Watkins glen. Wow.

Day three started with another delightful breakfast. Sunday’s plan was to hit jewel of the area, Watkin’s Glen. The drive down the 414 beside Seneca Lake was very picturesque. The route was lined with wineries and shops. We stopped at one craft shop the Skyland Art Gallery and it was full of little artistic treasures. (Be sure to go upstairs and enjoy the view from the balcony). Watkins Glen was really busy, the traffic was bumper to bumper all the way down the main street to the park. It seemed debatable whether we really needed to pay to enter the park… no one checked the ticket that we saw. Since we had so much planned for the day we decided to take the shuttle up and walk back. ( Also, after the Treman stair climb, and being told there were over 800 steps we thought it would be prudent to survive the day…Ultimately – the steps are really spread out and most of the walk was very flat. Ho-hum.) The gorge was amazing. I thought it felt like a Rocky Garden of Eden. The Glen was unquestionably the most impressive park we visited. Glaciers receded here and carved out a beautiful gorge. The gorge trail is fairly narrow at times and there are people understandably stopping all the time to take photos. I’m glad we allotted a lot of time for the hike. The trail itself contains some impressive stonework, stairs and bridges. The natural beauty is the numerous falls, the curious circular patterns in the stone, the wildlife and the enormity of the scope of the gorge. The gorge trail highly recommended walk.

We took a leisurely drive back making a few stops on the way back to the B & B. The first stop was for food! It was pretty late, once again, so we had very few options. We ended up at the Red Newt Winery. The Winery serves lunch and we got there just in time to get some grub. There is indoor seating but we sat outside on the lovely deck overlooking Seneca Lake. As we enjoyed our lunch we watched as a storm blew through. We sampled an assortment of their appetizers… all were delicious and disappeared in minutes. Bdot got a sample of three wines and ended up getting a bottle. The staff at the Newt were very personable and accommodating. Next stop was up the road at Rue Claire Lavender farm and chocolatier. What is a trip without chocolate? I indulged in some pricey chocolates… that so far, have been delicious. It was a short stop then we went down the road to stop at Wagner’s Winery before it closed. That was enough running around. After Wagner’s we went back the the B&B and chilling on their deck for the rest of the early evening. We closed the day with a short drive to the Cayuga Lake Creamery. The creamery is another little gem. They have a bunch of light eating options and ice cream! Bdot had salted caramel which she found good, maybe a little sweet and I enjoyed a toffee and coffee sundae. A great ending to a long day.