Rochester: The Ideal Home-Base for an Epic Road Trip Summer

Rochester makes a convenient home base for the adventure-ready road-trip warrior. Since I’m from the West Coast originally (never being east of Montana!), this whole side of the country is new to me. My challenge this summer was simple: explore, explore, explore. 

Here’s a list (with a few pictures) of all the fun weekend road trips that are possible from Rochester:

• NYC: 5- to 6-hour drive
  A fun drive that takes you through three states. And then, there is it: the BIG Apple. And, wow, it is big. NYC is more fun than I ever imagined. Street hot dogs, I miss you.
• Lake Placid: 5-hour drive
  Lake Placid is more than just home to a 90s movie about a killer lake monster. Apparently, Lake Placid is a gorgeous resort town. It was also the home to the Winter Olympics, twice. A fun getaway into the Adirondack mountains, it made a perfect camping trip.
• Toronto: 3-hour drive
  What a fun city! Good food. Plentiful arts and entertainment. Beautiful park on the lake. Go up on the CN Tower, and you’ll see Rochester just opposite Lake Ontario.
• Burlington, Vermont: 6-hour drive
  Less than an hour from Lake Placid (makes for a fun weekend). We visited the Ben & Jerry’s factory, the Vermont Teddy Bears factory, Magic Hat Brewery, and more. Vermont is beautiful and well worth the drive.
• Cleveland: 4-hour drive
  Given Lebron, Cleveland has been swarming the news lately. I was there before it was cool. (Well, in the awkward middle years). Oddly enough, Cleveland might be my favorite new big city. Can’t wait to go back!
• Portsmouth, New Hampshire: 7-hour drive
  Why New Hampshire? It has ocean-front property! Also, the town of Portsmouth is alone worth the drive (bottom right of above photo). An added perk: ten minutes south of Maine (notice the lighthouse in the picture collage).

Certainly, one of the most exciting perks of coming to Rochester, for me, was the ability to see a different side of the continent. It is something I’ve always wanted to do, and to be able to do it while being able to study in a self-designed major, as part of a dual-degree program, well, it’s almost too good to be true.

I’m grateful for the opportunity to finally be able to explore, both educationally and geographically.