[itinerary | lodging] You’ve heard the cliché too many times now: “New year, new you.” January 1st is, of course, arbitrary. Collectively we counted to a new four-digit number together. Yet it’s your favorite holiday of the year, if only because you finally have the time off to meditate and to reflect.

Clift Park / Skaneateles Lake NY

The Lake offers its own reflection on a frigid January morning. You leave early and arrive in Skaneateles, the next Finger to cross off your list, focused on a goal. You are hungry for more experiences, eager not to fall into the trap of your warm, cozy lake house. As you disembark the car and step onto the shore, you observe the seafoam green water under a low, overcast sky. Skeletons of willow trees slouch toward a jetty that beckons to you. As you gaze down its narrow causeway, you stand frozen, realizing there is no ending. The jetty juts far into the Lake’s horizon, an infinite exercise in one-point perspective. You pause before venturing farther.

Do you journey on, not knowing where it ends?

Sometimes it’s easier to hide in the familiar, to fall back on the habits and routines of last year and the year before that. You back away from the endless jetty and return to the safety of your car. It’s time for a ride-around of the village of Skaneateles. After all, there’s time to kill until the lunch spots open.

Skaneateles’ central business district invites you inside right away, a T-shaped intersection adorned with red-brick buildings, classic lantern-style streetlamps, and healthy foot traffic despite the temperature. You take a few spins around the block and observe a bakery, a fish fry, a photo studio, and a lake-facing inn. You also notice investment firms, fine jewelry stores, and an historic bank building that’s utilized as a tourist stop and information center. As you make a turn back toward the main street, a high-class spa reveals itself from within a secret garden maze. Did you somehow drive all the way to the Hamptons again? You are pleasantly surprised by Skaneateles.

The lunch bell rings and you park yourself along the shore again. The endless jetty stretches onward like a spotlight into the night sky. What does the other side see? Is there another side? You shrug off the philosophical musings and duck into the restaurant that shares its shores with the jetty. The stomach is mightier than the mind.

Bluewater Grill

From the moment you walk into Bluewater Grill, you are immediately met with an exceptional tour de force of hospitality. You are seated at a warm corner table by the water overlooking the endless jetty, not packed in with other guests but not too isolated either. The clientele are clean, modern, educated. The server gives you the perfect amount of time to decide on drinks before she greets you. She even offers to try something else if the dirty martini you ordered isn’t up to snuff.

Martini with a view, Skaneateles Lake, NY

A lakeside restaurant is only as good as its seafood, so you order a round of fried calamari for the table. The crispy salty calamari dish is a welcome departure from the usual heavily-fried appetizers you’re accustomed to in most restaurants, and the sauce has a nice kick to it. You decide to venture a little farther down this path and order today’s special: barbeque grilled chicken sandwich served with fat slices of pickles and hand-cut fries. The house-made sauce is a delectable balsamic-based glaze that combines savory with sweet. The chicken is marinated and cooked to perfection. A toasted brioche bun holds everything together neatly in your hand.

Calamari with spicy togarashi chili mayo;
BBQ Chicken Sandwich with fresh-cut fries

Your server checks in. “How is everything?”

“Delicious,” you reply. “By the way, do you open these windows in the summer?” You gesture with your martini toward the Lake.

She nods and asks if you’re from around the area. You explain your journey — your new lake life — and how you have been exploring the Finger Lakes region. The server clears your plates and offers some advice: “Check out the wine trails around Cayuga and Owasco, too. If you head the other way,” she says, gesturing east, “You’ll see Otisco. In fact…” She rushes off with the plates and returns with a few brochures in hand. “Here, these will show you everything around the eastern lakes.” You thank her greatly for the hospitality and ask for the bill.

A new perspective reveals the endless jetty in a different light. As you settle up, you peer out the window by your table and bask in the glow of another adventure concluded, another achievement unlocked. You see the jetty the way the Skaneateles locals always have: a point, not a line.

Why not both? The journey is the destination; they are one in the same. You just don’t notice it until you start moving.

Ready to explore? Click below for lodging options around the Finger Lakes.