The Hudson River Valley, which stretches from Yonkers to Albany, beckoned many wealthy families of the 1800s, including the Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, Mills, Goulds, and Roosevelts. We had less than 24 hours to explore and most of our time was spent at the FDR Birthplace and the adjacent FDR Library & Museum in Hyde Park. However, we did manage to swing by the Vanderbilt Mansion and other spots along the Hudson River.
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Since visiting Roosevelt’s Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia, I’ve always found the 32nd US President’s life intriguing. FDR first came to the area in 1924 to seek treatment for his polio symptoms and his legacy continues to impact Georgia today. FDR founded the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation, built a cottage (nicknamed the Little White House) where he died in 1945, and donated his personal land to create F. D. Roosevelt State Park. So it’s no wonder FDR’s historic home and presidential museum in Hyde Park, New York were on my bucket list.
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Home to Cornell University, Ithaca is a fun and quirky college town with its own sense of identity. We booked three nights in Ithaca because it is close to Taughannock Falls, Buttermilk Falls, and Robert Treman State Parks, which were on our itinerary.
Travel brochures and T-shirts around town proudly proclaim, “Ithaca is Gorges.” It’s true. Melting glaciers from the Ice Age cut deep gorges, producing over 150 waterfalls in the area. Add 30,000 residents and another 25,000 college students from Cornell and Ithaca College, and you’ve got a multicultural town filled with restaurants and cutting-edge technology.
(more…)We visited Watkins Glen State Park for a spectacular waterfall hiking trail while visiting New York Finger Lakes. About a 40-minute drive from Ithaca, Watkins Glen sits on the southern…