The 3-Day Rochester Grand Tour

The 3-Day Rochester Grand Tour

Wednesday, July 16 - Saturday, July 19

This tour will take you through the most interesting and beautiful (and not so beautiful) parts of the city and surrounding areas.

Wednesday

Welcome to Stony Point (thats the name of our community)!  You will arrive at the home of your hosts and be able to relax after your drive.  You can unpack and get settled at your leisure and will have a lunch provided by your hosts that will consist of sandwiches and accompaniments.

After lunch we will drive to Pittsford, a village south of Rochester where we can walk along the Erie Canal at Schoen Place.  From there we will stop at the largest Wegmans Food Market in the area.  A visit to Rochester must include a stop at Wegmans, a family-owned supermarket that has been named in the “Top 100 Companies to Work For”  in Fortune magazine for 17 years in a row, since the list was started in 1998.  This year it ranked #12.  It was also ranked as #1 supermarket in the country by customers in the latest Consumer Reports survey.  You’ll see why once you’re there.

We will arrive home with enough time to relax and get ready for a 7:00 PM reservation at Bacco’s Ristorante, a quaint Italian restaurant located in the desirable Park Ave area.  The restaurant itself is in a refurbished house that adds to its charm.

After dinner we can stroll along Park Ave and take in the sites of this popular location.

Once home again, the remainder of the evening is yours to enjoy the quiet atmosphere of a lazy neighborhood.  An after dinner drink, coffee or other beverage, dessert, TV or bed are all at your disposal.

Thursday

Put on your walking shoes because there will be a lot of it today.

No need to rise at dawn, to enjoy this packed day.  Coffee will be brewed and breakfast awaits you.  Did I forget to mention this is a do it yourself breakfast but your choices include Raisin Bran, Cheerios, other cold cereals, eggs, oatmeal, and a variety of fresh fruits, yogurt, cottage cheese, etc. etc.

When we are ready to get going we will head over to the northwest part of the city to what is known as Charlotte, which borders Lake Ontario.  We can walk out to the end of the pier at Charlotte Beach. The pier juts out from the shore with Lake Ontario on the west (left) and the Genesee River on the east (right).  We can continue our walk along the Boardwalk that runs parallel to the lake.  When we’re done with that walk we can park the car at Pelican’s Nest where we will have an outdoor lunch alongside the river. We will take a walk to Turning Point Park.  We love this walk because it makes us locals feel like we’re not in Rochester.  It follows the Genesee River and is very beautiful.  Depending on the time, we can eat first or walk.  This will all be followed by a tour of the Charlotte Lighthouse.

We’ll probably be tired by then so it’s time to go back to rest and revitilize because at 6:00 PM it’s Happy Hour at the pool.  Everyone brings their own beverages and a hearty appetizer to share and it becomes dinner.  We have that covered.  After watching the sunset over Lake Ontario we’ll call it a night.

Friday

We’re not done yet.  Today is the day we head to downtown Rochester.  We’ll drive along East Ave, a historic area of big old homes, churches, meeting houses and museums.  We’ll stop at the George Eastman House, on East Ave, another must for a visit to Rochester and tour the museum and gardens.   Lunch today will be at the Genesee Brew House which sits above the Genesee River and overlooks the High Falls.  There is outside seating which will give us a view of the lower end of the river.  We can even do a tour of the brewery if our timing is right.  Perhaps we’ll check out the outside display at the Memorial Art Gallery and/or drive over to Image City Photography Gallery and the surrounding Neigborhood of the Arts. 

Tonight we’ll have a cookout at home for dinner and a relaxing, let’s put our feet up and chill night.

Note:  Everything subject to change based on whatever you want to do.

Saturday

Breakfast, of course and then you’re off on your next adventure.