Upstate NY: A Weekend For The Books

November in New Jersey means a few long weekends, especially for teachers. We get the first Thursday and Friday off because of the big convention down in Atlantic City. Instead of going to the convention, my friends and I decided it was time for a getaway, a mini vacation.

Ryan's amazing family has a cottage on Lake Cayuga in Aurora, NY. On Thursday night, we packed up our bags and started the four hour journey up there. Upon our almost 10pm arrival, it immediately meant a bonfire and a glass of Chardonnay. By Friday morning, all four couples had arrived and we were ready for the weekend. We left the cottage around 11am and began the wine tastings at all of the incredible wineries.  By Sunday afternoon, Ryan and I had accumulated this small collection of wine bottles. 

We were lucky to make stops at the Goose Watch Winery, Eleven Lakes Winery, Montezuma Winery, Heart and Hands (my personal favorite), Varick Winery & Country Store (where we ate our body weight in cheese dips and seasoned olive oils, as well as the Ithaca Beer Company, where we took a tour of the brewery and had an INCREDIBLE lunch. 

If we weren't enjoying the wine, beer, and food, we were enjoying the bonfire and the views. It was so great to be right on the lake where we could take the canoe out at our leisure and lounge on the Adirondack chairs with a marshmallow at the end of a stick. We visited the Ithaca Falls on Saturday and finished the weekend with a yummy brunch at the Blue Water Grill in Skaneateles.

And if all of that wasn't enough, we got to spend some time with Ryan's cousins and aunts and uncles. Truly wonderful people. 

As Ryan and I drove home late on Sunday afternoon, we thought about how lucky we were to have great friends and family to spend time with and already started planning the next trip. Can't wait!