Source: Page 12 of White Noise Keywords: "maintained," "little," "near"

From: DoobieDo <frankie@sinatra.net> Subject: Re: New York Scenic Ride Date: 14 Sep 2002 Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles.harley

Seamus wrote: > > Planning to spend the night in Elmira and ride the next day to Niagra > Falls. Any advice on where to stay? Roads not to be missed? Good > lunch spot? > > Thanks and Olympia (and better beer) all around. > > Seamus Elmira is the glider capitol of NY - there are a number of places you can get glider rides if that's something you ever wanted to try. Very favorable winds and topography make for easy long duration flights. It's easy to locate the glider ride places once you are in or near Elmira. I'd recommend going through Watkins Glenn also. If you have 30 minutes to 90 minutes to stop in Watkins Glen, the Watkins Glen State Park has a nice hike through a very narrow but deep gorge carved through rock by a stream. Well worth seeing, lots of colorful and interestingly shaped pools carved into the rock, just blocks south of the center of town. Best time is mid-day when the sun can penetrate the narrow gorge and illuminate the fallen leaves and colors of the rocks. Fairly good food can be had in W.G. due to the steady stream of race fans that come through spring-fall for events at the race track. Letchworth State Park near Geneseo is worth seeing also, there's a $5 entry fee. It takes about 25 to 30 minutes to drive through, but you will probably want to stop a few times. It's called the "grand canyon of the east" - it's worth seeing if there's time. The chunk of NY between Rochester and Buffalo is pretty uninteresting in general - the most scenic route would be along Lake Ontario, but that would add some miles to your day. Most of the roads that run beside various Finger Lakes are pretty nice. Lots of wineries pointed out here: http://www.fingerlakes.net/flp/flpwine/flpwineld.html Corning Glass has an acclaimed tour and glass museum if you're into that sort of thing... Corning, NY is west of Elmira. Downtown Corning has a nice walking area in the redeveloped area, older buildings refurbished into shops and restaurants. Ithaca is also a nice small town to walk around in, very hilly around the town. Brock Yates runs the Cannonball Pub in Wyoming, NY one of the tiniest pubs you'll probably ever see. Loaded with whatever car racing memorabilia they could fit in there. The restaurant next door has remarkably good food considering this is essentially "the middle of nowhere". It's the kind of cooking that is not accidental... someone who really knows what they are doing is responsible. If you do Letchworth State Park, Wyoming would be sort of on the way to Buffalo. In Canada, Niagara-On-The-Lake really is on the lake. A public park has picnicking on the shore. On a clear day you can see Toronto across the lake. This town caters to tourists, lots of B&B accommodations (moderate to pricey), very clean and well maintained little town, lots of tourist oriented shops and restaurants on the main street. Annual wine festival and annual Shakespeare Festival are big draws. Not a cheap place to stay, but has an 'old resort town' sort of ambiance that's hard to find. Probably a 40 minute, very scenic, drive to Niagara Falls from N-O-T-L. N-O-T-L is worth passing through even if you don't stay there. Lots of wineries & fruit stands (in season) in that area. At Niagara Falls... the road along the west side of the Niagara River is excellent. There is a cable car ride over the river gorge several miles south of the falls that's pretty spectacular - the 90 degree turn in the river there causes whirlpools to form. Jet boat rides through the river rapids are very popular. In Canada, retail stores will rip you up on the exchange rate. Your best deal is to use your credit card whenever possible... credit card exchange rates are very reasonable, in line with large metropolitan banks that change money for reasonable rates. ATM withdrawals are almost always a pretty good deal if you use a major bank ATM and not a "private" ATM. Stick in your card, get Canadian dollars and your account is debited in US dollars at a fair exchange rate. You can gamble at Casino Niagara. They tell you to take your birth certificate or passport with you when crossing the border to Canada (since 9/11). I always do, but have never been asked for it. You have to be in Canada for 48 hours to be able to bring beer or booze across the border to the US. You have to have an insurance card (provided free by your insurance company) to drive in Canada. This is a different card than the one your insurance company provides every year to keep with your registration - it is specifically for Canada. If you are asked for it and can't produce it, you are not allowed in. If you got in, you are escorted out immediately if you can't produce the card on demand. Not worth taking a chance on. We asked our insurance company to send one every year and they do - the cards are only good for the duration of your policy. Just in case you didn't realize this... the US side of Niagara Falls is pretty much a dud/waste of time. The best views and attractions are on the Canada side. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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