June 30 – August 1, 2012 (Journaled on August 7, 2013)

We went for the racing. We’ll be back for the amazing landscapes! My son and I made a quick weekend trip from Ann Arbor to Watkins Glen, New York to watch the Grand Am race that the owner of my company was driving in. I am so glad we did. My perception of New York had always been limited to what you see of the city on TV. While I knew it is a big state, you don’t really ever see anything else besides NYC in the media. Even having done some research in advance of our trip, I did not really expect to see all the the beautiful hills and lakes that make up the Finger Lakes region of the state. I never thought I would ever say that I could live in New York, but I could live in this area anyway.

The highlights of our trip were our visits to Watkins Glen and Letchworth State Parks (we got wrecked in the race). Watkins Glen is small town in western New York. While I am sure it gets busy quite a bit throughout the year, it certainly fills up on race weekends. While the town is quite nice, it has a natural wonder at its door – the Gorge at Watkins Glen State Park. The main entrance to the gorge trail is pretty much in the middle of town. The trails here total only about 2 miles and are not particularly strenuous, but the rewards are many.  (Note that at least half the pictures here including the feature image were taken by my son, Hayden).

We also visited Letchworth State Park and visited the beautiful fall there as well. These visits were such a great bonus on a weekend that was not supposed to be about photography or nature. We were very lucky to have found these great places!