Ithaca, New York

Ithaca is gorges!
​Ha, this shirt made me laugh, but it’s so true! There are lot of gorges and waterfalls in this area. We spent two nights in the Finger Lakes Region of New York. It definitely wasn’t enough time to explore everything this area has to offer. There were three state parks within 15 minutes from our campground and of course the beautiful Finger Lakes. 

Camping
We stayed at Spruce Row Campground. It was a pretty busy campground, with a lot of seasonal sites. They offer a lot of activities. The weekend we were there was Glow Party Weekend. Saturday afternoon they had a color run through the campground. Mia was very excited for this and wanted to do it all by herself (thankfully, because I would have slowed her down!). She ended up running with about 20 other kids and finished in 2nd place! The kids also loved the large pool!
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Taughannock Falls State Park
We walked the Gorges Trail, which was an easy flat 2 mile down and back hike to a 215 foot waterfall. It was pretty spectacular. You can also drive to a lookout which will give you a great view from the top. This park is on the Cayuga Lake. This would be a really fun area for a boating vacation. 

Robert H Treman State Park
We hiked the Gorges and Rim Trail to a 115 foot Lucifer Falls. This area was hit with heavy rains, so swimming next to the waterfalls was not allowed this weekend.  Both Robert H Treman and Buttermilk Falls State Parks have swimming holes right next to waterfalls and have lifeguards on duty during daytime hours. We were bummed we didn't get to experience swimming at these parks, maybe some other time!  

Buttermilk Falls State Park
Buttermilk Falls is right next to the entrance to the park and offers a swimming area right next to the falls. Unfortunately, all the swimming holes were closed this weekend because of the recent heavy rains.