I'm spending the coming week in Youngstown OH with the bf at his parents' house. On Thursday morning we are heading up to Niagara Falls, and have 1 night booked there.

We have the car until Sunday morning, so we'd like to take a nice, scenic ride back to NYC. I'm looking for suggestions on driving routes and interesting things to see or do. Unfortunately it is supposed to rain all week!

I'm not interested in seeing the Hudson Valley since that's where I grew up. Other than Binghamton, I've never even seen Western NY!!

Won't be much fun in the rain but the finger lakes (Skaneateles), Saranac Lake. One or 2 recent threads on dining in the Finger Lakes if you do a search.

Is there a nice winery we can stop at on this route? We'll be in the Mt. Pocono area on 380 hwy. Don't want to venture too far off the hwy. but would love to pick up some nice wine.

Don't know the area, but here's a website that list wineries in the Pocono area. http://www.academybb.com/Wineries.html

For winery info in the Finger Lakes region go to fingerlakes.org

suzanne,
Consider a stop in Ithaca. Nice town and surrounding area and with the colleges between sessions, mayhem will be minimal. Least it was when we recently picked up #2 son.

Also, watch which route you take home to NYC. Tappan Zee bridge area has construction. We took 17 up and 81 home (Long Island) and these too had construction zones but are, IMHO, nicer drives than the Thruway.

Thanks for responding. My boyfriend nixed the winery idea because we're going to be driving some long distances. Ithaca might be interesting though...what is around that area besides Cornell?

In Ithaca, you can swim at a pond below a waterfall, it is Buttermilk Falls. Oh sorry not open yet. If you stop in Corning, visit Corning Glass Works, there are some nice little Bohemian type restaurants in the area also. This is my old stomping ground, and have relatives in the area. Click on my screen name and you can read the previous posts on this topic. When you leave Buffalo, drive the NY State Thruway to 390 in Rochester, this is a beautiful drive from Rochester to Elmira, especially if the wildflowers are up.