Watkins Glen State Park
As soon as you park your car at Watkins Glen State Park and look at all the license plates from across the country and Canada, you realize this is a major event. You can hear the water pummeling down, but it's not until you enter through a tunnel and are nestled inside the gorge that you're overwhelmed by the jaw-dropping scenery. Water cascades down the terraced rock, curving through chutes, tumbling into pools, and carving its way through the ancient sandstone. You'll be taking pictures every five steps, especially when you step behind Cavern Cascade, a high waterfall that tumbles to the rocks below, and Rainbow Falls, which creates a heavenly shower when sunlight filters in and the droplets splash on the carpet of green moss. The trail is 1.5-miles long and you can take a shuttle at the top back to the main parking lot if the kids complain about doing the round-trip.
Indoor Pool
The heated, indoor pool is a great spot for families to enjoy when staying here. The kids can swim and splash while the adults lounge on the surrounding chairs. Pool towels are provided.
Kayaking
A wee bit south of Seneca Lake, Mark Moskal, owner of Summit to Stream Adventures, takes families on a peaceful kayak tour though a cattail-laden marsh. Follow the blue and green herons and be on the lookout for beavers, turtles, and large carp that swim atop the water as you paddle from one stream to the next. Mark also offers fishing trips to hook northern pike on Seneca Lake, fly-fish for rainbow trout in the creeks, and hopefully snag a muskie or two in one of the smaller lakes.
Sailing
If you just want to sit back and relax while being on the water, consider sailing on the schooner Malabar, docked close to the Harbor Hotel. On a sunset cruise, the two-masted sailboat tacks between the eastern and western shores of the lake. You'll pass vineyards and forest rolling down to the water, rocky bluffs, and few other boats. Indeed, the lake is so vast that you're happy someone else is doing the steering.
Biking
With its rolling hills and guaranteed water views, the Finger Lakes have also become a favorite place to bike. Though for families, those hills and the car traffic might be a bit daunting. Try a more relaxed bike ride on a bluff that juts into Keuka Lake, just outside Penn Yan. Park your car at Keuka College and take East Bluff Drive past the small B&Bs and lakefront cottages with cute names like Hide 'N' Seek. You'll pass quaint manicured gardens and canoes bobbing in the water, creating the ideal photo op.
Corning Museum of Glass
When you had your fill of outdoor activity, visit three family-friendly museums in the region. The Corning Museum of Glass is an absolute must. Five minutes in the Hot Room, watching glassblowers create mugs and vases out of the molten heat and you've gotten your money's worth. But there's so much more. You can create your own glass flowers in a studio or visit the Innovations section, where you can see how glass has changed the course of the world, from the invention of the glass bulb to glass prisms used in cameras to parabolic glass necessary to create the Space Shuttle. Then there's the exhibition on the history of glass that takes you on a timeline from Gladiator Glasses used by the Romans to the exquisite detail of 16th-century Venetian glass, and later Tiffany and Steuben glass. Finally, the display of contemporary glass, with works by Dale Chihuly and many other current artists, would be a worthy art museum in its own right.
Rockwell Museum
While in Corning, also check out the Rockwell Museum. No, it's not a collection of Norman Rockwell paintings. It's named after Bob Rockwell, one of the world's foremost collectors of Western Art. The Buffalo Room has a huge buffalo head sticking out of the wall, while the Lodge Room contains many paintings of the West by renowned artist Frederick Remington, lots of leather couches, a stone fireplace, and a collection of guns used in the Wild West. Kids will also like the dress-up room, where they can dress up as a Cowboy or Native American and play in the teepee.
Museum of the Earth
Nearby, Ithaca is best known as the home of Cornell University, yet, you should also check out the Museum of the Earth, devoted to the 3.5 million years of our planet's history. Run by the Paleontological Research Association, the Museum has a whopping collection of some two million fossils, including the skeleton of the Hyde Park Mastodon. Not only will kids get to see dinosaur and whale skeletons, but they'll get to touch real bones and learn the difference between, say, the claws of a Tyrannosaurus Rex and a Brontosaurus. There are also guided walks to gorges in the area so children can find their own fossils. Mom and dad will be mesmerized by the large mural at the entrance lobby, depicting the history of Earth from day one.
