Corning 2021 Getaway | The Beauty Around Us

Corning NY Mid-Week Getaway: Day 3

We spent three nights the week of October 17th in Corning, NY. I published blog posts previously about our activities on October 19th and 20th. This blog post is about our activities on October 21st.

We ate breakfast at Donna’s Restaurant in downtown Corning.

The restaurant is full of vintage Pyrex dishes on display. It is a quaint, homey restaurant. Bob had a steakhouse sandwich (shaved ribeye, sautéed peppers & onions, egg and cheese on a grilled everything bagel) with corned beef hash. I had a western omelet with home fries and wheat toast. Our breakfast entrees were delicious and filling.

See that older man, looking at me? I showed him his picture. He liked it. All during breakfast I caught him looking at me. The few times are eyes met, he would give me the biggest smile.

After breakfast we went for a walk to Centennial Park.

Centennial Park Bridge
This is a pedestrian bridge that crosses Chemung River.
We walked halfway across the bridge.

Chemung River, as seen from Centennial Bridge

Corning Inc. World Headquarters and Little Joe Tower,
as seen from Centennial Bridge

According to a Wikipedia article, the Little Joe Tower “was built in either 1912 or 1913 by Corning Glass Works (now known as Corning Inc.). The construction came during a period of growth for the company, and the 187-foot tower was used in drawing glass for thermometer tubes. On the outside of the white tower is a blue stenciled silhouette of “Little Joe”, a glassblower, giving the tower its name.”

The Centennial Park Pavilion is attractive.

The Farmers Market is held at Centennial Park each Thursday from 10:00 am-2:00 pm. We visited the next to last Farmers Market this year, as the last one was held on October 28th.

Centennial Park Pavilion and Farmers Market

Centennial Park Farmers Market
Centerway Square Clock Tower is at one end of the market, and
Centennial Bridge is at the other end.

Fresh Vegetables at Centennial Park Farmers Market

Flowers at Centennial Park Farmers Market

Bob purchased soft ginger snaps at the Farmers Market. The cookies were delicious!

We returned to downtown Corning around 5:00 pm, when we went to dinner at Sorge’s Restaurant. Bob had lasagna; I had spaghetti and meatballs. Both entrees were accompanied with salads and fresh bread. Dinner was tasty.

When we weren’t downtown, we were at our Airbnb resting and relaxing.

Relaxing on the backyard patio at our AirBnb

——————–

We got up around 7:00 am the next day. We showered, got dressed, and ate breakfast. We packed our stuff and carried it down to the car. We left, en route home, around 9:00 am.

Shortly before 10:30 am we stopped at Tim Hortons in Olean NY. I had wanted a Boston Creme donut since the start of this trip. We picked up two donuts and coffee/tea at the drive thru and ate our treat in the parking lot. This wasn’t the best mid-morning snack, but it sure was tasty!

We returned home around 1:00 pm. We enjoyed our getaway, but we always are happy to return home too.

Corning NY Mid-Week Getaway: Day 2 – Taughannock Falls

We spent three nights the week of October 17th in Corning, NY. I wrote about our first day here.

On October 20th we visited a covered bridge in Newfield, NY and then drove to Ithaca, NY.

Our first stop in Ithaca was at Buttermilk Falls State Park.

Our second stop in Ithaca was at Treman Triangle Park, where we hiked the Cascadilla Gorge Trail.

From Cascadilla Gorge we drove along the western side of Cayuga Lake to the Taughannock Falls Overlook, located in Taughannock Falls State Park.

Do you see the trail located at the lower right side of the picture? We could have walked that trail to see the waterfall from that vantage point. We opted not to do so, as I had enough walking from hiking the Cascadilla Gorge Trail. We have hiked that trail in the past, and will do so again I am sure.

Bob and I at the Taughannock Falls Overlook

After Bob took the selfie picture of the two of us at the overlook, a woman asked if we wanted her to take our picture. I gave the woman my iPhone. The resultant picture is displayed below.

You may wonder why I am laughing. As the woman was composing our picture, a man photobombed us. The woman said “oh there are three of you”, which made Bob and I turn our heads. The man was so close to us, I am surprised I didn’t feel him breathing on my neck! I saw only his face and long, black beard. The woman taking our picture did not capture the photobomber in our picture. I did, however, take a picture a few minutes earlier that captured the man who photobombed us.

The man in black photobombed us,
but jumped away
before he was included in the picture.

I really wish we had a picture of him photobombing us!

After viewing the falls from the overlook, we decided to go somewhere for lunch. Bob used Google Maps to locate a restaurant near us. One of the restaurant choices was Dugan’s Country Grill in Aurora, NY. That restaurant wasn’t too near us, about 36 miles on the opposite side of the lake. We opted to go there for lunch, as it would be a new restaurant for us. The restaurant looked nicer online than it did in person. The food, though, was good. Bob had a pulled pork sandwich with onion rings. I had a tuna melt sandwich with macaroni salad.

After lunch we drove to the Montezuma Wildlife Refuge. There was little to see here…nothing but Canada Geese, buzzards and a few ducks.

We stopped for ice cream sundaes (dessert) in Watkins Glen and returned to our Airbnb in Corning around 5:00 pm. We stayed in for rest of the afternoon and evening.

This ends our Day 2 activities. Here is a map that shows where all we went that day.

Corning-Newfield-Ithaca-Aurora-Montezuma-Watkins Glen-Corning

Stay tuned. I have one more blog post to share about our mid week getaway in Corning.

Corning NY Mid-Week Getaway: Day 2 – Cascadilla Gorge

We spent three nights the week of October 17th in Corning, NY. I wrote about our first day here.

On October 20th we visited a covered bridge in Newfield, NY and then drove to Ithaca, NY.

Our first stop in Ithaca was at Buttermilk Falls State Park.

After viewing Buttermilk Falls, we walked back to our car and left for the Cascadilla Gorge Natural Area. The approximate 3-mile drive from Buttermilk Falls to Cascadilla Gorge took about 10 minutes. This was our first visit to Cascadilla Gorge.

We started our hike of the Cascadilla Gorge Trail at Treman Triangle Park. There is parking along several streets surrounding the park, including a pull-off directly across the street along Linn Street. We were fortunate to obtain free parking across from Treman Triangle Park, as that area can accommodate only a handful of cars. The gorge trail starts at the back of Treman Triangle Park.

As long as this gate is open, the public may enter the gorge.

According to a placard at the gorge entrance, the Cascadilla Gorge Trail is a hike of approximately 1/3 mile. The trail ascends approximately 400 feet passing by six waterfalls (or eight waterfalls from another source). The gorge trail was easy walking at its beginning. Once in the heart of the gorge, however, the climb became moderately difficult for me because I am out of shape and have an arthritic knee. It was well worth the climb, though, as the gorge is beautiful! We didn’t count the waterfalls, and I don’t know if I photographed each waterfall, so I can’t verify how many waterfalls we saw. I can attest to the fact that there were many waterfalls (small and large) and running water, where waterfalls were not present.

This video shows the first waterfall that we saw during our hike. It is the waterfall seen in the previous two photographs.

Bob took this picture of me standing at the top of the first waterfall.

Waterfall #2
The man at the top of this waterfall is looking for a missing AirPod (or a similar ear device).
This man is one of the many volunteers who maintain the gorge trail to keep it looking its best.

Waterfall #4
Isn’t the long exposure image of this waterfall beautiful?

Video of Waterfall #4

I took this picture from the top of Waterfall #4.

This is the last waterfall that we saw during our hike.

I LOVE the long exposure image of this waterfall!

Bob at the base of the waterfall,
before we began our climb out of the gorge

We ended our hike at College Street. We decided not to return to our car via the gorge. Instead we walked downhill (a steep walk downhill!) on the sidewalks along the roads to our car.

From Cascadilla Gorge we drove to the Taughannock Falls Overlook, the subject of my next blog post.

Corning NY Mid-Week Getaway: Day 2 – Buttermilk Falls

We spent three nights the week of October 17th in Corning, NY. I wrote about our first day here.

On October 20th we visited a covered bridge in Newfield, NY and then drove to Ithaca, NY.

Our first stop in Ithaca was at Buttermilk Falls State Park, where we parked in the lower parking lot. We have the NY State Empire Pass, so we did not have to pay an entrance fee.

Buttermilk Falls is visible from the parking lot.
This view is only a few feet away from the parking lot.

I walked down to the red barrier seen in the above photograph.

Buttermilk Falls, as viewed from near the red barrier

A bridge crosses over the creek.
I took this picture of Buttermilk Falls from that bridge.
Buttermilk Falls is 165 ft high.

There is a gorge trail on the right side of the waterfall. We walked up a very short way on the trail.

In addition to still pictures I took a couple videos that I sliced together and uploaded to YouTube.

We walked back our car and left for nearby Cascadilla Gorge (the subject of my next blog post).

Corning NY Mid-Week Getaway: Day 2 – Newfield Covered Bridge

We spent three nights the week of October 17th in Corning, NY. I wrote about our first day here.

We got up around 5:30 am on October 20th. By 7:30 am we had showered, dressed and eaten breakfast. At 8:00 am we left for Ithaca, NY.

Before reaching Ithaca we stopped at the Newfield Covered Bridge in Newfield, NY.

Newfield Covered Bridge was built in 1853.

Newfield Covered Bridge is the oldest surviving covered bridge
still open to daily vehicular traffic in the State of New York.

We walked down a few steps from the parking lot to an observation platform.

Day 2 activities to be continued …

Corning NY Mid-Week Getaway: Day 1

We spent three nights the week of October 17th in Corning, NY.

We left for Corning on October 19th at 9:20 am.

We stopped in Cuba NY at the Cuba Cheese Shoppe and at The Perfect Blend Coffeehouse & Eatery. We bought habanero cheese and butterscotch cookies at Cuba Cheese. At the coffeehouse we had a mid-morning snack–coffee and tea and two chocolate with peanut butter frosting muffins. The muffins were delicious!

We would have arrived in Corning too early to check in at our accommodation, so we drove to Watkins Glen first.

We enjoyed a stroll at Seneca Lake Harbor, before leaving for Corning.

We stopped at Wegmans in Corning to pick up a few grocery items that we felt were needed for our 3-night getaway.

From Wegmans we drove to our Airbnb “Home Away From Home”. It was a short drive, as Wegmans is only a mile away. Check-in was 2:00 pm, and our arrival time was around 2:30 pm. We carried in our stuff from the car and got settled in for our 3-night stay.

This was our third stay at “Home Away From Home”. Our first stay was for one night in January 2019. That was our very first stay, as well, at an Airbnb. Our second stay was for three nights in April 2019.

Since our stay 2 1/2 years ago we noted some changes throughout the house. In the living room the couch was different. The new couch doesn’t recline like the old one. The old one didn’t work properly, so the new couch is an improvement. The coffee table is different too, as is the tv and the stand it sits on.

The TV stand has an electric fireplace.
The TV stand was a very nice aesthetic improvement!

The fireplace has several temperature settings and does generate sufficient heat to take the chill out of the living room. I LOVE the new TV stand. Maybe one day we can replace our TV stand with one similar to this one.

In the bathroom the window on the bathtub wall is now frosted. I don’t believe anyone could have seen in that window, but it is another improvement that we especially liked. In the kitchen there is a new table and chairs. One of the bedrooms now has a TV. All of the changes were nice improvements.

I noticed as we entered the living room, a gift bag on the coffee table. Lucas gave us two Corning “Crystal City” wine glasses. He is a thoughtful host. Lucas gifted us a Corning coffee cup, when we stayed there in April 2019.