Seneca Lake

Driving away from Rochester we left the freeway at the Geneva exit and started to work our way south down the coast of Seneca Lake - winery after winery, view after view. The above photo was taken when we stopped to pick up some camping groceries at a local store - in the fog  there was a rainbow(which wasn't bright enough to turn out by the time I took this photo) -I had never actually looked down on a rainbow before. There was a bit of rain too - which you could sometimes see falling in streaks over the lake - it was amazing.

Not that we have anything against wine - or the beautiful wineries we passed - but this sign is the thing that made us stop the car. A hop farm, brewery, and tasting room - Climbing Bines.

We walked into the seatless tasting room and ordered up the sampler - a six dollar deal to try all of their beers -and you even get to keep the tasting glass. The beers were really good and we ended up getting our growler filled with their smokey IPA(which we imbibed at the campfire that evening).  

The beer at Climbing Bines is brewed with hops from their own hop farm and all the other ingredients are local too. Only the freshest of beers.  

I snapped this photo of the hops on the way out as the rain began to fall - and then we were back on the road. 

 

We had been told good things about Watkins Glen State park so we headed there and set up camp(I'll have some film photos of the campsite soon). After we were settled in we headed out for a hike - and what a hike it was. 14 waterfalls cascading through a mile and half long gorge. Absolutely stunning as you can see.  

Behind a waterfall. 

 

Laura 

 

You could easily spend days(different days of every season!) here with your tripod capturing all the different falls in great light - but I was on vacation so I did what I could....

We had a great night of campfire food and fresh local beer - we cooked breakfast in the morning and then packed up camp and moved on - more tomorrow....