NYC DLers, tell me about the rest of the state of New York

our alabama

The finger lakes region is gorgeous.

Lake George, Lake Placid— both stunning

the gorges are gorgeous

agree with R2 the Finger Lakes are beautiful, and it’s fun to tour the wineries.

New Paltz is a cute hippie town and Mohaunk is a beautiful climb.

I was in Ithica and thought it pretty.

Might as well be Indiana.

The Adirondacks (particularly the high peaks), the Catskills, and the Hudson Valley are all gorgeous!

Half of NYC residents are native NYers and couldn't find upstate NY on a map, the other half are people from flyover country who made a run for it to NYC and know nothing about anyplace north Manhattan. So the question is moot. For the record upstate NY is a mixed bag. Buffalo is by far the most interesting place.

Finger Lakes people are hideous

Letchworth and Finger Lakes are stunning. FIrst rate wildlife sanctuaries. The whole area is comparable in beauty and uniqueness to some of the great state parks in other more famous parts of the country like the Everglades. And don't forget Niagara Falls.

Lake Placid.

My granddad was born in Scipio, New York in 1886. Near Rochester. Anyone know anything about Scipio?

The Adirondacks have the worst black flies. I'm working my way through the 46 Adirondack High Peaks and always end up with black fly bites. Didn't seem so bad hiking the White Mountains in New Hampshire.

I'm from the south and will be taking the bar exam in Saratoga in two weeks. I'll have time to explore in the evenings. Suggestions?

some parts of NYS are really poor due to the downturn in manufacturing. you can find apartments in Niagara Falls for $400

I was shocked at how rundown Niagara Falls was.

when niagara fell, it fell hard

Are there still Adirondack chairs?

....

I work in optics, so I moved to Rochester for a job. It’s okay. There are way more summer festivals than I was expecting, and the craft cocktail scene is pretty large. Unfortunately, downtown is dead and the gays are pretty scarce. For example, I will go to the Rochester (gay) spa to literally sunbathe or sit in the sauna and rejuvenate. In a big city, I actually go to the saunas for sex like everyone else.

There's a hiking trail in the Mohonk Mountains that is very popular and it has been a cruising area for the past 100 years.

The only people I ever met from upstate were EXTREMELY conservative. They are not like NYC at all.

bump

Eh, I don’t care for it. Did like Mohonk Mountain House but the food was terrible. The outdoor activities are nice.

There are hillbillies all over the place, upstate.

It could be annexed by Pennsylvania as it is it's companion socially, economically and stupidity-wise . Odd backwards place, completely ignored by anyone in the city, unless they have a vacation house. Hilarious to New Jersey citizens to observe as they argue upstate/downstate/city qualifications.

[quote] Are you a fan of upstate New York?

Nope.

[quote] What are the charming towns you visit on a day or weekend trip?

Cloisters (but that is Inwood, still in NYC), Hamptons and Fire Island (Long Island, off coast of LI, NYC).

The High Peaks region is gorgeous. Great hiking and camping. Spent my summers there when I was growing up. The Finger Lakes region is lovely. There are some nice wineries there. Upstate has always been more Republican than downstate.

For weekend Fall getaways, try B&Bs in Ulster or Duchess Counties. Saugerties is a nice town. The Hudson Valley is beautiful. You can see FDR's home. Try a weekend visiting West Point. Take in a football game. The cadets are handsome in their uniforms.

Nothing beats the beaches of Long Island. Jones Beach is beautiful. The Hamptons is to die for. Montauk used to be the great secret, but sadly that's changing. Also the North Shore has some lovely towns. Take in Teddy Roosevelt's home there.

It’s a big beautiful state..and don’t ever compare it to Pennsylvania, it’s very different. And just like the rest of the US the cities are liberal and the rural areas are conservative.

There are beautiful places in upstate New York, but it is full of deplorables. New York would be a solidly red state if it weren't for New York City making up half of the population. It's why Republicans would love to split the state in two the way they want to split California. Going to Niagra Falls or some of the beautiful parks or even the rare non-deplorable small town like New Paltz are the only things worth seeing. Otherwise, it's like fly-over country; avoid at all costs.

Sag Harbor, Montauk, Fire Island, Columbia County, Catskills, the Adirondacks.

Take a Greyhound on the Hudson River Line...

People from New York hate the rest of the state. People from New York State hate New York City and its people.

Btw, "New York" means the city.

Another vote here for the Finger Lakes region, which is quite beautiful with many charming towns. Also, the Thousand Islands area is worth visiting, although it's a long drive from NYC.

I work in Ithaca or Rochester about three or four times a year. I really like it. Very different but enjoyable laid back feeling from the east coast where I live

The Chautauqua, New York area is a great weekend trip in the summertime. Great concerts & lectures @ the pavilion, beautiful grounds with a charming old hotel, lots of great restaurants and diners, quaint shops, local wineries........something for everyone.

Niagara Falls NY has always been dumping and boring. It surprises me that this region has always been woefully underdeveloped and neglected. It should be one of the state's shining stars. If you really want to see the Falls, you need to go to the Canadian side. I've been there too many times to count, and think I won't go back,but the sight of the Falls is breathtaking and wondrous. If your going to stay for a day or any length of time, stay just outside of the tourist area. Better prices on hotels and motels, and restaurants. If you've never been there, plan a trip. It's something everyone should see at least once.

R27, do you really want to be THAT guy? Oh, I couldn't possibly venture north of The Cloisters. Jesus Fucking Christ. There's a big world out there, and it's worth seeing.

"Nothing beats the beaches of Long Island. Jones Beach is beautiful. "

Are you out of your mind or have you never been to another beach? The beaches are HORRIBLE. And the water is so soiled you can't see your hand in front of your face underwater if you dare open your eyes.

Ask me anything you would ever want to know about it!

The landscape off the Thruway near Little Falls is stunning and reminds me of Tuscany.

Thousand Islands area is really cool and unique. I went to college in the Finger Lakes, there are a lot of colleges in Upstate NY in beautiful little towns. It’s quite an idyllic college experience.

It is true. There is absolutely nothing to see in New York State north of the Cloisters. The Hamptons is the only place in the entire state. Please remember that. Never, ever come up here. All those art museums and liberal arts colleges and national parks people talk about? ALL LIES.

Just keep on taking the Jitney out to the Hamptons. It's only seven hours in heavy traffic in order to get to your timeshare McBeachHouse at the corner of Nouveau and Riche. And you might even see a Real Housewife when you make it!!!!

There are a lot of wealthy people living along the Hudson River Valley. It's not true everyone in NYC hates NYS. Many have summer homes upstate or split their time between the city and upstate.

Long Island, now that's another story.

I was born in Buffalo, but I don't live there anymore. I go up a few times a year to visit my mom, brother, friends and family. I absolutely adore Buffalo. The food is phenomenal and the architecture is unparalleled. It's a beautiful town. I love it so much. It's much nicer than Niagara Falls and only 20 minutes away. I encourage people to visit Buffalo with an open mind. Travel and Leisure voted Buffalo as the friendliest town in America, and it really is a charming, gentile town.

Also, I correct people when they call Buffalo "upstate." It will always be Western New York.

As for the rest of you, Nyack is great, Bedford and the surrounding area is lovely, Katonah is exquisite, Lyndhurst at Tarrytown is a favorite, Rhinebeck, Red Hook, Germantown, Kinderhook, Kingston, New Paltz, Mohonk, Saugerties and Opus 40, the Storm King Art Center, DIA Beacon, Vassar campus and the Loeb Art Center, Catskill, Athens, Hudson and the Opera House, Olana and the Thomas Cole National Historic Sites, Hyde Park and the Roosevelts and Vanderbilts, the 16-mile Drive, Saratoga and the races and the national Dance Museum and the Hotel Adelphi, 19th century architecture in Troy and Albany, Bard College on the Hudson with its Frank Gerhy-designed concert hall, Kaaterskill Falls, Woodstock, the Maverick concerts, Wyndam and the chamber music festival, the Chathams, Millbrook, Innisfree Gardens, Wethersfield, polo matches, garden tours, 300-year-old Dutch Colonial stone houses in Stone Ridge and Hurley, Cooperstown, the Finger Lakes, beautiful Cazanovia, Geneva, Montrose Falls, Owego, the Adirondacks and Long Lake, Lake George Village with its kitschy tiki bars and miniature golf courses, the Minne-ha-ha, music at Caramoor, the Chautauqua Institute, Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright in Buffalo, the Albright-Knox Arts Center, the Munson Proctor Institute, Yaddo, Bolton Spa, Warwick, Cold Spring, Piermont, Tuxedo Park Kykuit and Bear Mountain.

Other than that, no, nothing to speak of.

Anywhere in NY where they watch New York City television for local news, and can pretty much under normal conditions be in Manhattan in an hour or less, is not "upstate" to me.

I went camping with my Aunt Diane in New York. Didn't care for it one bit

Been living in NYC and therefore the state all my life.

Close to NYC, Orange County is pretty rural and still affordable, but you have drive (50-60 mi) to get there. The beaches of Long Island from Fire Island to Robert Moses to Montauk are gorgeous. Someone above note that the water can be dirty- yes and not- the closer to the city. Lots of communities on Fire Island other than the Pines and Cherry Grove. The North Fork of Long Island is much less developed than the South Fork (Hamptons) and dotted to farms and vineyards . The State Park that encompasses the Adirondacks is one of the most spectacular in the nation. The 'dacks are spectacular/beautiful and pretty untouched- first rate hiking. Lake Placid (in the 'dacks) is my favorite upstate- along with nearby Whiteface Mountain one of the 46 peaks and a great east coast ski destination. A bit West there is Westport on Lake Champlain.

Not much of a fan or the Syracuse-Utica corridor, or Buffalo- Rochester not as buff as it was when Kodak was healthy. Hudson Valley is gorgeous, old stomping grounds of the elite along with the small enclave of Tuxedo Park during robber baron days. Hyde Park contains the FDR library and Delano home- first Presidential library and perhaps the prettiest. And then there's the Catskills and their ticky tacky charm- west in the state it poor- actually also quite a bit up in the 'dacks. So there is poverty and the attendant issues.

When you factor in NYC with the above- it's a pretty awesome state.

They have a lot of college towns.

R43, I've lived in lower Westchester Cty all of my life - we consider it NYC even though it's not.

My partner and I are planning on retiring somewhere up there when the time comes. While yes, many towns are depressing and static, there is also a bit of a northern exodus going on due to NYC being so fucking expensive.

Kingston is great. Though it does have a pretty intense ghetto, it also has a thriving artist community and gay community. There are some great restaurants and galleries, and their farmers market is awesome, too. Pretty, pretty houses on some of those streets.

Red Hook, Rhinebeck and Rinehcliff are lousy with wealthy NYCers who bought weekend homes. But because of that - and the proximity to Bard College - there are some awesome restaurants, ships and galleries as well.

The town of Hudson is that area's very own little stretch of cunty NYC. In recent years, Warren Street has exploded with crazy expensive designer shops, cafes and restaurants. A ton of fashiony design queens from NYC terraformed the place to the point of insufferability. But the town does have a killer record store and it can be cool for a quick visit.

Other towns going through renewal include: Rosendale, High Falls, Hyde Park. Even Troy - which is right near Albany and has affectionately been known as "Troylet" due to its post-industrial grittiness - is thrumming with new restaurants, bars and galleries, Art and engineering school RPI as well as some other colleges are there, and many of its streets look exactly like areas of Brooklyn Heights, with its brownstones and cobblestones. A lot of artists and hip kids are settling/staying there due to cheap and sprawling studio space. They also have THE best coffee hang out: Superior Merchandise. (check out the link). And their farmers market is fantastic - especially in the late summer/early fall.

Lots going on upstate. It aint all hicks. And I didn't even touch on the outdoorsy stuff: hiking, skiing, biking, kayaking, boating, etc.

I love it up there. Really looking forward to one day being a crunchy fag with a Subaru in one of those towns.

"there are some awesome restaurants, ships and galleries as well."

fucking autocorrect. should say: "there are some awesome restaurants, stores and galleries as well."

[quote]Are there still Adirondack chairs?

a few hang around, but most became affluent and moved to westport, so much posher

Saratoga Springs is great.

I like certain parts , Buffalo, Rochester, Elmira, some of 5he wine region, but that's it.

*the

What is Chatham like?

R51, Kingston is so far away from New York, it might as well be the moon.

R13 you might mean Scio and it’s a big nothing near Allegany State Park. Good for hiking but nothing else.

What R32 said.

R57 there are actually several Chathams, all of them charming. Chatham, the largest, has a cute Main Street, numerous restaurants, Victorian houses; North and Old Chatham are both from architecturally from the 1750s-1830s period and much more hamlet like. Old Chatham has a superb New American place and an old tavern/bar; North Chatham is a string of tiny villas and cottages. The countryside around them is gorgeous farmland, rolling meadows and forests. The Shakers were active in the area and numerous buildings remain locally. It's also a good place for orchards and dairies.

My partner and I recently moved from NYC to Hudson. It's a very gay friendly town. In fact, it's can seem mostly gay. More gay pride flags here than I've ever seen anywhere. Great restaurants and beautiful countryside. Terrific farmers markets. Amazing produce. You can buy a beautiful house with lots of property within two hours of NY for about $500K, or about what it would cost to buy a crappy little studio in Inwood or some other unwanted area of Manhattan. And there's an Amtrak station right in town so you don't need a car.

That said, the people are a little dull and not terribly friendly. As a local said, no one leaves NYC because they're looking for excitement.

I live in NYC but went to college in Ithaca and can be a nice during summer and fall. Winters can be deadly cold...the surrounding area is podunk as hell, though.

Adirondacks are nice, too.

I saw a show on USA Network called "Eyewitness" about two gay boys, and it was supposed to take place somewhere in New York state. Anybody have any clue where it was filmed or supposed to take place?

It depends where. New York State is as large as England. It’s not just NYC and then everyplace else.

I thought Hudson was largely ghetto, with some gentrified zones?

R15, go to the races, silly! After the races, go to Siro’s.

"Oh, I couldn't possibly venture north of The Cloisters. Jesus Fucking Christ. There's a big world out there, and it's worth seeing."

Well the person who wrote that is obviously white.

I used to know a couple twin cross dressers in Ithaca. They were hairburners by day.

I grew up in NYC, but as an adult lived in the Adirondacks for decades. Upstate is farms, hillbillies, small one stoplight towns, small town mindsets with all that that entails, racism, and economic depression.

I wouldn't recommend it.

Back in the 1990s, late partner and I from Manhattan had a great 6 day vacation exploring the Finger Lakes district except for one B&B that asked us to leave at 6am because they realized we were gay. That was many years ago, I'm sure that wouldn't be an issue today. Well, maybe not. I had to go the doctor six weeks later with what turned out to be a tick bite but fortunately never developed any symptoms of Lyme Disease.

During the 70s/early 80s we had a place in the Pines and in the late 80s/90s we spent time at B&Bs in the Catskills and the Poconos. That one summer week in the Finger Lakes in the mid 90s was fun though. And lots of other road trips elsewhere too.

BTW, Binghamton, near the Finger Lakes, has a Carousel Museum.

Much of upstate NY is Mississippi— I mean the Klan is still active in up up state NY. It can be very pretty in parts, very rural in parts, and really ugly in parts. Lake George is a giant tourist trap. About an hour an a half above Albany and to the East (near the river) across from Vermont there are a lot of small towns and farms and some communities have artists. Route 22 is a windy path you can drive an hour or two and come across some interesting places. Also by the river has some really nice places where people who have money have vacation homes so there are some nice waterfront places to eat and boat.

Momma loves to go upstate to visit the cagemeat at Auburn State Prison!

Thank you r61.

Is this the cruisy area at Mohonk Mountain House?

" New York" refers to Manhattan only. The rest is trash like the rest of the state.

Who cares what NYC DLers think? They have the poor judgement to live in that horribly overpriced and dirty city!

Upstate New York is gorgeous. Amazing camping, and charming town. One of the best vacation destinations.

R41, I'm surprised no one else mentioned the Thousand Islands. Boldt Castle has been mostly restored to its turn of the century (1900s) splendor. Lots of history there, and a lot of it relates to the smuggling of booze from Canada during Prohibition.

The best thing about Syracuse is that within two hours by car you can be anywhere else, and most of the places like the Adirondaks, the TI, the Finger Lakes, the Madison-Boukville Antique Trail are mentioned above. Also, it as the distinct pleasure of having a university sports arena called the Carrier Dome, named after a company that left the area years ago.

"Amazing camping, and charming town. One of the best vacation destinations."

Camping is beyond vulgar and as a hobby it is way too waspy for 21st Century living.

The scenery can be beautiful, the people not always so much. South shore LI beaches are great but in a way just an extension of NYC. The Finger Lake region is lovely - Corning is very civilized - and you need to see Niagara, but stay in Canada and walk over to the NYS park. New Paltz is pretty, but Mohonk Mtn House is overrated. Westchester and the lower Hudson Valley towns are basically NYC satellite suburbs, don't miss Kykuit, Dia Beacon, Storm King, and Lyndhurst. Rochester, Buffalo and Western NY can be tricky for people of color - think Pennsyltucky. Unfortunately as someone mentioned, there is also serious Klan activity in the Adirondack area, you can't be too careful up there.

I want to go to the Thousand Islands area because I like their dressing.

The Thousand Islands are really beautiful. It was our go-to summer vacation growing up in Buffalo.

R81, Rochester, Buffalo and WNY have large African American populations so I don't know what you're talking about.

Naples NY is cute

If you're into stately houses, there are some beautiful mansion just two hours outside of New York City. The FDR House, Eleanor Roosevelt's cottage, the Vanderbilt Mansion, Olana. Stay at one of the B&B's in Rhinebeck.

Good heavens! It goes all the way to Canada!

Typical NYC dweller R80 Only worried about what is in vogue and not worried about getting out of a rat filled city that's slowly poisoning you

Camping is vulgar?

In a ten-ton Winnebago, perhaps.

In a tent in the woods, I can think of fewer things otherwise less vulgar. And I don't like camping myself.

R80 sounds like a Hamptons sort of person. If it's not 7 hours of traffic and Brenda Dickson's living room at the end of it, it's just not on, people.

R80, glamping was invented for you.

"Camping is vulgar?"

Hello Lyme Disease!

I have camped every year, usually two or three times per year, since I was 6 years old R90. And I don't have it. Bug spray goes a long way

R44 "Buffalo is a charming, GENTILE town."

Is that an error, or did you really mean to say that?

What about Alfred? I’m a ceramics queen and I dream of doing an MFA in their ceramics program when I retire. What’s it like there?