OT of sorts: Watkin's Glen

I'm going to Watkins Glen this year for DE. The family is coming along in the minivan. It's good to keep the family involved in one's obsessions, heh-heh For those who have been there, any recommendations on hotels and family type activities? I hope they enjoy the trip as much as I expect to enjoy the DE, so it will be easier to convince them that we NEED to keep going to the Glen. Thanks.

Watkins Glenn is a beautiful area but you may trouble finding an answer on what to do. We go there to drive the track! Anyway, there's the State park hike and the boat ride on the lake, country side is beautiful and you can get antiques. Corning NY has a few attractions as well. The hotels, now that a funny thing, they are all from the 50's , Most are clean but old. The groups tend to stay at the Seneca Lodge, I think they finally got phones in the room and cable.There is a new Hotel on 14 in a winery but the name escapes me. I'm sure someone else will drop in with that info. I'm going twice this year,June & August, Maybe it wont rain this year. The track is incredible and FAST

Palting: don't forget to make some clips!(one problem is to fix the camera..) tks! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

Thaks for the replies. I'm making a list of activities, and will see how good a salesman I am with the wife. I've been checking on harness bars and camera mounts. We'll see about the clips .

Palting, We usually have lots of families come up for our DE events. In addition to what Tom mentioned, there's an auto racing museum in town, winery tours north of town, a beach at the south end of the lake, a marina in town that rents boats, etc. and a kart track that has both kiddie and adult rides. Many of the motels also have their own swimming pools if you are going to be there June-August (the other months are too cold). There's lots of little shops in town and a newly restored movie theater downtown that usually shows kid oriented flicks during the day. You can check out the following site for more info: <a href="http://www.watkinsglen.com/search.cgi" target="_blank">http://www.watkinsglen.com/search.cgi</a> As for places to stay, the nicest is north of town at a winery called The Inn at Glenora. Brand new cottages right along the lake. I haven't stayed there or priced them but they look really nice. Also the Longhouse Lodge is nice and is closer to town. The Falls Inn in Montour Falls is south of the Glen but you don't get a swimming pool or any lake views there, just a decent room. Karl

The state park hike is really unique - not a typical trail through a forest setting, but rather a hike on stone bridges & walkways along the face of a gorge.

Hi, I went to school in Ithaca...not too far away. Ithaca is a cool college town, quiet in the summer, the Cornell University campus is lovely. There are several gorges/trails outside of Ithaca (there is a saying "Ithaca is gorges")...Upper Treman is beautiful.

If your wife is like mine, she would hate the "motor inn" accommodations at Seneca Lodge. Personally, I am usually so tired at the end of the day, I just want a good meal(they do have a nice restaurant) and a cool place to drink a beer(they have a great bar). However, to be fair, I have not seen the cabins and other accommodations at Seneca. If you go to the Watkins Glen "homepage" there is a list of many places to stay including weekly private home rental properties. Many are right on the water. I don't recall that route as being excessively expensive. That is actually what I planned to do last year until a wedding, birthday or something distracted the wife.