Donning goggles, gloves, an apron and holding what resembles a pair of giant metal forceps I am summoning my inner Dale Chihuly as my glassmaking mentor guides my every move. I prod and pull glass like taffy as part of the Make Your Own Glass workshop at the Corning Museum of Glass, in Corning, N.Y.
Swirls of blue, lavender and orange appear as I manipulate what started as a molten blob into a delicate flower. In just minutes I am holding my first-ever glass creation, which will be shipped home as proof of my newfound artistic prowess.
Groups can have a similar experience on a visit to Corning, a main stopping point in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York, and can arrange tours of the museum, which doubled in size in March with the 100,000-square-foot Contemporary Art + Design Wing, including a new 26,000-square-foot contemporary art gallery building.
We also stop at the adjacent renovated historic glass factory ventilator building, which contains a 500-seat facility for glassblowing demonstrations and can be rented by groups.
Corning is one stop on a three-day media tour last spring of the Finger Lakes region, partaking in its divergent highlights, from state parks such as Watkins Glen State Park and Letchworth State Park, dubbed Grand Canyon of the East, to lakeside wineries, and from homey B&Bs to a wealth of museums and cultural allures, including the Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira County near Corning, burial spot of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain.
Another stop is the region’s main city of Rochester, home to The Strong: National Museum of Play, encompassing 100,000 square feet of exhibitions. Highlights on our all-too-quick visit in this interactive space include a section of games that never made it to market, such as the Clintonopoly and Blizzard of ’77 board games.
Last year, the museum established the World Video Game Hall of Fame to recognize individual electronic games of all types. I ogle at the first video game, Computer Space, from 1971 and ’70s sensation Pong, which though outdated seems temptingly simple in comparison to today’s complex options.
Also during 2015, the museum opened the Toy Halls of Fame exhibit, which houses both The Strong’s National Toy Hall of Fame and the Toy Industry Association’s Toy Industry Hall of Fame. Groups can rent the National Toy Hall of Fame, among other spaces.
More refined in scope, we also visit Rochester’s George Eastman Museum, billed as the world’s oldest museum dedicated to photography. We tour the 35,000-square-foot Colonial Revival mansion opened in 1949 and built for George Eastman, filled with a pipe organ and artifacts, from oil paintings to cigarette boxes, and oddities like an elephant foot trashcan.
The museum offers groups space in its theaters, elaborate gardens and mansion.
For outdoor group options, we ride on the locks of the Erie Canal with Sam Patch Erie Canal Boat Tours. Our captain, Bob White, tells us the story of Sam Patch, who got paid to jump into the water, including from the 99-foot High Falls of the Genesee River, which he conquered once in 1829, but failed to clear from a higher spot his second go a week later. His body was found the following spring.
A sobering story is aptly washed down by a visit to Chateau LaFayette Reneau winery overlooking Southeast Seneca Lake and Finger Lakes Distilling, also on Seneca Lake. The distillery specializes in tastings of handmade vodka, gin, whisky, liqueurs and brandies. Everything is distilled from scratch, in small batches—an appropriate reflection of the region’s small-town aesthetic and top-tier standards.
