Eat, Drink and Be Merry

Summer isn’t just about trips to the beach or long hikes anymore. Esha Samajpati takes us to the Finger Lakes Region of upstate New York to show us an unexpected summer vacation, consisting of gorgeous vineyards,  delicious wines, and fine cheeses!

New York State’s picture perfect farmlands. Photo by Pinaki Chakraborty.

“Never thought I would recommend this for a summer weekend, but here I am back from upstate New York with cheese wrapped in brown bags, bottles of wine and blue-green baskets of dark-red cherries, waxing eloquent about our trip!

Yes, I have discovered that summers can mean more than just hiking, biking and beach-bumming… farmer’s markets and vineyards can be as much fun!

At the southern tip of Cayuga Lake, in theFinger Lakes Region of New York, lies Ithaca, our recent weekend destination, decided on a whim. Being home to Cornell University and Ithaca College automatically makes it a great place for finding diverse cuisines and some pretty amazing architecture.

Dumping our bags in Embassy Motel, which for $75 a night, is really clean and perfect for a night’s stay, we set out to explore. If you have plans for hanging in the hotel, then you can choose from plenty of other option. There’s no dearth of hotel chains and boutique inns near the Finger Lakes region.

Cornell Chimes

Walking up and down the Cornell Campus, in and out of arches, we were quite impressed by the variety of practical subjects offered, which explains why Cornell University is the most educationally diverse member of the Ivy League.

We climbed 161 steps up to the top of McGraw Tower where we saw a student getting ready to play the chimes. A small group had gathered around him. He played Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” made famous by the late Heath Ledger in the 1999 movie 10 Things I Hate About You

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