Pop and Meemee on the road: Watkins Glen and Corning, NY

We've had a good trip in Campbell, NY which is near the Watkins Glen area and have moved on to our next stop, Youngstown, NY which is about 15 miles from Niagara Falls. Tonight's blog is about our time in Campbell. The first night there we decided to eat dinner out and looked on Trip Advisor for some good cuisine and came up with Slammin Jammin Barbecue. They claimed they have real southern cue, which sounded good to us, but were somewhat skeptical being we were in New York. I ordered a brisket sandwich while Crickett and Bailey had chicken. They did have sweet tea which had to be a plus! Well, it was "pretty good" but I wouldn't consider it classic southern cue like we're accustomed to. If you want southern cue, you need to go to the south! They did have a cool looking bike parked out front. The next day we traveled to the town of Corning to check out the Museum of Glass and tour the historic downtown section. The town of Corning is the headquarters of Corning, Inc, one of the world's leading innovators in materials science. The museum is the world's largest glass museum and contains a contemporary art gallery, a design gallery as well as a glassblowing amphitheater. There were fiber optic demonstrations, a flame working demo, and a hot shot demo in the amphitheater where different techniques and styles were demonstrated. The cost to tour the museum was $15.30 for us seniors while Bailey got in free as she is under 18.
The next day (Friday) we were off to explore the quaint little village of Watkins Glen, NY which is probably best known as host to world class racing events that are sanctioned by
Formula One, the World Sportscar Championship, Trans-Am, Can-Am, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the International Motor Sports Association and the Verizon IndyCar Series. But racing is not the only thing Watkins Glen is known for. It's situated at the base of Seneca Lake, one of the finger lakes of the Western New York region and is known as the Lake Trout Capitol of the world. In addition, the area is home to the Watkins Glen State Park. The park features a spectacular narrow gorge where you can hike alongside Glen Creek past deep pools, water sculpted rocks, and nineteen waterfalls. According to a T shirt I saw in the Visitor's Center, there are 822 steps on the two to three mile trail loop. It's fairly strenuous with a lot of the trail being wet due to run off and spray from the waterfalls. Bailey and I made the trek while Crickett waited on us in the truck, which was a wise decision. The topography of the surrounding countryside is very hilly with green lush pastures and woods which make the area an ideal climate for the more than forty wineries. US Salt also have salt mines here that mine and refine salt. This is a pretty diverse and cool area and is very popular with tourists.
We are presently at the Niagara Falls North/Lewiston KOA and is a typical KOA with smaller unpaved sites and higher prices but we were happy to get it because most of the parks are full. The first thing on our agenda is to explore Niagara Falls, but there is so much else here to see and do. We're looking forward to our time here.