The wife and I are making a 4-5 day trip to NYC in October to visit my sister. She suggested, given that it’s the primo time of year, making a day trip upstate to see some colorful leaves, then heading back to the city in the evening. I’m no New Yorker, but that seems like a bit of a stretch, like we’d be rushed for time, leaving early, getting back late. Plus I’ve got no idea what one does for a day up there; are there scenic highways to drive or something? Charter-bus tours?
So, what do you think of the idea? What’s your ideal upstate day trip? What if we spent a night at a B&B up there somewhere?
You don’t have to go all that far out of the city to enjoy scenery and foliage. You could leave at a reasonable time and get to one of any number of towns along the Hudson River with pleasant stroll worthy main streets and places to eat with glorious river views. Piermont is a favorite of mine.
What type of day are you after? How do you prefer to spend your time - climbing rocks or browsing galleries and antique shops? This could influence further recommendations.
If you’re primary goal is leaf peeping you can drive north out of NYC and have an outstanding lunch at the Culinary Institue of America, and still get back into the city at a reasonable hour.
I can’t say I would really call any of these places “upstate” though I can sure you that people in Manhattan will.
I don’t know how far out of NYC you care to go, but if you’re serious about wanting to have a night in a B&B style place, in some outstanding scenery, let me introduce you to the Glen Iris Inn, within the state’s Letchworth State Park.
Letchworth is centered around the Genesee River gorge, and has been called The Grand Canyon of the East. It’s beautiful, and worth seeing, I think. If you want to go the 4-5 hours out of the city it would take to get there.
The Glen Iris Inn is a B&B and resturant operated in the original house for the owner of the parkland, before it was left to the State. It’s got decent food, and the portions of the house I’ve been in have been lovingly restored. The reports I’ve heard say that the guest quarters are similar quality.
I’d say one thing, my wife would say another. But since she wears the pants in this family, let’s go with the “browsing” type of day. Museums, scenery, typical sightseeing kind of stuff.
If you want shopping… well, Mt. Morris isn’t too far from the Finger Lakes region with all the wineries. And the Village of [del]McKenzie-Child[/del] Aurora, will have some faux-authentic country shops.
But for shopping, really, you’d probably do better along the Hudson.
If you’re into science fiction, Anne McCaffrey will be making her first east coast convention appearance in over 20 years at [url=http://www.albacon.org]Albacon** in Albany over Columbus Day weekend.
Thanks for the suggestions. (Don’t know who Anne McCaffrey is, so I guess that’s lost on me…) Sounds like a quick trip up the Hudson is going to be our best bet; we don’t want to spend all day travelling. If there’s a way to avoid renting a car, so much the better; but then, I wouldn’t miss any can’t-miss stops just on account of that. (That sentence sucked.)
Any other Hudson-area suggestions? Is that region good for seeing the pretty colors on the trees? If you asked my wife, that’d probably be the #1 thing she wants to see, so let that guide your suggestions.
You can take the Metro North train from Grand Central Station to Tarrytown (Sleepy Hollow). That’s a nice area, and you can visit Washington Irving’s house if you’re into that kind of thing.
I agree Hudson Valley is your best bet. Finger Lakes is gorges (hah!) but Hudson Valley will be more convenient.
Woodstock is a nice town for browsing and walking about. If you have any love for history or old mansions there are a number of estates in the area that IMHO are alone worth the trip. If the problem w/ renting a car is the price, then one trick is to take Metro North to Westchester and rent at an in-town location. I did this once to go to Albany, ISTR it was a Hertz in North White Plains right next to the train station.
If you don’t want to rent a car, I’d vote for riding the Metro North out of NYC.
Although, I’m not sure what stop would be good to get off at–my experience comes from traveling from upstate into NYC, so we’d parked our own car at the train station.
I grew up in the Hudson valley about 30 miles north of NYC. You have to work quite hard to avoid seeing the fall foliage.
You might enjoy spending part of the day apple picking. You wander through an orchard, eat donuts and drink hot apple cider, and get some fresh air. My wife and I go every year, and there are dozens if not hundreds of orchards to choose from.
I’d take the train all the way to Peekskill if you want to get farther out of the city than Tarrytown. The Enterprise car rental there offers weekend specials for often less than $25 per day, and they pick you up from the station. It’s how I do it.
That sounds pretty great. Is early October too early to get some proper foliage viewing, that far south? Down here in Texas, the leaves just turn brown.
Bergen County New Jersey is right across the Hudson River. I love watching tourists’ faces as they exit the bridge or tunnel and see the rural environment. Most of them are expecting skyscrapers, not houses, grass and trees.
You could visit Philipsburg Manor in Sleepy Hollow (formerly North Tarrytown), and there are some other historic sites around there, including Lyndhurst. There’s a nice tour of the US Military Academy at West Point. Or you can go to Hyde Park and visit FDR’s house and library and also the nearby Vanderbilt Mansion. That used to be one of the standard field trips when I was in school in Connecticut.
We have done the “upstate” day-trip a few times from NYC. We have always rented a car from a mid-town location and got off to the earliest possible start (7:00 am) and back late. I like to have a car rather than relying on public transport.
And yes, you don’t have to go far at all to see a lot of things.
I agree with Dewey about the historic houses, but check their schedules because most of them shut down or have restricted hours after September.
Olana is also in that neighborhood, in Hudson, NY, ‘a short taxi ride from the station.’ It’s the Persian-style mansion and grounds of Frederick Church, a painter of the Hudson School.
Historic Hudson Valley has info about Sunnyside (Irving’s place), Philipsburg, Lyndhurst, and Kykuit, the old Rockefeller mansion, which is particularly popular and which I quite enjoyed.
A very enjoyable afternoon’s walking can be had at Stone Barns, the Rockefeller farm. Admission is free and there are wooded trails, pastures, pens, gardens and of course the striking stone barns, all built in the early 1930s after old French designs. Their restaurant is very foodie and books up in advance, but everything that can be is sourced from the farm.
But since she wears the pants in this family, let’s go with the “browsing” type of day. Museums, scenery, typical sightseeing kind of stuff.