AAP Chatters What To Do Outside of the Park
When you are not at AAP, here are some things you can do in the Southern Tier:
Ride the carousels. This area is famous for our carousels, most installed in the 1920’s, the 6 are spread across Broome County and are all unique and interesting in their own way. You can “Ride the Circuit” and once you have ridden all 6, you will get a commemorative button. http://www.gobroomecounty.com/community/carousels
(Don’t) Take yourself out to a ball game. The Rumble Ponies are on the road during the trip this year.
If you have kids with you, I would say age 10 and under, the Discovery Center in Binghamton is a fun stop. This is a very hands on science and activity center with many areas for the kids to explore and play. https://www.thediscoverycenter.org
The Roberson Museum and Science Center is near the hotel and the home to Sean Murphy Studios. They have many exhibits and activities going on including a Planetarium. https://www.roberson.org/
The other two popular museums in Binghamton are The Bundy Museum of History and Art (Bundy was the guy who invented the time card machine that was purchased and later became IBM) and The Phelps Mansion Museum.
Antique Row. Clinton Street in Binghamton is known as Antique Row because of the density of antiques there.
Catch a movie, we have two pretty good theaters in the area, AMC in Vestal NY, and Regal in Binghamton. Both have big leather power recliners for every seat to let you watch (or sleep) in comfort.
Want to go for a walk? The Vestal Rail Trail is a former railroad bed turned into a walking and biking path. Nice and flat.
Miniature Golf? Chuckster’s in Vestal has a nice mini golf course featuring the longest mini golf hole in the world and other activities like zip-lines, laser tag, batting cages, rock climbing and more. https://www.chucksters-vestal.com/
Real Golf? There are many courses around and of them, the most famous is probably En-Joie Golf Course, the home to an annual PGA Master Tournament in August. http://dsgopen.com/
If flowers are your thing, check out Cutler Botanical Garden in Binghamton, this is a nice easy walk through some beautiful flower gardens and best of all, it’s free. http://ccebroomecounty.com/gardening/cutler-botanic-gardens
OK, so now let’s start branching out a little bit…
30 minutes away is Tioga Downs Casino and Resort (I feel like I should link the gambling addiction hotline here). Table games, slots, it’s not Las Vegas, but it’s close by. https://www.tiogadowns.com/
20 minutes away is Downtown Owego. Here you will find lots of little gift stores with a focus on crafts and local artisans. There is also a great little book store that specializes in rare and antique books.
1:20 away is Cooperstown, the home of the Baseball Hall Of Fame. This is a neat little town with lots to do and see. This also has a Farmers Museum which is an easy walk through museum with various buildings running themselves the same way as if it was the late 1800’s time.
1:20 west is the Corning Museum of Glass. This is quite an impressive place where you can see live glass blowing demonstrations most days. They have a huge museum showing the history of Corning glass, Correl ware and glass in general. One of my favorite parts is they have the original Hubble Telescope mirror which is bigger than you can imagine. https://www.cmog.org
1:10 to the northwest is Ithaca, NY. The home to Cornell University, The Moosewood Vegetarian Restaurant, the Ithaca Beer company, some beautiful waterfalls (there are 150 waterfalls within 10 miles of Ithaca), and the southern tip of Cayuga Lake. This is the closest point in the Finger Lakes. This is a great little city and has so much to offer. From here you can drive up around the lakes and tour the wineries and see some gorgeous scenery. Cornell has it’s own botanical garden and wildlife refuge that are both fantastic. Downtown you will find the Ithaca Commons which features over 100 shops, restaurants and street vendors in a 4 block area.
1:40 (just past Ithaca) you will find Taughannock Falls. This 215 foot high waterfall is the highest single drop falls east of the Rockies. There is a ¾ mile trail that leads to the base of the falls. This is an easy flat hike and is worth it to be able to see this beauty.
1:00 south is the abandoned town of Centralia PA. In 1962, a fire started in the coal mine under the town that still burns today. While most of the homes are gone and only the streets remain, on a clear day, there are areas where the smoke comes out of the ground.
1:00 north is Syracuse NY and Destiny USA, a massive shopping mall, the 7th largest in the US, which has lots of activities and restaurants as well including indoor go-carts and a ropes course that is unacceptably high for someone who is afraid of heights.
1:20 north is the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. This is a 9,800 acre site which is home to 6 bald eagle nests and countless other birds. There are hundreds of species of birds here throughout the year. You can actually drive your car through and watch from the comfort of the drivers seat.
1:30 away is Watkins Glen. On August 4th, the Go Bowling at the Glen NASCAR race will be held on the famous road course. http://www.theglen.com/
2:00 away is Hunter Mountain where they have the highest and longest zip line in North America https://www.huntermtn.com/
Howe Caverns takes you (by elevator) 156 feet underground on a 90 minute walking and boat tour of this beautiful cavern. https://howecaverns.com
1:45 away, National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, NY - an American institution created in 1969 by a group of people in Seneca Falls, New York, the location of the 1848 women's rights convention. https://www.womenofthehall.org
3:40 away is Niagara Falls, you may have heard of this one, it’s pretty amazing. https://www.niagarafallsusa.com