Would you move to the Finger Lakes, New York?

[Anonymous]

From this thread I've learned that Ithaca is not considered a part of the Finger Lakes region even though it is quite literally at the bottom tip of Cayuga Lake and Utica somehow is even though it is 80 miles east of the eastern most Finger Lake. All of NY state is not the same and there has been lots of talk about central NY and the Souther Tier... which have their own distinct traits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I spent 7 years in the southern Tier of NY. Other than Wings and Speidies, there was nothing to offer. NOTHING.

Ithica is nice but it is a college town. Bath, corning, Watkins Glen, etc are all shit holes. Granted, they are a step up from where I lived (Binghamton).

LOL. I had relatives near Binghamton. The spiedies were great. My cousin seemed to hang out with the wrong crowd, or maybe that is how everyone is up there. When they moved away, their lives seemed to improve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From this thread I've learned that Ithaca is not considered a part of the Finger Lakes region even though it is quite literally at the bottom tip of Cayuga Lake and Utica somehow is even though it is 80 miles east of the eastern most Finger Lake. All of NY state is not the same and there has been lots of talk about central NY and the Souther Tier... which have their own distinct traits.

Regardless, I wouldn’t take my kids out of northern VA to live on a 100 acre farm to east bumf*ck in Upstate NY.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From this thread I've learned that Ithaca is not considered a part of the Finger Lakes region even though it is quite literally at the bottom tip of Cayuga Lake and Utica somehow is even though it is 80 miles east of the eastern most Finger Lake. All of NY state is not the same and there has been lots of talk about central NY and the Souther Tier... which have their own distinct traits.

Of course Ithaca is part of the Finger Lakes. It’s just not the only place in the Finger Lakes.

[Anonymous]

I posted a couple times and want to give a few positives that we enjoy that are unique.

Beautiful summers and very late sunsets.
Tomato pie
Spiedies
Half moons
Fish fries
Utica greens

[Anonymous]

^i already gave all of the reasons I would never move there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in a suburb of Rochester. OP, if you're talking about moving to Canandaigua, that may be okay, as Canandaigua is basically a suburb of Rochester, so you wouldn't be too far from the "big city amenities" (ex. hospital, airport, culture, etc). However, the diversity may not be what you're used to in the DMV.

However, I think that if you're living anywhere else on or around the Finger Lakes (Bath, Elmira, Corning, Watkins Glen) it may not be a good fit, as those areas are pretty conservative, and you're far away from big city amenities, as PP's have mentioned. Depending on your needs, Ithaca may work okay, as it's considerably more liberal than the surrounding areas.

I’m from Canandaigua (not OP) and it was a really wonderful place to grow up. A lot of my high school friends stayed in Canandaigua so it is still a fun place to visit. That said, there is a strong pro-Trump element there that you can’t ignore. I imagine a lot of the Finger Lakes towns are similar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in a suburb of Rochester. OP, if you're talking about moving to Canandaigua, that may be okay, as Canandaigua is basically a suburb of Rochester, so you wouldn't be too far from the "big city amenities" (ex. hospital, airport, culture, etc). However, the diversity may not be what you're used to in the DMV.

However, I think that if you're living anywhere else on or around the Finger Lakes (Bath, Elmira, Corning, Watkins Glen) it may not be a good fit, as those areas are pretty conservative, and you're far away from big city amenities, as PP's have mentioned. Depending on your needs, Ithaca may work okay, as it's considerably more liberal than the surrounding areas.

I’m from Canandaigua (not OP) and it was a really wonderful place to grow up. A lot of my high school friends stayed in Canandaigua so it is still a fun place to visit. That said, there is a strong pro-Trump element there that you can’t ignore. I imagine a lot of the Finger Lakes towns are similar.

Op here - yes talking about Canandaigua. The pro trump thing is the biggest factor for us leaning towards no.

[Anonymous]

The summers there. Just think about it. The lakes, the lower humidity, the long days. Summers are magical in the northern latitudes.

I also think you can find your crowd anywhere. There are college towns, wineries, likely organic farms, etc up that way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The summers there. Just think about it. The lakes, the lower humidity, the long days. Summers are magical in the northern latitudes.

I also think you can find your crowd anywhere. There are college towns, wineries, likely organic farms, etc up that way.

Summers are also 60 days up there. July and August.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The summers there. Just think about it. The lakes, the lower humidity, the long days. Summers are magical in the northern latitudes.

I also think you can find your crowd anywhere. There are college towns, wineries, likely organic farms, etc up that way.

Summers are also 60 days up there. July and August.

September and October are pleasant and beautiful. I love how it's not 95 degrees all September in NY.

Spring is brief and frustrating compared to the DMV though. It basically doesn't start until April, and then it just rains for a month or two, with random heat waves and snowstorms, and maybe a couple nice weeks, and then it's summer.

[Anonymous]

The only thing that would give me pause is that we have two adopted daughters who are not white (my DH and I are white). Would it be as much of a non-issue as it is here? I truly do not know (maybe it would be - I am not assuming all areas that are not metropolitan are one way or another). But I guess I would just want to make sure I looked into that issue for their sakes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only thing that would give me pause is that we have two adopted daughters who are not white (my DH and I are white). Would it be as much of a non-issue as it is here? I truly do not know (maybe it would be - I am not assuming all areas that are not metropolitan are one way or another). But I guess I would just want to make sure I looked into that issue for their sakes.

I don’t know the town OP is describing but I grew up in Syracuse and it would definitely not be an issue. Syracuse itself and the immediate surrounding area is definitely not all white. I wouldn’t go back because of the poverty, crime and overall apathy and depression in that area. But it sounds like OP is looking at a smaller town out west so it could be completely different. I’m a POC and we lived right outside the city.

[Anonymous]

An upstater here, Schoharie County. I just want to point out that there are different types of diversity. One thing that small towns have is economic diversity. If you live in a big city and go to the local public school, most will be on the same economic level. Small towns tend to have upper middle class to poverty level.

This is not true in all places in Upstate NY. For example, my brother-in-law and his family live in Clifton Park (north of Albany), not diverse in any way, mostly white and upper middle class. I call it LI North (originally from LI).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not do this for any reason, ever. I grew up in that area and spent the first 25 years of my life in the Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, north country area. Yes, summers are beautiful. We like taking our children to visit family. What you don’t realize when you are visiting for short periods of time are the long winters and worse, the nonstop grey skies and rain. Cold and dreary.

It’s a nice escape from DC in the summer but I would never move back. It is so depressing there and I didn’t have nearly the opportunities growing up that my kids do.

Move to the suburbs, we did it and have land. We got different jobs and are no longer in the DC rat race. I like the VA burbs better. Or move away from this area to a different city.

OP is from there so presumably understands the winters.

I grew up near Rochester too and as a teen COULD NOT WAIT to leave, partly due to the dreariness you mention. But I appreciate upstate NY so much more as an adult and would move back there if we could both find jobs in our field (unlikely). Turns out I hate DC summers more than NY winters, I don't have the type-A personality to fit in the DMV rat race, and I miss my family (and all the lovely lakes!). Simply moving further out doesn't work for us as we do not want even longer commutes, and it's just not comparable anyway.

Anyway, OP if you have the job situation sorted out, I would absolutely do it.