The glaciers did it. That always seems to be the reason behind any geological formation anywhere on the planet, so of course it would apply to the Finger Lakes region of New York. The only other explanation I've seen is that they are the hand-print of God. That may be so, but I'm wondering why God came up with eleven fingers.
It is, to be sure, God's Country. There is beautiful scenery, plenty of recreation and over 100 wineries. Debbie and I went for a long weekend to celebrate our 35th anniversary.
After 5 1/2 hours of driving, we dove right into the wineries along the west side of Seneca Lake. This is the biggest of the fingers, and is as deep as the Great Lakes. The wineries almost all have a great view of the lake and the surroundings. We hit several before we wound up at our hotel in Corning, which is to the south of the lakes.
The next day we hiked in Watkins Glen State Park. It's 1.5 miles out through the Glen, which includes gobs of waterfalls, including two that you walk behind. It was fairly strenuous, but we took a slightly easier upper route back. That afternoon, we circumnavigated a different lake, Keuka. Of course there were more wineries to be explored. The best of all was the granddaddy of them all, Doctor Frank's Vinifera Winery in Hammondsport. Also in Hammondsport we took another trip down memory lane by stopping at Pleasant Valley Winery, home to Great Western Champagne. Like Watkins Glen, we'd experienced this place before. Many years before.
For our last trip we took one final trip down memory lane by stopping at Letchworth State Park on the way home. We've camped there twice in the distant past. Letchworth is the "Grand Canyon of the East", although, as I'm fond of saying, they don't call the one in Arizona the "Letchworth of the West". Letchworth is indeed beautiful however, and it was great to see it again.
