Finger Lakes – okay andie

I’m going to be totally honest and say Matt and I didn’t do as much hiking and exploring the great outdoors while camping this time around. We spent our first two nights in Watkins Glen State Park, and the following two nights in Taughannock Falls State Park. We were both pretty disappointed in Watkins Glen State Park. I think the Bruce kind of ruined everything for us. We just kept comparing the two, and well, State/Provincial Parks just can’t compare to the natural beauty of a National Park. We were not close to any body of water in Watkins Glen, and you could literally hike about 20 mins to the village. Which ended up being fine, as we spent a lot of time exploring the small villages around the Finger Lakes. These towns/villages have the most insanely beautiful and historical homes. I would kill a man just to live in one of them.

We were however very close to the Gorge Trail in Watkins Glen. So we hiked over, and did quite a bit of the walk. It was very touristy, and was a huge disappointment to find there were so many rules. You had to stay on the path, and that was it. Boring! Totally different from hiking in the Bruce. Wow, I sound totally disenchanted here! It WAS beautiful! Waterfalls everywhere you looked, standing hundreds of feet above, looking down at the gorge. It really was quite stunning. We spent the remainder of the day on a beach and explored a little of Watkins Glen, and it’s neighbouring village, Montour Falls. Such charming places! NY State is full of these gems!

I have a butt load more photos to share – some from the town, some from the beach, some from Farm Sanctuary(!!!), and a little photo shoot Matt and I did in the Blair Witch forest behind our camp site. I also thrifted so many great things during our trip, so keep an eye on the shop for magical small town thrift shop goodness!