Months ago I grabbed a free magazine about taking trains to visit places in the area. My goal was to look for ideas on the ride home, but now it is months later and I have gone through the magazine and I have found 35 items that look interesting. Let’s go through them together.
Sunday July 5th, 2026
Step 1: Make a list of all of the items that I circled in the magazine
- VisitUlsterCountyNY.com
- Rail Passengers Association
- railpassengers.org
- amtrak.com/trails-and-rails
- visitsyracuse.com
- Read: Beach Read by Emily Henry
- George Eastman Museum (Rochester, NY)
- ESL Ballpark (Rochester, NY)
- Is this the Field of Dreams ballpark?
- If it is, maybe get a photo reenacting part of the movie?
- Is this the Field of Dreams ballpark?
- Tulip Festival (Albany, NY)
- Destiny USA (Syracuse, NY)
- New York state’s largest shopping center
- The Gem Diner (Syracuse, NY)
- Large portions
- The Salt Museum (Syracuse, NY)
- The Great New York State Fair (Syracuse, NY)
- newyorkbyrail.com
- Great Lakes State Park
- Cave of the Winds (Niagra Falls)
- Big Kahuna Tiki Tours (Buffalo, NY)
- Devil’s Hole State Prk
- Shark Girl statue (Buffalo, NY)
- The Flynn (Burlington, VT)
- The Sparkle Barn (near Rutland station in Vermont)
- iloveny.com/america250
- Watkins Glen State Park (NY)
- cityparksfoundation.org/summerstage
- Lake George Winter Carnival
- Overlook Mountain
- Live on Air Fallsview Balloon Ride
- balloonoverniagra.com
- Museum of Innovation and Science (MISCI)
- Schenectady County Historical Society
- The Depot Theatre
- A playhouse within a train station?
- https://www.newyorkbyrail.com/upcoming-events
- DiscoverSchenectady.com
- catskillmountainrailroad.com
- niagrafallsusa.com
- buffalostpatricksdayparade.com
- railpassengers.org/join
- https://www.visitwestchesterny.com/250/
- VisitLakeGeorge.com
Step 2: With the list gathered, let’s go through each of these and see if we can find new adventures and build a nice list.
One – VisitUlsterCountyNY.com
Oh, they have an events calendar page!
https://visitulstercountyny.com/events/
Unfortunately the events calendar features are not working. I can’t search for events, select a date range, or change the list style. Only the ‘next’ and ‘previous’ page buttons are working. That’s too bad. It looks like there’s loads of great events to explore, but only by clicking through a single day at a time.
I shot them a quick message about this.
Two – Rail Passengers Association – railpassengers.org
https://www.railpassengers.org
This is a website for folks who are devoted to expanding and improving the US rail systems.
Loads of fascinating info here, and also a weekly trivia question.
Three – amtrak.com/trails-and-rails
https://www.amtrak.com/trails-and-rails
This is a partnership between Amtrak and the US National Parks. There are several trains that travel to national parks and have volunteers who teach about the parks.
This is getting added to the adventure list. There’s one that leaves from here on Saturdays to Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historical Sites & the National Parks of New York Harbor.
Now that I think about it, I’ve taken these trains up to Poughkeepsie and I don’t remember there being guides.
Did I leave at the wrong time?
There are several trains throughout the day and the guide does specify which train numbers.
I haven’t visited the National Parks of New York Harbor, yet. I’ll try to plan a visit that includes this.
Adding this to the research list for now, and after it’s researched the travel plan will be added to the adventure list.
Four – visitsyracuse.com
Loads of great events on their event calendar.
Highlights include:
- Lorenzo State Historic Site
- Erie Canal Lock 24 Boat Tour
- Beaver Lake Nature Center
- The Great New York State Fair in late August
All four of these are getting added to the adventure list research section.
I would love to go to a fair. I need to add this to the calendar for next year.
Five – Read Beach Read by Emily Henry
https://www.emilyhenrybooks.com/books/beach-read
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/52867387-beach-read
Romance, Contemporary, Fiction? Fuck it. I’ll give it a shot.
It’s not one of my usual genres, but it’s the big book of 2026, I guess. So big that it got recommended in an Amtrak travel magazine.
Six – George Eastman Museum (Rochester, NY)
Tickets are $23
George Eastman was a pioneer of film and photography. Adding to the adventure list under the ‘research’ category. It’s a long ride of eight or more hours to get to Rochester, so this would likely be part of an adventure that includes a hotel stay in the area.
Seven – ESL Ballpark (Rochester, NY)
Is this the Field of Dreams ballpark? The magazine seemed to imply that it was, but it is not.
A quick internet search has led to finding that movie ballpark in Iowa: https://www.fieldofdreamsmoviesite.com/
If I did plan a trip to Rochester, though, maybe a baseball game would be a good part of that plan.
Eight – Tulip Festival (Albany, NY)
https://www.albanyevents.org/events/albany-tulip-festival
Tours, food, and live music.
Looks fun, but I don’t know if I would travel for this event alone. I’ll need to find out what else is in Albany. I’m adding this to the calendar and adding Albany as a research topic to the adventure list.
Nine- Destiny USA (Syracuse, NY)
New York state’s largest shopping center.
Eight floors, a theme park, and a Taco Bell.
Say no more. I’ll go.
At just over six hours of travel, I’ll need to leave very early or spend the night. Maybe this should be part of a two-day adventure.
Ten – The Gem Diner (Syracuse, NY)
Large portions, according to the magazine.
The portions don’t look that big to me, but the place looks like a nice restaurant to eat at. If I’m in the area, I’ll check it out.
Eleven – The Salt Museum (Syracuse, NY)
https://onondagacountyparks.com/parks/onondaga-lake-park/salt-museum
This looks like a nice museum to visit.
There are several items in Syracuse that sound fun, so this may become part of a weekend trip.
Twelve – The Great New York State Fair (Syracuse, NY)
Holy crap, today is the last day. I could have made it to this if I had realized it was active.
I have added this to the calendar for a possible visit next year.
Thirteen – newyorkbyrail.com
Oh, this is the magazine that I got all of these links from.
There are great events listed in their calendar that I’d like to look into such as:
Balloons Over Letchworth
Catskills Rail Tour
Hudson Valley Hot Air Balloon Festival
Little Italy StreetFest
At the top of this page there’s a link to a page that is titled “NYC Calendars & Events” and I have added this website to that list of event links. Good stuff.
Fourteen – Great Lakes State Park
https://parks.ny.gov/parks/172/details.aspx
This is a nice looking state park that would be a great addition to a visit to Syracuse, NY.
Fifteen – Cave of the Winds (Niagra Falls)
Niagra Falls and a cave tour? Sounds great, noting the following also sound interesting and will be researched:
Big Kahuna Tiki Tours (Buffalo, NY)
Devil’s Hole State Park
Sixteen – Shark Girl statue (Buffalo, NY)
This can be bundled with the above.
Seventeen – The Flynn (Burlington, VT)
WHAT IS THIS! https://www.flynnvt.org/see-and-do/playing-fields/
Okay, this is an interesting site. Adding to the research list.
Eighteen – The Sparkle Barn (near Rutland station in Vermont)
https://www.thesparklebarn.com
What a lovely shop.
WHAT IS THISSSSSSS! https://tockify.com/sparklebarn/detail/160/1806789600000
Nineteen – iloveny.com/america250
https://www.iloveny.com/things-to-do/path-through-history/america-250
So most of these events are over, but by going to the home page, this website has a great events list. I’m adding it to my list of events list on this site.
Twenty – Watkins Glen State Park (NY)
https://parks.ny.gov/visit/state-parks/watkins-glen-state-park
Nine hours by bus, unsure how long to get here by train, but there are loads of campsites.
I don’t see events listed on their page, but I’d like to look into this more. This would make a fun camping trip.
Adding to the research list.
Twenty One – cityparksfoundation.org/summerstage
https://cityparksfoundation.org/summerstage/
Oh, this is a listing of the concerts at Central Park. Neat.
Twenty Two – Lake George Winter Carnival
https://lakegeorgewintercarnival.com/
There are a lot of fun looking events in here, but they loaded up with AI slop, so it’s hard to tell.
I suppose I’m willing to invest as much time looking into this event as they are in cranking out slop to print on a pamphlet.
Low effort here means the event is likely low effort as well.
This is a bummer. Moving on to better things.
Twenty Three – Overlook Mountain
https://dec.ny.gov/places/overlook-mountain-wild-forest
I’m not seeing a good way to get to this from the train. This requires more research at a later date.
Twenty Four – Live on Air Fallsview Balloon Ride
https://www.balloonoverniagara.com/
This looks like a blast. I’ve added it to the list of things to do in Niagra Falls.
Twenty Five – Museum of Innovation and Science (MISCI)
Unfortunately this looks like a museum for children. I love science museums, especially when they have a planetarium, but museums designed for kids are for kids. I’m an adult. Skipping this one.
Twenty Six – Schenectady County Historical Society
Tickets for this museum are $8.00. It’s a nice looking museum and they have interesting events on their calendar page. If I make it up to this area, I’m sure I’ll stop here for a visit.
At five and a half hours of travel time, though, I’m not sure that this will be a visit I make any time in the near future.
Twenty Seven – The Depot Theatre
https://depottheatre.org/
https://www.depottheater.org/
I see two Depot Theatres, one that is two hours away and another that is eight hours away.
As far as I can tell they’re both theaters in a train station. Neat. Oh! I figured out the difference. One is “theatre” and the other is “theater.”
The one that I was advertised is the one that is eight hours away, but both are interesting and worth looking into.
Twenty Eight – https://www.newyorkbyrail.com/upcoming-events
Oops. This is a duplicate of item number thirteen above.
Twenty Nine – DiscoverSchenectady.com
https://www.discoverschenectady.com/
A nice calendar of events, and I respect a town that tells people about its bowling alley: https://www.discoverschenectady.com/listing/sportsmans-bowl/1560/
Thirty – catskillmountainrailroad.com
https://catskillmountainrailroad.com/
DINOSAUR EXPRESS! SOLD! TAKE MY MONEY!!!
https://catskillmountainrailroad.com/event/dinosaur-express/
Holy crap, this is amazing. Adding this to the adventure list.
Just over three hours of transit to get here.
Thirty One – niagrafallsusa.com
https://www.niagarafallsusa.com/
I think this website is giving me motion sickness.
Nice list of events on their calendar page, though.
I’ll revisit this if I do plan a trip to Niagra Falls, which is looking more and more likely with all of the exciting things to do in the area.
Thirty Two – buffalostpatricksdayparade.com
https://buffalostpatricksdayparade.com/index.html
I watched some YouTube videos of this. I don’t think that it’s for me, but if I do plan a trip to Buffalo, it might as well be on Saint Patrick’s day, so maybe I will attend this.
Thirty Three – railpassengers.org/join
https://railpassengers.org/all-aboard/join/
This is a duplicate of item number two, with a slightly different link
Thirty Four – https://www.visitwestchesterny.com/250/
https://www.visitwestchesterny.com/250/
Another AI page. Skipping.
Thirty Five – VisitLakeGeorge.com
https://www.visitlakegeorge.com/
Well this looks absolutely delightful.
Steamboats, museums, ziplining, hot air balloons, skyrides. Oh. This is very good. What a great way to end the list!
Hot air balloons have been on my adventure list for a long time. Maybe 2026 is the year!
Thank you for logging new adventures today, and I’ll see you in the next post. Cheers!
Adventurenet.net 
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