Upstate New York

Museum to open June 2 at original Woodstock site

A new museum is opening June 2 at the site of the 1969 Woodstock concert.

Celebrating baseball in Cooperstown

Home to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown is the place to go for baseball enthusiasts. Fans can while away hours learning about the game's greats and spend an afternoon browsing in the memorabilia shops lining Main Street. But with its unusual boutiques, specialty food stores, two local breweries, a winery and cider mill, the town has plenty to offer nonsports fans. In warm months, visitors also can swim, fish or boat at the nearby Otsego Lake, or just spend time relaxing on its banks.

Lake Placid -- A winter playground

The body of water that most people take to be Lake Placid is, in fact, not. In this Adirondack town, Main Street actually fronts Mirror Lake, used for dog-sledding in winter, crew practice in summer. Known primarily as a wilderness playground and site of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid is, at its core, an outdoorsy walking town. No matter what time of year, whether togged up in Russki fur hats or in tank tops, crowds converge on downtown shops and restaurants to power-walk the 2.7-mile orange brick path that rims Mirror Lake like an Olympic track. Just out of town, hikers and skiers of all ages navigate hundreds of majestic trails within a few miles of elegant Frette linen-covered beds. And everyone smiles. Lake Placid, in all seasons, is a happy place.

Good food with a Hudson River view

Soon after moving to Long Island last year, I found myself searching for great restaurants with water views. I found a few on the bluffs overlooking the Atlantic, the Sound, the Peconic River and assorted inlets and tidal basins.

SARATOGA: Saratoga spa options: mineral water or a blend?

People who use the famed "natural mineral water" baths at Saratoga Spa State Park will soon be able to soak in a tub filled entirely with heated mineral water, defusing a flap over what some saw as adulteration of the quintessential Saratoga Springs experience.

Woodstock, N.Y.: Where to go, dine, what to do

WHERE

Visiting Ithaca, Cornell and the Finger Lakes

I saw them almost as soon as I walked into the Ithaca Farmers' Market: baskets of apples with odd shapes, strange hues and exotic names like Zabergau Reinette, Red Northern Spy and Calville Blanc d'Hiver.

Weekender: Saugerties, N.Y. for food and history

Where

LOCAL COLOR

No need to go to extremes for your annual fall foliage fix - not with vividly hued vistas less than three hours away

For the past two years, Newsday has directed die-hard leaf-peepers onto the roadway out of town in search of fall colors: First to the Adirondacks in upstate New York, then as far north as they cared to go along New England's quintessentially scenic Route 7. But what if you don't have much time? Or you'd rather not commit yourself weeks in advance to a multiday road trip that could very well end up occurring under cloudy - or even worse - conditions? Or the high price of gas has compelled you to reduce your driving radius?

WEEKENDER

Saratoga, for spas, history, horses

WHERE

Visiting New York's sports halls of fame

There I was, perched on a folding chair, eating raisin toast in the lobby of a Days Inn in upstate New York. Quietly sipping orange juice next to me sat Marlon "Magic Man" Starling, the world welterweight boxing champ in the late 1980s. On any other day, in any other place, it would be unlikely that I would be eating breakfast alongside a prize fighter. But in Canastota, N.Y., home of the International Boxing Hall of Fame Museum, this was induction weekend, when boxing legends such as Roberto "Hands of Stone" Duran and Pernell "Sweet Pea" Whitaker were in town to be honored.

Adirondack Museum celebrates its 50th season

When mining magnate Harold Hochschild bought the Blue Mountain House resort, his vision was to create a place that would preserve the heritage of the Adirondacks.

ADIRONDACKS: From canoe camping to wilderness luxury

Paddling a canoe at dawn, my husband and I watched the mist rise on the lake. The silhouettes of the hemlock trees on the shore slowly turned from black to dark green and the sky turned from dark gray to light blue. The only sound was the dip of our paddles in the water and the mournful cry of the loon. The stress of our daily lives at home seemed a million miles away.

Niagara Falls and other wild water

After recent trips to Spain and Ireland, and cruises to Alaska and Panama, I racked my brain for a jaunt worthy of our 35th wedding anniversary. After all, for our 25th, we'd stayed at a seaside resort on the Big Island of Hawaii. How could we top that?

SENIOR TRAVELS

HUDSON RIVER: Take the train to the ferry for Hudson Valley dayhop

The Hudson River in all its moods - sometimes bright and shining, sometimes brooding and mysterious - has tantalized travelers for almost 400 years, ever since Hendrik Hudson sailed upriver in 1609.

TICONDEROGA: French and Indian War revisited Upstate

A party of four wearing buckskin, bonnets and tricorn hats might turn heads at most restaurants. But at the Wagon Wheel in Ticonderoga, it just means there's something going on up at Fort Ticonderaga.

SKIING: Guide to the New York slopes

The skier's need for speed can best be satisfied on a straight, smooth, steep drop. But the top white-knuckle descent is a toss-up in New York.

CHEESE FARMS: Summer is the ideal season to visit

Brown-eyed cows amble placidly out of the milking barn at Hawthorne Valley Farm in Harlemville, N.Y., and graze on either side of the path as they meander out to pasture. Abe Madey turns some of the organic-certified milk from this herd into curds that will become cheese to sell at a farm store and at Greenmarkets, including Union Square in Manhattan.

NEW YORK: Binghamton is carousel capital of America

Most people would consider it foolish to drive three hours only to go round and round in circles once they arrive at their destination.

NEW YORK: In Corning, it’s OK to play with glass

As we walked into the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, N.Y., we overheard a concerned mom tell her children, "Don't touch anything." Actually, children are encouraged to play with and, in one case, even break glass here.

NEW YORK: Small mountains where families can ski without crowds

When I grew up in upstate New York in the 1970s, there were a half-dozen ski areas within 30 to 40 minutes of home: everything from a rope tow in a cow pasture to fairly big places with multiple chairlifts.

CATSKILLS: Decompressing in the New Age Health Spa

SPA WATCH. ONE IN AN OCCASIONAL SERIES. Newsday Travel takes a look at a variety of destination spas close to home.

NEW YORK: Niagara Falls at holiday time

Each year, millions of visitors flock to the famed Niagara Falls, where 20 percent of the world's fresh water plunges over a cliff created during the last ice age.