A Birthday Weekend Upstate New York: Finger Lakes Wine Tour

I usually write a very long detailed, and usually sappy post about my trips. But this trip was different. My friends and I had so many laughs and inside jokes, and amazing memories from this weekend that are too sacred to write down.

I wanted to write out our weekend into an itinerary for anyone else that wants to spend a weekend upstate New York for a girl’s trip and tour the wineries on the Finger Lakes.

 

Thursday

5:30 pm: My friends from law school and I met at Hofstra and packed the car and drove 5 hours to Elmira, New York to celebrate Emma’s 23^rd birthday. Happy Birthday Emma!

Friday

12:00 am: We arrived in Elmira and were greeted at Emma’s parent’s house with margaritas.

3:00 am: Bedtime (after many laughs and silly stories).

8:30 am: Breakfast at Emma’s.

10:00 am: We drove to Corning, New York (like from Corningware and Pyrex!) and walked around the town before getting our nails done at Fashion Nails & Beauty Spa.

12:00 pm: We popped into some antique stores (I wanted to buy all the old dishes and cups, but I resisted) and grabbed lunch at Market Street Brewing Co.

1:30 pm: We crossed the river and explored the Corning Museum of Glass’ giftshop. I purchased some Christmas ornaments (because I love Christmas, and these ornaments were handmade in Corning!) 

3:00 pm: The girls and I took a sand blowing class. We took premade glasses (I chose a water glass) and put stickers on it and then took this powerful machine (with the help of the instructors) that had pressurized sand concentrated in a nozzle and shot the sand over our glasses to make them frosted.

4:00 pm: We got ready at Emma’s house for dinner. Trish did my eyeshadow, and I am still mesmerized by how good it looked.

5:00 pm: My friends and I were dropped off at ILL EAGLE, Elmira’s old bank and post office that is now a bar, for a few drinks. 

6:30 pm: Emma’s mom picked us up and drove us to the country club for dinner. I had crispy shrimp and pasta. We sang happy birthday and laughed while our very loud group was tucked away in our private room. 

9:00 pm: We changed into comfy clothes after dinner, and we celebrated Emma’s never-ending birthday with a backyard party with flip cup (I won!) and stack cup (I also won!)!

 

Saturday

8:00 am: We had an early wake up call for our wine tour.

9:00 am: Breakfast was served.

10:00 am: My friends and I got ready together. Trish did my eyeshadow again and it was AMAZING!

10:45 am: We boarded the party bus with our drinks, snacks and bucket hats (that was the theme for the day: colorful bucket hats) and made our way to Lake Seneca. Unfortunately, the ride is a bit windy, and I got a little nauseous.

12:00 pm: We arrived at our first winery: Idol Ridge. Some of the girls did a mimosa flight tasting, I chose my own four wines, which were delicious. The drinks were served with a bag of chips and Cheeky Monkey sauce (which Nicole and I had to buy because it was so delicious) and a piece of fudge. We took pictures with our bucket hats before we boarded the bus again.

1:00 pm: It was a short ride to Wagner Vineyards where we had a private wine tasting around this big bar. The sommelier was very knowledgeable and passionate about the Wagner Vineyard. It was a very interesting tasting. This winery was right on the lake, and it was stunning. The views were the prettiest of the three vineyards we went to. We took pictures on the lake before it started pouring.  

2:00 pm: We had lunch on the bus (we had sandwiches in our coolers) before heading to Hazlitt 1852. This was the most fun winery that we went to. We had a private room with a charcuterie board and our wine. The Red Cat was my favorite wine that we had. After we left the tasting room, we ran across the parking lot in the rain to Oasis, where we were able to order more drinks and take them to a big white tent with picnic tables and corn hole. That is where I had Red Cat in slushie form. I had two of them, and they were delicious.

4:00 pm: We got back on the bus, stopped at a waterfall on the drive home and were home before 5:00 pm.

6:00 pm: I changed and threw on comfy clothes and we sat outside under the covered patio and had a cookout while watching Bridesmaids.

8:00 pm: My friends and I decided to relive our day and watch all the videos we took.

10:00 pm: Bedtime after an action-packed day.

 

Sunday

10:00 am: The cars were packed; we said our goodbyes and thank yous and headed to a diner for breakfast.

12:00 pm: We stopped in Binghamton, New York to go to Wegman’s (which is an amazing food store!) I picked up pimento cheese dip, cheese curds, cannoli dip and chips (MY FAVORITE) and a salad for the car ride.

5:00 pm: We were back at Hofstra where our moms were waiting for us to take us home.

 

This was the best trip ever. It was SO much fun. We laughed and made jokes the entire weekend.

I was a bit skeptical about traveling with this group because we only just met last August. Although we spend so much time together, traveling really brings out people’s true colors. But I am glad to say there was no drama, and clearly my friends are the best humans.

I could cry with how much I love these girls and how lucky I feel to have them in my life.

They are the loudest, smartest and craziest group of women I know, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Can’t wait for our trip next year!