Sorry for the long absence! I've been on mini-vacations for the last three weekends and hard at work packing up my apartment between trips. I'm moving in two weeks, but more on that later. My first trip was a fun-filled (and wine-filled) birthday weekend in the Finger Lakes. I went on a wine tour around Seneca Lake on Saturday and then hiked around Watkins Glen State Park and explored Corning on Sunday. The next weekend, I camped out in a friend's yard along Conesus Lake, watched the annual Ring of Fire celebration on July 3rd, and went out on the lake in his boat the next day. That night, I came back to Rochester to watch the downtown fireworks from my apartment building's roof. This past weekend, I took a road trip to Quebec City and stopped in Montreal on the way home. I had some pretty great food on all the trips (especially Quebec City...wow) but today I'm going to focus on the Finger Lakes weekend since that's a bit more local than Quebec.
We drove to Geneva on Friday night to check in at the hotel and then headed over to nearby Waterloo to eat at Mac's Drive-In, one of a dying breed of restaurants that have car hop service. There's seating inside as well if you'd rather not spill soda and ketchup on your car seats. As you can see on the menu, they offer typical diner food at very cheap prices. The food is tasty, and it's kind of fun to eat in your car once in awhile! It was also pretty amusing to see the waitresses try to figure out which car was just honking at them. You'd think someone would have come up with a better system since the 1950s. If you're ever near Waterloo, you should definitely check this place out. Warning: cash only; not open year-round.
We started Saturday morning off with some room service (which I've always found to be pretty overrated, but we had to be ready early for the wine tour, so it was the fastest choice). Ben got a delicious-looking Belgian waffle:
And I opted for a heart-healthy (haha) combo of sausage, eggs, toast, and homefries.
Hey, we had a long day of wine-drinking ahead of us. I needed to prepare my body for the onslaught of alcohol. (Let's just say I usually get pretty tipsy halfway into my first glass of wine.)
After breakfast, we took a trolley tour to five different wineries along Seneca Lake: Wagner in Lodi, Standing Stone in Hector, and Torrey Ridge, Anthony Road, and Fox Run, all in Penn Yan.
In addition to tasting wines, we got to take a tour of Wagner and then had some lunch at their Ginny Lee cafe. Down in the cellar, we saw countless barrels of wine:
Torrey Ridge was sampling their new "Redneck" wines, fun summery wines that, according to the description on the winelist, "will bring out the redneck in you!"
Anthony Road had a beautiful garden in the back where we roamed around after tasting wines. There were even a few rows of grape vines to look at.
Fox Run had a very nice tasting bar; it was a great way to end the day. After finishing up tasting wines, I bought some chocolate and relaxed on the patio until it was time to leave.
Eat chocolate? Sure, why not...
The chocolates were shaped like grapes and wine barrels, and they had wine in the middle. Yes, they were delicious. Yes, you can order online. I think. But the site looks a little outdated, and I can't figure out if there's a way to specify which flavor you want (there are many!) so order at your own risk, or just look for them at Fox Run :)
I also purchased an absolutely delicious mojito-flavored java rub at one of the wineries. Ben used it on some chicken on July 4th, and everyone loved it!
After the wine tour, we relaxed for a few hours and then headed out to Max at the Lake in Canandaigua for dinner. We've gone to Max at Eastman Place and Max Chophouse for various special occasions, so it was nice to finally get a chance to check out the third location. I had a tasty scallop appetizer, and my filet mignon was cooked perfectly. We sat out on the patio, which featured a beautiful view of Canandaigua Lake, and we were also entertained by a wedding party that was taking place in a nearby tent. After an annoying set of country music, the DJ mysteriously switched to "Baby Got Back" and other 90s "classics." It was an amusing evening to say the least. If you like the other Max restaurants but have not yet been to Max at the Lake, try to check it out while summer is still here. The dining room looked nice enough, but our meal on the patio was very enjoyable.
The next day, we hiked along the gorge trail at Watkins Glen State Park. It's a pretty low intensity hike, except for the 800 stone stairs throughout the trail. There are lots of beautiful waterfalls and rock formations to see along the trail.
And here I am, somewhere in the middle of the trail, most likely before the majority of the 800 steps since I'm not bright red and sweaty yet:
After the hike, we drove to Corning and looked through the Rockwell Museum of Western Art, which had some Ansel Adams photography on exhibit. We ended the weekend with dinner at the Market Street Brewing Company. I tried their blackberry lager, which did in fact taste strongly of blackberries, and for the meal, I had a pasta special. Ben asked them to put a birthday candle on my dessert, but they were out of candles, so he was nice enough to bake me birthday cupcakes later in the week :)
Overall, it was a fun birthday weekend, and I'm glad I got to spend some quality time in the Finger Lakes before my impending move away from the area. But more about the move in my next post!
Have you ever done a wine tour? Got any embarrassing stories to share? Feel free to leave a comment :)
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