Hopara

Yesterday, we gave you a few options for great desk escapes in Syracuse, and today, we’re going an hour and a half west to Rochester, New York.  At hopara, we try to avoid platitudes like, “Rochester is a world away from Syracuse,” even though, from an activity perspective, it’s kinda true, even if the cities are similar sizes.  For starters, Syracuse is right near the Adirondacks, while Rochester has the Finger Lakes and Lake Ontario, which really leads to completely different ways of playing.  So, here we go, with a few activities in Rochester, New York that will get you away from your desk for about an hour!

Rochester, New York Great Desk Escape Activity #1: Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden

We’ll be honest.  We kinda wanted to just send you to the Museum of Play, where this is located, and tell you to run around and be a child to your heart’s content (we like the old school video games there the best).  However, upon further reflection and advice from some parents we know, we thought that it might be creepy for an older person (read: anyone over 21) to hang around with a bunch of small children… you get the idea.  But it’s cool in the butterfly garden, which is by far the largest of its kind in the area and will give you a breath of greenery and life during the long, cold winter.  We really love being in a room filled with butterflies all around us - we can’t help it, and it’s probably Disney’s fault, but it just feels magical.  Plus, the tickets are timed, so no one is going to accuse you of stalking anyone. 

Rochester, New York Great Desk Escape Activity #2: Bike from High Falls to Lake Ontario on the Genesee Riverway Trail

Let’s face it — the High Falls are pretty much everyone’s favorite place in town, and with good reason.  There just aren’t that many places in the world where you get a waterfall right in the middle of downtown.  Sure, this isn’t a great tourist destination — it’s not as impressive as Niagara, for sure — but it’s a great place to go to get away from your desk for a bit.  So, depending on what kind of shape you’re in and where in town you are, you probably won’t be able to do this entire path and still get back to work in an hour.  This makes it a great multiple escape - one day, head down to the falls; another, go up to Lake Ontario or Lower Falls (if you’ve got a friend who is also into desk escapes, see if you can get them to leave a car at the lake for both of you).  It’s great scenery, and it changes so quickly from city to country to openness that you’ll forget all about whatever it was that convinced you to escape in the first place!

Rochester, New York Great Desk Escape Activity #3: Rock Climbing!

For our last desk escape in Rochester, we thought a lot about how to help you release your inner adrenaline junkie.  And while there are some great trails for running in the area and decent skiing about an hour away, we couldn’t pass up sending you to Rock Ventures, which is among the largest indoor climbing facilities in North America (it’s their claim, but we haven’t been able to verify this).  Not only is this a blast (and it’ll prepare you to climb in the wild once the ground thaws), it’s a good workout, too — you’ll get stronger and more flexible as you scamper up their multiple courses, and the focus that the wall requires will make you forget all about the office.

That’s it for today.  See you tomorrow in Buffalo, and happy exploring!