Morning Coffee by the Lake

In the Finger Lakes, sometimes the best part of the day happens before the day really begins.

There is a particular kind of quiet that belongs to a Finger Lakes morning.

It arrives before the boats. Before the tasting rooms open their doors. Before hikers fill the trails and village sidewalks begin to stir.

The lake is still.

A thin veil of mist hangs just above the water, drifting slowly enough that you can watch it change shape. Somewhere across the lake, a bird calls from the shoreline. A dock creaks. A fish breaks the surface and leaves behind a circle that grows wider until the water becomes smooth again.

And in your hands is a warm cup of coffee.

For a few minutes, that is enough.

Before the Finger Lakes Wake Up

Visitors often come to the Finger Lakes with a list.

There are waterfalls to see, wineries to visit, trails to hike, restaurants to try and villages to explore. There is always another overlook, another farm stand and another turn in the road that promises something interesting just beyond it.

But some of the region’s best moments never make the itinerary.

They happen early.

On Cayuga Lake, the first light begins to reveal the hills along the opposite shore. On Seneca, the water can seem almost endless in the morning haze. Keuka’s hills wrap around its distinctive branches, while Canandaigua catches the changing colors of the eastern sky.

And on smaller lakes—Owasco, Skaneateles, Otisco, Honeoye, Canadice, Hemlock and Conesus—the same ritual unfolds in its own way.

A chair.

A porch.

A dock.

A thermos.

A favorite mug.

And nowhere you particularly need to be.

Coffee Tastes Different Here

Maybe it is imagination, but coffee seems to taste better beside a lake.

Perhaps it is because nobody is drinking it while staring at a traffic light.

There is something wonderfully uncomplicated about wrapping both hands around a mug on a cool Finger Lakes morning. Even in late summer, the air near the water can carry the first suggestion of autumn.

By September, that feeling becomes unmistakable.

The mornings grow cooler. Mist becomes more common. Maples begin showing isolated flashes of red and orange. Canada geese gather overhead, and the landscape starts its slow transition toward fall.

The coffee stays hot a little longer.

And you tend to linger with it.

The View Is Never Quite the Same

Spend enough mornings beside one of the lakes and you begin to understand that there really isn’t one Finger Lakes sunrise.

Some mornings arrive dramatically, with brilliant streaks of orange and gold stretching across the horizon.

Others barely seem to arrive at all.

Clouds soften the light. Fog hides the opposite shoreline. The world becomes gray, silver and remarkably peaceful.

Then there are those mornings when the lake looks like glass.

The reflection becomes so clear that hills, trees and sky seem to continue beneath the surface. A passing kayak leaves a long wake through the reflection. A great blue heron lifts from the shallows. Farther out, someone in a fishing boat moves quietly across the water.

Nothing extraordinary has happened.

Yet somehow the moment feels extraordinary.

A Different Way to Experience the Finger Lakes

We tend to measure travel by what we accomplish.

How many wineries did we visit?

Which waterfall did we photograph?

Where did we eat?

What did we buy?

But the Finger Lakes occasionally asks something different of us.

Sit down.

Stay awhile.

Watch the water.

A morning beside the lake doesn’t require reservations or tickets. There isn’t necessarily a landmark to photograph or a sign explaining why the place is important.

Its value comes from simply being there.

It might happen on the porch of a cottage overlooking Cayuga Lake. At a picnic table beside Owasco. On a bench in a lakeside park in Skaneateles. Outside a small cabin near Keuka. Or at a campground where the coffee was made over a camp stove before everyone else woke up.

The location changes.

The feeling doesn’t.

When Summer Begins to Let Go

Late August and early September may be the perfect time for this particular Finger Lakes ritual.

Summer hasn’t disappeared.

Boats are still on the water. Farm stands are overflowing. Vineyards are approaching harvest. Villages remain busy with visitors squeezing one more weekend from the season.

But mornings tell a different story.

They hint at what is coming.

There is a coolness in the shadows now. The sun rises a little later. Fields take on deeper colors, and the hills begin the transformation that will soon bring thousands of autumn travelers into the region.

For those awake early enough, the change can almost be felt happening.

Cup by cup.

Morning by morning.

Tomorrow Morning, Don’t Rush

There will be plenty of time for the rest of the Finger Lakes.

The waterfalls aren’t going anywhere.

The wine trails will still be there.

So will the shops, restaurants, museums, farm markets and scenic roads.

Tomorrow morning, make the coffee first.

Take it outside.

Find a place where you can see the water.

Then sit for a while without trying to turn the moment into anything more than it is.

Watch the mist disappear.

Listen for the first boat in the distance.

Feel the warmth of the mug against the cool morning air.

And remember that sometimes discovering the Finger Lakes isn’t about finding someplace new.

Sometimes it’s about staying still long enough to notice where you already are.

11 Lakes Magazine — Stories from the Finger Lakes