most part.

Walk that follows the Creek that’s coming off of the waterfall and then it takes you directly underneath to the base of the falls and you’re kind of on this like viewing platform.

21:36

So we went and did that.

There was actually Falcons flying in the area, so you could look up above, see the Falcons flying above you, look at the waterfall.

And then when we finish this hike, we drove to an overlook where you can do like an upper overlook to view the falls and you can see the viewing platform that you were at earlier in the day down below you.

21:56

Yeah.

So if somebody has mobility issues, who you’re travelling with, I would say you could just go to the overlook.

The overlook at the top looking down was really cool, gave a great perspective of the falls.

But this trail here, like when we were doing the 1.8 mile round trip that Brittany was talking about, I mean, for the most part, like you said, flat, I don’t even remember where there’s any sort of elevation on it.

22:18

So it is a nice trail just meandering through that’s really scenic and really pretty.

So a lot of times here in this episode where we’re talking about like we did hikes, I wouldn’t even call them hikes.

They’re really just trails walking through.

It’s not very strenuous at all.

Yeah, that made it really nice as well.

22:34

So from here we went to Ithaca and we did the Cascadilla Gorge Trail.

It’s one of Ithaca’s hidden gems.

And what’s really nice about this one is it actually starts kind of in a residential neighborhood and it connects downtown Ithaca to Cornell University.

22:51

But there’s a series of waterfalls that are just right there.

Part of this trail was closed, I think for construction, not because of the time of the year, but for construction.

But we did go as far as we could go.

It was really nice.

You really feel like you’re in a residential neighborhood.

And it’s almost like you have like this Greenbelt behind your your house, but instead of it being a Greenbelt, it’s like this water waterfall trail.

23:13

Like when we first arrived and Brittany said we’re here, I, I didn’t even see it because I was like, well, where’s the waterfall?

Like we’re in a residential neighborhood, but the road kind of goes over the Creek as it’s like flowing out and kind of underground a little bit.

But then you just get to this area with that.

23:30

You said it’s like the Greenbelt.

Then you get into this hidden gorge that has the steps that climb up to Cornell University.

But even still like what we were able to explore and walk of, it’s just really quaint and nice.

And it’s just like this.

This is in the middle of the city and a neighborhood.

23:45

Just really cool.

Yeah, and we continued our waterfall journey.

That was waterfall quest #2 we went to another one.

We went to Ithaca Falls Trail.

This is only at about a 20 minute drive from there.

And Ithaca Falls has 150 foot waterfall just in downtown Ithaca on Fall Creek.

24:05

It’s very accessible.

You can walk right up to the base, and there’s a ton of people just there enjoying the waterfall.

There’s places to sit.

People were fishing also in this Creek as well, so if you like to fish, you might be able to catch something here.

24:20

Yeah, And you could see this straight from the road and a bridge that crosses or you can get up close, like Brittany had said.

We parked, we kind of walked up to it, a really cool looking waterfall.

I loved it a lot.

And it was one of those moments where it was just here that I really realized, like, my gosh, this region has waterfalls everywhere, just sprinkled in the middle of suburbia because you still are in the middle of, you know, homes, the university is nearby, etcetera.

24:50

So it’s not like these things are like isolated nature pockets.

They’re just really in the middle of everything.

And I thought that was cool.

Yeah.

Yeah, and the full foliage was just showing off here as well, so it was really, really nice.

From here, we decided that we were going to take a quick little break to grab a drink, so we went to Liquid State Brewing Company.

25:09

I got a strawberry rhubarb sour that was delicious and really refreshing, and I think the rest of you guys got an oatmeal stout.

Yeah, me, your dad and Stephanie, I believe all got the Oatmeal Stout.

I’m usually not a stout person, but there are other beers here.

25:25

They were more IPA heavy and I knew you were going to possibly be having wine later.

And I didn’t want to drink Ipas.

I want something with a little bit less alcohol.

I love coffee.

And so the oatmeal stout had it, said it had hints of coffee in it.

So I got it and it was very, very delicious.

So we took a nice relaxing break here after just kind of exploring those 3 waterfalls from earlier and the State Park.

25:47

And then we built up our appetite.

And so we were in a debate on what we were going to get, but it was cold out, but not freezing by any means.

But we’re like, OK, it’s fall, it’s cold.

What sounds good?

And we’re like soup.

And we went to a Vietnamese fuss spot called Saigon Kitchen.

26:06

And one thing, you know, we grew up in Woodland, which is not a university city, but right down the road is UC Davis, which is a university city.

And university cities usually tend to have good ethnic food.

And we knew we were in for a treat here.

This place was highly rated and aligned and a little bit of a wait.

26:24

So it did not disappoint.

And that fudge just warmed our soul here at Saigon Kitchen.

So we mentioned earlier we went on this trip with my dad and his girlfriend Stephanie.

Stephanie’s sister actually went to Cornell and she had mentioned that there was a suspension bridge near campus.

26:40

So we went to check out the Falls Creek Suspension Bridge, and it runs over the Fall Creek Gorge and connects to the Cornell University’s campus in Ithaca.

So you can go across it.

They now have it kind of gated, so like you can’t jump off.

26:56

I guess that was a problem in the past, people would jump off this bridge.

But you get views of the rushing water, the rocky cliffs, the forest around it, lots of fall colors.

So it’s just a quick little stop and you can explore the campus if you want to, or you could choose not to and just move on with your day.

27:13

I think the originally they built this too and I, I may be wrong on this, but I feel like I remember them saying they built it as a shortcut from campus to cross the gorge for like housing and other stuff that’s like in this region.

So students still use it today.

It’s not just like, oh, here’s a bridge.

27:28

It’s used in everyday hues, but it is actually quite high up and gives you a crazy perspective.

And there wasn’t a lot of water below.

But again, if you’re here in spring, I could only imagine what these waterfalls would look like when they’re flowing at full capacity.

This might be a dumb question, but does it snow in this region?

27:46

Absolutely, Absolutely.

Because I’m in my head thinking like, man, I want to move here.

This sounds so beautiful.

But the snow?

You’ll deal with the snow.

Yeah, it’s going to.

It’s going to snow on you for sure.

So we’re going to quickly mention two stops that we did make that we wouldn’t really recommend, but we’ll just tell you about them quickly.

28:04

So we did stop at the Cornell Botanical Garden and we saw the flower garden in Arboretum, which was nice.

And if you had nothing else to do and we’re really wanting to explore Ithaca, you could, but if you’re short on time, I’d probably skip it.

We also went to Wells Fall, which is another waterfall that’s in Ithaca, but it’s tucked behind an old stone mill.

28:26

And the way it’s described, it seems like you could see the waterfall, but where it’s positioned you actually can’t.

You’re kind of looking like almost at the side or back of it.

Yeah, you’re on the top of it and it’s it doesn’t flow in the direction for you to see it.

It flows the other direction down the gorge and Canyon.

28:43

So you really can’t even see the falls.

I think it gets notoriety because where that old mill is positioned, it’s a historic building, so you would have to climb a hill to go see it from the other side, but off the road you really can’t.

So I don’t see it as being worth it to do unless you really want to.

29:02

Yeah.

If you had more time, I would maybe consider it.

But we were on a time constraint because in this region and during this time of year, the wineries do close down at like 5 or 6 and it gets dark, you know, at like 5 or 6.

And we wanted to make it to Sheldrake Point Winery.

29:19

And so that’s the reason why we’re like, Nope, let’s just kind of skip that waterfall and go straight to the winery.

I really do wish more wineries would stay open later across the country.

They close at 5 or 6 and it’s just too early.

It’s too early, especially when you’re trying to visit and do other things, you’re like you want to kind of end at a winery.

29:37

But anyways, that’s the experience we had.

But Sheldrake Point Winery is known for its award-winning wines and has really good views of Cayuga Lake.

One quick question.

You’re bouncing between waterfalls, gorge trails, and wineries.

29:54

What are you wearing when you go to these wineries?

Honestly, we’re wearing the same stuff that we did on these Gorge trails.

I mean, a couple times we did bring a change of clothes just in case, but we soon realized that these trails are trails and not hiking.

30:10

So you’re not really getting dirty, you’re not strenuous, that you’re hot and sweaty, especially at least around this time of year when the weather is actually cool.

So we’re kind of like in jeans and flannel, at least me and I had like 1/4 zip up like.

Like athletic wear?

30:26

No, not at all.

I, I would, if anything, I would bring after the first day and I realized, oh, these aren’t like really strenuous ’cause like I said, they’re just really trails, not actually hikes.

The only thing that I would bring was my hiking shoes and then my normal Timberland boots that I would wear regularly ’cause I was like, all right, if the trail happens to be a little bit like watery, maybe with mud, or if it’s a stone trail and the water pools a little bit, you know, I don’t want to splash on my nicer shoes.

30:54

So that’s the only thing that I would bring.

Yeah, and I would agree, you can totally get away with wearing a cute ish outfit.

And if you don’t want to wear hiking boots, just know that like I know Kim, you wear your Timberlands a lot.

They might get a little dirty, but like you can get away with that type of outfit.

So I did bring a change of clothes, but I also just brought shoes to change into to match the outfit that I was going to wear.

31:14

OK, good to know.

So here at this winery we did a wine flight for five wines, but they also give you a welcome rose, so that really makes.

Oh, I love the welcome rose. 6 And it was only $15.00 for this wine tasting.

But they do have a restaurant here as well where you can order food if you wanted.

31:33

We opted not to order like food dinner wise here because we did something else later in the evening.

But at Sheldrake Winery, they did have a region where you can do the tastings at the bar where you’re standing, but you actually have the person or some all the a, if you will, or bartend or whatever you want to call it, who’s pouring It will tell you a little bit about the wines.

31:54

Or you could just sit in a main room where you don’t get that experience and you just order the wines that you want and nobody’s necessarily telling you about it.

That’s what we ended up doing.

I do think it’s important too for wineries to have restaurants.

A lot of these wineries out here just have booze and it’s important.

32:11

So I I wasn’t with you at Sheldrake Point Winery, but I’m already liking this one.

Yeah, yeah.

And well, you’re going to like it even more because like I said, we did not get food.

I mean food, I’m talking dinner and savory.

But we did get their cider doughnuts here that they have like we saw on the menu.

32:29

And we were very, very intrigued.

And so you could just get the doughnuts alone or they had it as an option to be paired with a hot apple cider.

So Brittany’s dad got the actual apple cider with the doughnuts, but we just got the doughnuts ourselves.

32:44

And these were very good cider doughnuts and a nice sweet treat in between.

And then I think all four of us ordered as our last wine, the Riesling ice wine, and it was everyone’s favorite wine.

I love ice wine.

I’ve discovered now I love ice wine.

33:01

It’s sweet.

You can’t drink a lot of it.

But I just, I haven’t had an ice wine that I don’t like.

I really haven’t.

Do you still have that one that you got?

We actually got 2 bottles, we finished one and we still have one left.

OK.

But I know what you’re going to say, Kim, when you’re here at our place, you want to have it.

33:18

And I promise you we will open it.

What better excuse to open the ice wine than when you’re here and share it with you?

But those ice wines came from Canada when we were up in Niagara Region.

And close to.

Toronto, we got those ones.

Yeah, those were really good.

33:33

But the ice wine here, the Riesling ice wine, delicious at Sheldrake Winery.

Yeah, I felt like this winery is your best bang for your buck winery.

We really enjoyed it here.

And, you know, the weather was a little chilly, but maybe if we went earlier in the day when the sun was still out, you can enjoy sitting on the lawn.

33:51

They had some chairs out in the lawn and you overlook a lake.

It’s just really nice.

And then to get back to where Airbnb, we drove the Seneca Lake Scenic Byway back to Burdette and it’s just a great scenic drive.

You see the lake, the fall foliage, and it’s just kind of like, I don’t know, like a rural country driving.

34:11

Like, you actually feel like you’re in a rural area up here in upstate New York.

Let me say something just since you’re saying that you get the feeling of rural, even though when you’re in the city areas too, Like I said, there’s all the nature and waterfalls spread in between.

So you have that nature in suburbia, which makes it nice.

34:28

This of course is really rural, but even in those suburban areas, so to speak, close to the university, tons of deer out here.

So I want to give like a little heads up.

Be careful for deer, especially like when it gets dark.

Like we saw them all over the place on the side of the roads, crossing the roads.

34:47

Luckily we didn’t hit one or see anybody hit one, but we saw several signs that were like hit by did you hit a deer?

Get your car repaired here.

You know, so it’s very common.

So just be mindful of.

And Squatty’s, before we dive into Sunday, I just want to remind you that we do have an itinerary for the Finger Lakes region, so you can download it.

35:08

It has hotel recommendations, It has winery recommendations beyond the wineries that we list in this episode.

We build a day by day guy that goes over which state parks and which hikes and gorges that you should go visit and it builds out a nice three day itinerary for you to follow.

35:24

So you can grab that on shoptravelsquad.com.

So on Sunday, we started the morning by going to Letchworth State Park.

It was approximately an hour and a half drive from our Airbnb in Burdette.

And quick question, Jamal, are you doing the driving on this trip?

35:39

I split the driving with Brittany’s dad, so he would drive one day, I would drive one day and we would kind of go back and forth on that.

Nice.

Little break for you.

Yeah, I quite enjoyed that a little bit so, but I don’t mind driving.

Driving to it makes the time go by faster.

35:55

But let me tell you this, I know what you ladies are all about when I’m driving and fall asleep in the back seat because I did that and what a luxury experience that was.

Like I’m a little jealous now.

I don’t even know if I want to drive all the time anymore.

I might start making you ladies drive when we’re on our road trip so that I can sleep, but this was an hour and a half drive Letchworth State Park again from our Airbnb.

36:17

It’s known as the Grand Canyon of the East.

We’ve been to the Grand Canyon of the Pacific one time when we were in Hawaii.

Apparently this is the Grand Canyon of the East.

That’s a stretch, but nevertheless, I want to say what an amazing State Park and it did not disappoint.

36:33

There’s less forest in this area.

You have the three major waterfalls that you can see ranging anywhere from 70 to 107 feet high along the Genesee River.

So of course there is a large Canyon, hence the name Grand Canyon of the East.

But you like you could get a scale of the size.

36:51

Is it like the Grand Canyon?

No.

And you really can’t feel it because there are so many trees around versus the true Grand Canyon.

But nevertheless, a great, great State Park and I enjoyed our time here a lot.

This is a very long and narrow State Park, and it was the one that took us the longest to get to.

37:10

So we actually started our drive and drove to the Upper and Middle Falls, and there’s actually a parking lot between the two.

So if you park there, you can walk up and see the Upper Falls, which in my opinion, and I would say most people’s opinion, is probably everyone’s favorite falls.

37:28

Most dramatic.

There’s a bridge that spans on top of it, and then you just see the water rushing down.

It’s framed by the beautiful fall foliage.

So this is like everyone’s favorite iconic falls that you’re going to see the upper falls here.

From there we walk to the middle falls, which are still really nice to see, but because of the angle that they come down, you don’t have as good of a look on it.

37:50

And then the lower falls you actually have to hike to and it’s more of a trek to get there.

So most people don’t see the lower falls.

We actually didn’t because we had other things planned in our day and they have a ton of scenic lookouts because you’re following this Canyon and gorge.

38:08

So it’s like driving the rim of the Grand Canyon where there’s a going to be a lookout every, I don’t know, a few 100 feet where you can stop lookout, enjoy the scenery, get back in.

So we did do that along the way of Letchworth State Park and we worked our way South to north.

38:24

I was going to say, and you know, Brittany, when does Brittany turn down going to an overlook?

She wants to see everyone, even though sometimes it’s the same view from just a different angle.

But nevertheless, it really was pretty, especially with the fall foliage for sure.

But again, once you see the falls, and if you’re not going to do any other type of strenuous hiking or trails in the region, which we weren’t, what else do you have to do other than stop at those?

38:48

So it’s a nice slow pace.

You see the falls, then you start driving, you stop along the rim at the scenic overlooks.

Each thing has something kind of unique, but a really great perspective with the fall foliage and.

Then from there we wanted to go to another winery.

39:04

We picked Doctor Constantino’s Frank Winery.

And how did you pick it?

Why did we do it?

We picked it because in several different blogs and articles that we read, this one came up quite a bit and so we decided why not go here?

39:19

And it’s a very historic winery.

It’s on the hills on Cuca Lake.

And it was founded by a man who revolutionized the East Coast winemaking.

He does like a more of a European style winemaking.

And we actually saw those vats that they use in Georgia.

39:36

What are they called?

Kim to make the wine quavery.

Yes, the Quaveries.

He had like a quavery on the property.

And so he actually even had orange wine that was available to get.

Here, I love this place.

Yeah, I think this winery actually pioneered this region’s wine making because I think they were the ones who discovered like, yes, you can actually make wine here.

40:01

And then it kind of sort of spread out from there, if I’m not mistaken.

So they have a storied history in this region.

They do have their $18.00 signature seated tasting, which is not what we did.

That is done indoors.

And of course, they will tell you about the wine.

40:19

Or you could just do your own tasting.

If you do your own, you are sitting outside now.

During fall it’s a little bit cold, so they do have a closed off like tent area and of course it’s a tent where then they have like the the clear panels so you could see how and have the view and they did have the heaters.

40:37

It was still a little chilly, but this is a more casual spot for you to sit.

We ended up doing their tasting, which is really 3 for $13.

So I for whatever reason, thought to myself, you know what, this is a storied winery.

40:53

If they have Reds that are good, it’s probably better here than anywhere else.

And I thought like, OK, this is going to be the outlier.

I’m going to roll the dice here.

It was good, but I was like, I shouldn’t have gotten that because everybody else got this sweet flight, which had like Rieslings and Muscats.

41:10

And it I just took a sip of Brittany’s and I was like, oh, I made a mistake.

Totally.

So do their sweet tasting here.

You should have said something and sent it back.

I’m sure they would have wanted you to be satisfied with your tasting.

Well, I didn’t hate it.

I was just I.

Personally made a bad decision on something that I knew better, so I wasn’t going to do that like they’re they’re Reds here were the best out of anywhere.

41:32

So let’s put it that way.

But at the same time, after having Britney’s, I was like, you know, I should have just gone the the sweet route, you know, because I don’t mind sweet, but you could only have so much sweet wine.

And I thought the three would be too much, but I don’t think it would have been.

So yeah, the flight was called Social and Sweet.

41:48

And it was a good wine tasting.

Muscat was good.

Yes, Muscat was.

Good racings were good.

Everything was good here.

You could go inside and do the $18.00 Signature seated tasting, which they said you need reservations for during the time of year that we went.

I don’t honestly think that you really truly needed like reservations.

42:06

You probably could have done walk in, but we didn’t know that going in.

So we just did the outdoor self-guided tasting, which was fine, but just keep that in mind.

You would have someone that kind of guides you through the wine tasting on that signature seated tasting.

But from here we decided to go to Kuka Lake in Penn Yan and we stopped for the sunset views along the lake.

42:28

My dad and Jamal got into like a rock skipping competition.

They were skipping rocks along the lakefront.

I had no clue your dad was so good at skipping.

He’s really good so I’m guessing he won.

Well, I mean, we weren’t like full blown.

Competition like who could do it better but as we were watching each other do it and the girls were taking photos of other stuff I realized oh man David’s skipping those rocks quite good I was like my rock skipping games not very good in comparison to his he would get like 5 or 6 skips in there yeah I was lucky to get 3 you know so.

43:00

So I don’t know if you know this Kim, but in.

Upstate New York, in these rural areas, there’s actually Amish communities.

I knew Pennsylvania, and that’s kind of.

Around here, right?

Yeah, it is so.

While we were driving home to Brutet from Penang, we actually came across a horse and buggy.

43:16

And so we got to just like watch it go by, which is really cool.

But yeah, they do have some Amish communities nearby.

So cool to see Amish in the wild so.

Monday was our last day.

We didn’t really have too much planned other than just making our way back to the airport in Rochester.

43:32

Brittany and I were going home that day, but Brittany’s dad and girlfriend were continuing on themselves and driving to Buffalo to go to Niagara Falls and even up into Toronto.

So they were continuing our trip.

But this was Brittany and Eyes last day.

So since we kind of did everything in this region, it was what are we going to do along the way?

43:51

So we slept in, had breakfast at the Airbnb, just enjoyed the atmosphere there one last time, but had several stops along the way.

Yeah, we stopped at the north side of Seneca.

Lake.

We went to the State Park in the pier.

There’s some walking trails.

Picnic areas, Beachy area, boat access, and then we did the pier that was closer to the downtown area.

44:12

It’s a good spot to take in some panoramic lake views and there’s some good reflection of the fall foliage that grows along the lake that reflects into the lake.

And we saw some fish in the water as well.

And then we also roamed downtown Geneva.

But what I will say about this is Geneva’s a sleepy town, and there’s not much that’s open on a Monday.

44:34

And had we known that, we probably would have skipped it.

My highlight of Geneva, quite honestly.

And I love this, when you go into old towns that have it, are the antique stores.

So I like it.

Roaming through antique stores, you never know what you’re going to see.

But you can only do that so many times before you’re tired of it.

So if it wasn’t for that antique store, I would say Geneva would be a bust.

44:52

But ironically, this was the place that we stopped our first night when we arrived driving in and had dinner at that Thai restaurant, the Elephant.

Delicious.

So if you are in Geneva, go to the Thai restaurant because it’s really, really good.

And then we did drive to Rochester.

We went to High Falls, which is a waterfall that’s right in the heart of the city.

45:11

It’s 96 feet tall.

It cascades into the Genesee River, and then it’s surrounded by Rochester’s industrial area.

And also another tip we had mentioned before, like some of the waterfalls, you can’t can’t actually see based off of like how they’re flowing and where you’re parking.

45:26

So if you route directly to High Falls, it’s going to put you at an overlook where you can’t really see the falls.

You actually have to like walk down the street where there’s a bridge and walk to the middle of the bridge to see it the best.

That looks beautiful, so wide.

45:42

Yeah, so it was a really nice one, just right in the middle.

Of the city of Rochester.

But that was our time, and we stopped.

Some place to have lunch or dinner along the way because Brittany and I were going to be having a flight, but otherwise, otherwise, we just filled this Monday before our flight with these few stops just to to really kill time.

45:59

But nevertheless, I really did enjoy the Finger Lake region.

You get a sense of appreciation for the nature that’s up here.

And when I was here, I was also thinking like, wow, you know, like when people think of New York, rightfully so to some degree, people think of like New York City.

46:16

And I know New York City is far away from like where we are, but then it’s like you have this whole other state that’s often times gets ignored upstate New York.

And it’s just so scenic, so pretty laid back and relaxed.

And I really did appreciate it a lot.

I would go back here, I think now that I know I would stay away from all the Reds and just drink the whites, but I would come during spring to see these at full force when the waterfalls are flowing.

46:40

But I would also go back during fall foliage and just enjoy the views here and enjoy those white wines.

So I I really did like our time out here when we were at our first winery.

They did say that they were pretty busy and it took a while for them to seat us because there was, was it a wine trolley that went through that stopped at different wineries?

47:00

I believe so, yeah.

Yeah.

So that might be.

Up your alley, Kim.

Like a little wine trolley that perks my interest.

So you could drink all you want and not have to.

Worry about the driving.

If you’re on the trolley so you’re a little Jake, take a nap.

On the trolley, well, really exciting.

47:16

Before we close out this episode, we do have a question of the week.

Question is coming from Madison out of Pittsburgh, PA Madison is asking what winery was your favorite?

I think both Brittany and I can agree.

That it was going to be the Shell Drake Point Winery.

47:32

I enjoy this one the most.

I like the wines here the most, I like the atmosphere here the most.

And in fairness, this is the only place that we really tried the food.

And by that, of course, the doughnuts.

Not really anything else but the food plates that I saw come out just visually, plus description of the menu for like the savories and other stuff that you could eat.

47:52

I just think this area creates a whole nice ambiance and you’re really close to the lake grass in the area.

So All in all, wine, atmosphere, food, everything.

Price point value for your buck Shell Drake Wine.

Yeah, I was going to say value for your buck.

You get 6.

48:08

Wines they give you that welcome rose.

Plus your five wine tasting was like $15.00.

The ice wine was amazing.

Oh, OK, we’re going to send this.

Clip to Shell drink Point winery because you are selling it.

I know I think of the Donuts like three of them were only.

Like 5 bucks, right?

So not very much.

48:23

And then if you wanted to do it paired with the cider, I think you could get like two or three of them plus your cider for 8.

So it wasn’t cider, doughnut and wine.

Pairing this place really has it all.

Checks all the boxes.

Amazing.

I will add this to my list when I go back maybe 2026.

48:42

Squaddies, thank you so much for tuning in to our Finger Lakes, New York episode!