@@bobtorn1955 The countryside and rural communities are many times better than upstate cities. Upstate cities look like the depths of the 1930's depression, except Albany itself which is made to look good because the capital is there; a lot of state cash floating around. The positive of Upstate is its natural beauty. The negative is incompetent state government.
You really are opening my eyes to usa . As a european all i see from New York is the metropolitan area. Happy New year to you. Hope to visit some of the place you talk about when the corona is over.
@Ryan D yes you should definitely visit the adirondacks especially the high peaks region you can drive up whiteface (or hike up like me) and you can see everything 360 views
@Kevin McCabe Visted Utica for the first time a couple of years ago (even though I only live in Albany!) Munson Williams Proctor Art Institute is a small gem.
@@mirzaahmed6589 Seriously; to anyone from the Albany area, do they actually call hamburgers "steamed hams" there? In Connecticut (where most of my family is from) there are actually a few diners that cook cheeseburgers by steaming them.
There are a few towns with that _arrogant_ feel. Ithaca was mentioned. There are two others upstate that should be mentioned; Saratoga and Skaneateles.
Also forgot that Thousand Island dressing is from the 1000 Islands. LOL. Can't forget that. And Potato chips were invented at Moon's Lake House on Saratoga Lake.
I go to school in Syracuse and I gotta say this city is growing on me. It is a good sized city with surprisingly one of the largest malls in the country. Also, the Finger Lakes region and the Adirondacks are some of the most beautiful and underrated parts of the East Coast. So many state parks, ski areas, apple orchards, wineries, trails, lakes, rivers, glacial features, even beaches!
I haven't been to the finger lakes very often. On the other hand, I live fairly close to the Adirondack. The mountains are best part of New York state. -KR
There are plenty of other things to go over, but then he'd be making an hour-long video. Saratoga? Glens Falls? Lake George? The whole lower Hudson Valley? The Adirondack Park deserves more attention, too.
im from the Rochester finger lakes area and i wanted to say this was a good video! You said Irondequoit correctly btw. Im a farmer so i can tell you that ag is a very big part of what goes on in western new york. Also locals call it western new york. one big thing you missed was letchworth state park. its one of our states gems. and yes garbage plates, we love em
Ag is huge in NY, or it was when I lived there. I have flown into Rochester from the south many times with a window seat, you can tell you reached NY when you go from seeing the small mountains to seeing farm fields
@@SuV33358 which suburb? that's important for people from that region. I lived in Chili for 2 years then moved out to Holley west of Brockport ... Moved out of NY as an Adult.
@@johnliberty3647 born and raised in Chili. Married and was in Gates for sometime. Divorced, kids grown and gone, and I'm in Greece now. Possibly going back to Chili in near future. happy new year!
You somewhat mischaracterized downtown Rochester. Yes it's rough around the edges but the high crime is in poorer neighborhoods mainly between people that know eachother. Rochester has a decent nightlife and lots of bars and restaurants downtown area and punches above it's weight in that respect. including one of the top 20 best bars in the country (Good Luck)and is more than just Park Ave...Neighborhood of the Arts, South Wedge, East End. Summer festivals including international jazz fest.Yes during a weekday its not going to look like much. There's also world renowned Eastman Theater and the National Museum of Play and Strasenburg planetarium. It's not a city that hits you in the face you need to stick around to discover it more.
Rochester, NY. I love my city. There's a lot of things you could have mentioned but I'm assuming you aren't aware of them. We have an amazing museum and gallery culture. Also a great music scene.
I live 1 hour away from Buffalo on the Canadian side. My dad and I and my son are huge Bills and Sabres fans. My son and I love going to Buffalo. Many Canadians like to go to Buffalo on weekend shopping trips especially during black Friday sales. My parents went to Letchworth for their honeymoon and went there sometimes after. It was one of my dads favourite places to visit. I hope to go sometime. I travel through upstate NY to go to my sisters in PA. The Erie canal is interesting along with its history. I love upstate NY. Thanks for posting this video.
About ten years ago I was out for a walk and alongside the road a car was parked, the driver was leaning against the fender just staring up at a tree covered hill alongside the road ..... We got to talking and turned out he was from Texas just out on a national road trip and he said he was just stunned that what he was looking at was New York .... like many people his picture of New York was always that of New York City.
Texan here. Even on my first visit as a kid, the outstanding beauty of your state impressed me. We have mountains Out West, but much of Texas is really flat. And every Texas lake was created by damming a river -- nothing like your glacier scoured lakes. Even your towns and small cities have charms although some seem to be having hard times...
One of our local memes are Your from NY: picture of NYC No, I'm from NY: picture of a tractor at walmart or a farm. And i saw one for my hometown that said upstate, like albany and was a Snapchat of a 5miles to canada road sign. We have natural beauty in spades and 2 jokes, that we are not NYC and that we are basically Canadian. 3 if you count "at least we don't have tornadoes/wildfires/earthquakes/hurricanes while shoveling mountains of snow when the air hurts your face"
i am from around syracuse. i worked in a little hardware store in a town neerby and had this sweet texan lady come in and ask me where she could look at the canal. tbh kinda a culture shock as no one as ever asked me before or sence what they could pray for me for lol.
You forgot Saratoga. One of the nicest areas of the state. Between Albany and Saratoga is growing because of High Tech. It has the best winter weather and best recreation in the state, with Lake George. You could do a whole video on the area.
Letchworth is pretty amazing. It's this huge, fancy park in the middle of nowhere with amazing scenery and you realize it was created to provide recreation opportunities for wealthy Kodak and IBM executives and their families. And they're gone, but the park is still here...
I can't believe you are so negative on Ra-cha-cha. It probably has the best economy of any Upstate city right now. Nick Tahoe's Garbage Plate was the best.
Hey, I'm from Buffalo. Some rapid-fire fun facts: 1. Buffalo was the 8th largest city in the country at one time, and at its height had 580,000 people in it (the city itself, not the metro area). 2. Niagara Falls is running at only about a quarter of it's natural volume. Both the US and Canada divert a lot of water from above the Falls for hydro power. 3. Niagara Falls froze solid once. 4. In the 1800s, the Canalside area, where the Erie Canal and Lake Erie meet, was estimated to contain 50 percent of all the murders in the entire world. 5. That song "Buffalo Gals Won't You Come Out Tonight" is about prostitutes, who were a favorite diversion for the workers who'd travel the Canal. There was even an incident where some New York City prostitutes came to town to try to cut in on the Buffalo Gals' business, with a small riot breaking out. The Buffalo prostitutes won. 6. Because large bodies of water moderate air temperatures, Buffalo has never officially recorded a triple-digit temperature at its National Weather Service station (another city that can claim that is Honolulu, believe it or not). And yet modern air conditioning was invented here. 7. Buffalo's City Hall is kinda shaped like a middle finger, aimed right at Canada. That's why we made it so big. (I kid 'cause I love.)
Don't forget: William McKinley was assassinated in Buffalo New York. Also, I thought that "Buffalo Girls" got there name because they perform their services on a buffalo skin rug, not because they were from Buffalo New York.
I'm from Rochester and I wanted to say that this is mostly accurate (although as someone else mentioned, locals distinguish between Western NY and Upstate/Northern NY). Also, while Kodak and Xerox are no longer headquartered here, they do still have manufacturing facilities here. Kodak, especially, is much diminished from what it used to be, though. Yes, the Rochester metro is a bit rough, but there is much to be said for the area as a whole. There are plenty of outdoor activities in both summer and winter. Letchworth is just amazing. There are a number of good universities and hospitals here (U of R and RIT). There are a lot of fun festivals in the summer months. And if you have kids, the Museum of Play is world renowned. I'm not a native Rochesterian. I came here for college and ended up staying and putting down roots and the area has grown on me.
Also Syracuse is considered CNY. But to be honest it's all Upstate whether the Catskills, 'Dacks, CNY, WNY, Southern Tier, Finger Lakes, Hudson & Mohawk Valleys, etc...
@@301rs I grew up in NYC and we considered anything north of Yonkers Upstate. Hehehe. What always amazes me is the beauty of the state and the fact so many people from other parts of the country are totally unaware of it. My parents had a small log cabin in the Adirondacks and I've spent a good portion of my almost 62 years here. After Dad retired in the mid-80s they moved here and when I got the chance to work from home 100% I relocated here several years back. I'm about 25 miles north of the village of Lake George and about a dozen miles west of the lake and nestled between Loon, Brant and Friends Lakes. It's Paradise. :-)
@@justasimpleguy7211 . I envy you. I would love to get a summer home on a lake in the Adirondacks. Not too far off the beaten path though. Lol. I always joke with my kids and refer to upstate New York as “God’s Country.” But I am sorta serious...ya know? I would go to Boy Scout camp near long lake New York as a kid and I miss the call of the loons. Upstate NY even smells different and better. I was truly blessed to have experienced it.
@@301rs Before I relocated and for the ten years I was in Syracuse and Rochester I was using the house my parents bought when Dad retired as a vacation home. I'd use the bulk of my vacation from Memorial Day to Labor Day, spending a good 30 or so days here. The drive up was always so exciting. I-90 to the Rome exit at Turning Stone. Route 365 to Route 8 and eventually a left turn off Route 8 onto Landon Hill Rd and just a quarter mile to the house. Route 8 through the Southern Adirondacks goes through some of the least populated areas of the 'Dacks and even on the major holidays there's hardly any traffic whatsoever. Just a two lane country highway where I'd put the Silverado on cruise control and not have to hit any pedals for dozens of miles on end. I had a lineup of Rush and Zeppelin CDs I'd crank up during the drive, doing my best to hit the high notes of Plant and Lee. LOL! Before that I was in the Capital District for 17 years and it was a much shorter drive, not much more than an hour. I'd make it up much more often. And yes, "God's Country" isn't that far off the mark!
I'm old enough to remember when Upstate NY was an industrial powerhouse. All the cities you mentioned, including some small ones like Ithaca, had massive industrial infrastructures. I found your presentation spot on. For someone who lived in California, you really got your information correct. If one lives outside of the cities, in the countryside, politics aside, it is a literal paradise. I like it here.
I've lived in Buffalo for 15 years now (ori8from Yonkers) and Buffalo has really thrived in the last 10 years, especially the downtown/ canalside area. It's really special and one of the only eastern cities where you get to see the sun set over the water. And the food is out of this world!
I live on the west coast and I agree that the foods the best in the Midwest and east coast. The only thing I’ll say the west coast has that’s better is sweets. You can’t mess with the west coast. We got award winning bakeries and pie shops. There phenomenal
I couple of years ago we visited Buffalo and took a Silo City Grain Elevator tour with Explore Buffalo. Highly recommend if/when they start up again post-pandemic. Even my disgruntled teen still talks about it.
I like Buffalo as well😁 Used to travel up to Western NY for work a lot in the early 2000's. Miss those good Beef on Weck sandwiches, cruising the 190 along the Niagara, etc. Buffalo is similar to Cleveland and Toledo in feel, but most interesting than either, one of the more interesting bigger cities.
As someone from NYC with family in the Binghamton area and friends in the finger lakes, I always found upstate to have some of the most underrated places in the east
I just want to say thank you for doing upstate NY. I am a newer subscriber and suburb resident of Buffalo. I got giddy when I saw that you knew of the bubble man! I loved your review. I have been impressed thoroughly by your videos and your honesty is accurate.
a weird upstate quirk- to new yorkers, upstate just means upstate relative to them. There's no agreed upon "upstate". "where you from, White Plains? that's not upstate, Newburgh is upstate" "where you from, Newburgh? that's not upstate. Albany is upstate" "where you from, Albany? Albany's not upstate, saratoga springs is upstate!" "where you from, saratoga springs? That's not upstate, Plattsburgh's upstate!" "Where you from, Plattsburgh? That's not upstate, Montreal is upstate!"
@@jessepinkman801 I understand why there may be differences of opinion on what is "upstate" and "downstate." There are certainly towns in the Catskills that have New York transplants and summer residents who are downstaters. But there are many towns in the Catskills that are quite rural and removed from downstate influence. Perhaps one reason why people north of the Catskills don't got there is they think it is more downstate than it is. There are NYC transplants in the Adirondacks, Berkshires and Capital Region too. And some people confuse the Catskills with the more southern Borscht Belt/ Shawangunk region. Anyway, I find the Catskills more interesting and enjoyable than the Adirondacks.
I think what most of the country would find most unexpected about upstate is how rural it is. I live in the Binghamton area and for me to go the slightly over an hour up to Syracuse (because of the mall) the interstate I travel up (81) has hardly any towns along it. Of the companies that left upstate, the major you left out is IBM, founded in the Binghamton area, though it didn’t leave the state, it just left upstate.
I thought the same thing. The state is very separated, and its weirdly not uncomment to travel from anchor city to anchor city. I grew up just north of Corning and commonly drive to Bing for cars, etc. The economy is weird because of this. You'll find yourself wondering how the people who live between the cities can even afford to, then I remember I commute 45 minutes for work and it makes sense lol.
Overall you did a great job BUT Buffalo and Rochester are in Western NY. Syracuse and Utica are Central NY. Then there’s the North Country (Watertown, etc), the Southern Tier (Elmira, Binghamton...). Albany is in the tri-state as you can literally be in Vermont/Massachusetts/or even Connecticut in no time at all. We may be ‘upstate’ of The City (this is how anyone living outside of NYC refers to said city) however we do not all say that we live ‘upstate’. We claim our respective regions. Or even area codes. (Who remembers when Buffalo and Rochester shared that 716?) I heard no mention of the absolutely beautiful Hudson Valley. Or Saratoga. I mean c’mon. The racetrack is legendary. As a born and bred western NY’er I do feel that more time should have been spent on Wegmans, lol. And then there’s the Lilac Festival. People literally come from around the world to visit those flowers. Mount Hope Cemetery. Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony (amongst other notable names) buried right in Rochester. You did us ‘other New Yorkers’ a little bit of justice though. Can’t wait to see the next one!
Excellent video! One could argue that the Adirondacks offer some of the best true wilderness areas in the country: Five Ponds Wilderness, Siamese Ponds Wilderness, McKenzie Mt. Wilderness, High Peaks Wilderness, Boreas Ponds Tract and the William C. Whitney Wilderness. In 1900, Theodore Roosevelt was off on the summit of Mt Marcy when President McKinley was shot, and it took a runner to deliver the message that he was now the President. When the twin towers fell on 9/11, I was canoeing 10 miles from any civilization, and only heard the news 3 days later. I imagine there's much research that goes into your videos. You are to be commended!
From the Syracuse area. I grew up with salt potatoes, and thought everyone knew what it is. I was so surprised when an acquaintance from Florida had no idea what I was talking about.
One food you missed ... found only in the Binghamton area: Spiedes (pronounced speedies) are marinated cubes of meat cooked on a skewer and typically served up in a long roll. They're delicious. Imported as a delicacy from Italy, it's widely believed that spiedies are strictly a Greater Binghamton phenomenon. It's widely known that they are a phenomenal meaty treat.
I grew up 30 minutes from Syracuse and never heard of a spiedies until I moved to the Binghamton area 20+ years ago. I love them. In addition to spiedies, he could add Cornell chicken, and salt potatoes. Also, IBM as a company that started here and pretty much gone.
Born and raised (until 22) in Rochester and I've never heard of those! I did like flying planes into BGM though. On a little plateau (like Seattle) and always a fun trip when the foliage was peaking! I'd usually just take a plane up on my own or with a passenger or two and fly around a bit aimlessly around the southern tier and Finger Lakes. I'm not sure I've spent any time in Binghamton but it wasn't much if I did.
Thank you for this video. I am considering moving to Rochester, NY to be near my family and, more importantly, to get my son, who is autistic, the kinds of services he can't get almost anywhere else. The services there are arguably the best of the country and people move there from more "attractive" places for that reason.
I would suggest avoiding pittsford even though it is the nicest suburb and on paper has the best schools but if your son is autistic the district SpEd is not (coming from a pittsford sutherland senior with asperger's) they are very hesitant at times on support and the support is awful in elementary especially (I had to leave for a specialist private 5th grade because they were not doing a good job and I had enough) though middle and high schools are great and much better with SpEd once you get fully into the SpEd system which can be rough at times. Overall the area is great (though it's all I've known) and the resources outside of school fairly plentiful for special development.
@@smarkwick7814 Thanks. My son has “aged out,” so he would not be attending school. It’s more about other services and work. I am in contact with the Golisano Center and Rochester really is a model for people in our position. And as I mentioned I have family there.
It's really important to emphasize the whole state is based on two corridors - the Hudson/Champlain corridor to Upper Canada and the Mohawk Valley corridor to lake Erie. So much history is based on this, especially concerning my (favorite?) North American War: the French/Indian War of 1758-1765.
I believe it is extremely unfair to characterize a city on the basis of a few days' visit and some economic stats. Rochester and Buffalo have "rough" areas - name me any city in the US, or the world for that matter, that doesn't. Rochester and Buffalo are beautiful cities with great architecture, outstanding universities, beautiful parks, cultural attractions and great neighborhoods. Look around the entire northeast and upper middle west and you will find virtually every large and medium size city has lost population within city limits since the 1950s. But they all are the major center of large metropolitan areas. And high poverty rates exist in cities throughout the nation primarily because middle class and upper class people have moved to the suburbs - which only exist because of the existence of the central cities.
@@BrianB14471 I agree. I moved away years ago. When I go back to visit I don't go near there - not my vibe. But, if such areas are important to someone it is understandable that it would be a negative.
I don't understand the characterization of upstate cities as uniquely terrible. At least they don't have massive homeless encampments like "better" cities in warmer climates.
I’ve lived somewhere in NY my whole life and I learned a lot from this video! But if you haven’t been to the catskill mountain region, I’d highly recommend going there.
Although I'm from NYC and I've been upstate a few times since a kid, I recently learned that some people don't consider it upstate until you pass what's considered the Hudson Valley, which could be as far north as Kingston or Albany, depending who you ask (or as far north as the Metro North goes). I feel he was going by this definition.
Also upstate shout outs to Cooperstown NY (baseball HOF), Fort Ticonderoga (Lake Champlain region), Saratoga Springs (horse country), & The Erie Canal.
As a WNY native, highly recommend beef on weck. Have lived in several regions of US since, but Buffalo has the best pizza; amalgam of Chicago & NYC style. Billieve!!!!!
'k - Syracuse native here - stood the snow for 30 years and bugged out to Dallas. I agree with almost everything you said; I was really saddened to hear that Syracuse has sunk to 140k population. I was in 7th grade in 1959, when we learned that the city population was 221k. I guess everybody moved to the sun belt or followed their jobs to Mexico. so sad. I know that you can only cover just so much in 21 minutes; it pains me greatly that small towns have cratered so badly, and if ever you need a project, research the former Borscht Belt, a thriving entertainment center in the Catskills *which no longer exists*. I was wrecked. points to you for pronouncing Irondequoit correctly! food interests are Colosse cheese and Croghan bologna. and my last fillip - Upstate is defined by me as being above the 42nd parallel!
I don't think the population decrease is as bad as it sounds. Family size is much smaller than it was 60 years ago, so density isn't what it used to be.
I can't believe you actually mentioned Elmira! I didn't know that we were the last to get past the 08 recession. Makes sense though..... We're a prison town. You're either a cop or someone in your family is in one of the 2 prisons. You're totally right about Ithaca being a snobby college town though! 😂 Oh yeah Elmira also is the home of Mark Twain's (cabin?) Idk what to call it he wrote many of his books here. Plus we're the home of the first black Heisman award winner, Ernie Davis, and Eileen Collins, the first female pilot and first female commander of a Space Shuttle.
How do you talk about upstate NY without mentioning the Catskills. And mention Tupper Lake and not mention Lake George or Lake Champlain when talking about the Adirondacks. And potato chips were invented in Saratoga, which is also the home of the oldest horse racetrack in the country.
Proud Upstate (Mohawk Valley) New Yorker here! I wish more people from out of state knew just how much the state has to offer outside of NYC. So many beautiful landscapes and some of the best food. Thank you for this video!
I lived in both Elmira/Corning/Finger Lakes area & Rochester for a good period of my life. Few things I recommend: 1. Check out Letchworth state park 2. Other AMAZING regional cuisines: Chicken Spiedies (originally from Binghampton area,), chiavetta's sauce (from Buffalo), and chicken French aka Chicken Française (from Rochester area). Of these three, spiedie sauce is my absolute mouthwatering favorite! Definitely get the beef on weck once you get a chance! With the craft beer boom a lot of the smaller towns have found some revitalization, but I left the area for the same lack of opportunities most did after high school & college.
Grew up outside of Corning (in Beaver Dams) and you're absolutely right with the end of your comment. Somewhat not mentioned in this video is how "dissected" the land is due to the hilly terrain. There's an abundance of small "towns" that are not self sufficient and require residents to commute/ travel 20-40 minutes commonly. These towns connect most of the Cities mentioned in the video, albeit in some regions it is somewhat puzzling to think about what would happen if you broke your leg lol (two hour ambulance ride?) I lucked out with a job at Nucor, but it is a 45 minute commute.
Your three minute explanation of lake effect snow was fantastic! Growing up in the Rochester media market those three minutes on the local news were effectively the first Christmas special of the year. I can all but smell the mittens drying by my parents’ back door, long ago.
Technically its worse because the mountains force the air up even higher making it even colder and wringing all of the snow out of the lake effect. But yes very good for a very short description on why we have 2 snowbelts where the lakes are just perpetually dumping snow. (At any given time if you check the radar in winter you can probably identify atleast 1 of the snowbelts on an otherwise clear day for the state)
I just subscribed - thanks. It's a shame that Upstate NY shares the Rust Belt problems with much of the Northeast and Midwest. People are friendlier than Downstate. We just moved from Long Island to Kingston, with the Hudson River and the Catskills at our doorstep. Our son lives in Buffalo, which is much improved from when I was in university there in the early 80s. When conditions again permit, check out the free tour of Buffalo City Hall, an Art Deco gem.
I’m from Altamont a little village near Albany. You did a great job with this. A shout out should also go to Lake George, which is one of the most beautiful in the country. BTW the Adirondacks which you covered are truly spectacular, as is the Finger Lake region and the Catskills mountains (which you didn’t mention), have much to offer. There is more to life than the money, and upstate New York has a high quality of life in that regard. From Albany we can get to NYC, Boston and Montreal easily.
Altamont! My family moved to Altamont when I was about four or five ('59/60). It was a wonderful place to grow up. Access to mountain, lake, fields, streams, and open air ... it was, and is a real community. Though I no longer live there, friends still do ... visit frequently enough, but, must admit I miss the Helderbergs.
i grew up in Fonda Home of theTrack of Champions big dirt car racing fan an upstate has so many dirt speedways, did you know that Lee Wallard who won the 1951 Indianapolis 500 was from Altamont, i lived in Guilderland center for a while, upstate n.y is beautiful that's why i stay!
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Not a NY resident or Bills fan per se, but I gotta say that Buffalo is due. OK, more than due. And if the Bills win the Super Bowl, that will mean beating the Steelers, which is a great thing in and of itself. So, go Bills.
According to the 2020 census, both Buffalo and Rochester GREW in population. This was buffalos first time adding to the population in many many decades. Cleveland is still declining but Buffalo and Rochester reversed decades of decline and increased their populations. Buffalo grew by 6.5% , which is exactly the percentage of people that left Cleveland over the past 10 years (2010 Buffalo had 261,310 but in 2020 increased to 278,349). Rochester had 210,565 in 2010 and increased to 211,328 in 2020. Both of those cities have been declining since the 1960 census and considering many other Rust Belt cities continued to decline into 2020, this is pretty significant. They managed to reverse projection’s and the overall trends. so they’re doing something right in Buffalo and Rochester. Syracuse grew slightly as well BUT it’s metro area declined in 2020. One of the few metros in all the country that experienced a decline, the others mostly being in Ohio (Akron, Toledo, Youngstown) and Alabama and Louisiana. Syracuse went from 145,170 in 2010 up to 148,620. It’s metro in 2010 was 662,577 down to 662,057 in 2020. Buffalo and Rochester metros grew. Buffalo metro only grew by 2.8% but considering that’s the first time it added since 1970 census that’s pretty good. They went from 1,135,509 in 2010 up to 1,166,902 in 2020. The Rochester metro added 1% but they have not been struggling the way Buffalo has in terms of their surrounding region, never experiencing a decline in their metro population. Rochester metro went from 1,079,671 in 2010 up to 1,090,135 in 2020.
Grew up in Albany/Schenectady area and I’ll always be an advocate of the 518 and upstate. I know this isn’t where I’ll spend the rest of my life, but I couldn’t imagine growing up in a better area. Being only 2.5 hours from NYC, and a few hours from the Adirondacks, you get to experience EVERYTHING. The college towns are an amazing experience (Oswego 💚💛) and I love all the other SUNY school towns that I’ve visited. The snow is a lot but you can have so much fun with it (snow days!). Very surprised Kyle didn’t mention Saratoga, however. Arguably the nicest tourist area of the 518... BUT he did mention garbage plates which are even better than advertised!!! 😋
New York State is like the "California of the east" because not only is does it have it an urban/economic coastal powerhouse, but New York state also I think it has more variety in physical geographic than any other state in the east, and the only one that IMO comes close to California. You have Niagara Falls, the Finger Lakes region, and the Adirondacks. Unique scenery not found in any other state. Also a variety of towns and cities, from the smaller big cities like Buffalo and Rochester (that would be the largest in many other states) to major university towns like Syracuse and Ithaca, to lake resort towns in the Adirondacks. Also interesting that because of similar latitude and climate, the main types of agriculture you find in upstate New York is the same you find in Wisconsin and Michigan, which have similar climate/biomes. Wisconsin is the 2nd in dairy production, Michigan is 6th (NY being 4th), Michigan is 3rd in apple production (NY being 2nd), and Wisconsin is 4th and Michigan 5th in maple syrup (NY as 2nd).
Ithaca is the only place in the USA where a woman yelled at me for holding the door for her. I shot back at her that I'd hold the door for anyone behind me, not just her because she was a woman. I'll never forget that exchange. Other than that, Ithaca is in a wonderful setting if you are there in the Summer.
My dad grew up there. I remember stories about people tobogganing down one of the hills by Cornell. Every few years someone would hit a tree and die. I seem to remember it got bad enough that they threatened to expel anyone they caught doing it. (Also something about stealing trays from the cafeteria for sleds).
I love the Buffalo /Niagra region! When in Buffalo you need to stop by Ted’s Hot Dogs (regional chain), Tim Horton’s, Duff’s famous wings, & have an ice cold Labatt Blue beer at bar 716 or hit Chippewa Street. Good times!!!
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@@MrSpankee02 that is so true, example is before ever Buffalo Sabers NHL game they play both US & Canadian National Anthems (even if both teams playing are from US cities).
Being from the Adirondacks I'm happy you did this my whole life people think if you're from new york your from nyc not 5 hours north so thanks for this
I’m from Rochester, born and raised. I was going to be disappointed if our garbage plate wasn’t mentioned but I’m so glad you had a chance to try it! It’s really a game changer. Great video! Go Bills!
Great video as always. But some exclusions: the Adirondack chair and baseball bat. Lake George, ausable chasm, cooperstown( baseball HOF), the Catskills region, Hudson River area. Saratoga Springs and racetrack.
@@derhak727 same with our family. Dad had an aunt in Schenectady. We stayed there. Shot up route 50. Fort William Henry, Gaslight Village, steamboat ride on Minnie ha ha. Good times
As a native downstater, Lake George is where my family would vacation once every year for a week in the summer. It’s my home away from home and my favorite place on earth.
Yes! I'm so happy you made this! I grew up in Albany for 20 years, went to college in Buffalo for 5, and then grad school in Rochester for 2. I love upstate NY and am excited to watch this!! The cities are unique and interesting. They have a shared industrial (with the Erie Canal and its branches and the railroads) and geographic heritage. As cool as the cities are, the landscape of upstate is what I truly miss! Adirondacks, finger lakes, waterfalls, picturesque towns and valleys... all gorgeous. If anyone has any questions I'd love to discuss it, but I'm sure you did a great job Geography King!
Overall, I felt he did a excellent job, especially as an introductory video! For the cities I've lived in and places I'm familiar with, I felt he hit all the major points and has some great unique facts/places. Sure I could nitpick (a tad bit hard on Rochester and no mention of High Falls or the abandoned subway...I think that's super unique! Also needed to talk more about the Erie Canal!)... but I don't think I've ever seen such an excellent, concise summary of each place, focusing on unique aspects of them. Well said about the scenery too! I'm tired of explaining to people that I'm going to New York (to visit my cabin in the mountains and I'm HUNDREDS of miles from Times Square). Fantastic video!
@@ruddelluddel2062 depends on what you like to do. A lot of us are outdoorsy, so we love to hike, ski, boat, mountain bike, etc. But in the cities, there are some really exciting restaurants, shops, and breweries downtown and in some neighborhoods. Especially Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany/Schenectady/Troy, Ithaca, and Saratoga. I loved the relatively tons of festivals in Buffalo and Rochester when I lived there. Each area has their own sports teams they like to root for/ cry with. Hope that helps!
Thank you! I had to make a few cuts in editing like Lake Champlain and Erie Canal. But I didn't even know about the Rochester subway. I've seen a few comments on that and I like learning things through the comments.
I heard a rumour that the remnant subway in Rochester was going to be destroyed soon for development. That made me very sad. Anyone from Rochester know if this is true?
As a native of the Adirondack/Lake Champlain region, I have several comments. Adding to Albany's appeal is its relative proximity (no more than a half day's drive) to three major metro areas: NYC (about 150 miles to the south), Boston (about 170 miles to the east) and Montreal (about 225 miles to the north). It's also only about 30 miles south of Saratoga, which is an appealing summer vacation area. Albany also is within relatively easy driving distance from ski resorts in southern Vermont (e.g., Killington and Stratton) and about 2.5 hours from Whiteface Mountain (near Lake Placid) in NY. Next, a little known fact: Hamilton County, in the heart of the Adirondacks, has the lowest population density of any county east of the Mississippi. It has all of about 5,100 residents in an area almost as large as the state of Delaware. The comment about Utica "struggling a little economically" is an understatement. An industrial center from the days of the Erie Canal, it has been reeling from the closure of many factories (silverware and cutlery principal among them). Couple that with the closure of the Griffiss Air Force Base in nearby Rome several years ago and it's been one depressed (and depressing) area. Finally, I am pleased that Buffalo is making a comeback. As property values in other areas of the country become increasingly unaffordable, I suspect more people will consider the Buffalo area as a place to live.
Always shocked me that New York never split into 2 different states. The difference from just the White Plains to NYC is insane! Awesome content as usual!
I hope that you subscribe to the channel. You will really find everything you like about nature and travel 🥺❤️❤️, and I hope you will not disappoint me🥺
@@UserName-ts3sp Can upstate survive without the tax revenues generated by greater NYC? I doubt that the NYC burbs will want to join a state that doesn't include the city.
@@UserName-ts3sp actually it's the opposite New York City metro alone practically makes up 90%+ of the New York state budget. If New York state was to split then all of upstate New York's taxes will increase dramatically. People do not really understand how much big cities are subsidizing rural communities. NYC budget was $88 billion. NYS $177 billion. Mind you the city tax rate is a way smaller percentage compared to the state tax rate and yet New York city's budget is literally half of New York state budget. The fact is upstate New York will be a third world country if wasn't for New York City
You did a good job describing upstate NY. I went to grad school at Syracuse eons ago (1972-76) and met my lovely spouse (who hails from the Central Valley of CA, by the way). We survived those 4 years of some of the snowiest and coldest weather we’ve ever experienced but we also spent our summers camping in the Adirondacks and southern Ontario and Quebec. Looking back it was pretty amazing and I have mostly fond memories of those years. Except for the Carrier Dome, the campus looks much the same but the city has lost so many manufacturing jobs, it is quite depressing. One side note, more recently my daughter worked for a genetics professor at what was SUNY Buffalo (now University of Buffalo) one summer and we made a couple trips to visit her. I was surprised that the city was pretty cool and how beautiful the architecture of the city was during its heyday (1880-1920). Not all has survived but what has is very impressive.
@@rhoetusochten4211 yes, the winter of 1975-76 was particularly brutal. However, the worst snowstorm I’ve experienced was in the DC suburbs of Maryland in February 1979. 30+ inches plus enormous car-burying drifts.
@@robertcoren7318 I lived in the Syracuse area for 5 years (B'Ville) and during the winter of 2010-2011 it was hit with 195". It was insane and I think a couple inches from its all-time snowfall record. I also live in the Capital District for 17 years and I forget the exact year but it was in the early 90s and we got one storm that was epic. 29" of snow, temperature near zero and wind gusts over 30 MPH. It was a true blizzard in all respects.
Glad water was discussed! The long term economic prospect of Upstate, NY is positive thanks to abundant water! It is a resource that needs to be cherished and protected, especially as other parts of the country run dry...
great video. informative reminder of how grand NY is. I was born and raised in the Hudson Valley but always loved the Adirondaks and Finger Lake region. Miss it up there
Lake George is the queen of the Adirondack lakes. It attracts thousands of tourists from around the world. Way more than Tupper and Placid. Highly recommend for anyone who’s never been
I am from Queens and have spent some time in various upstate towns and areas. Your video hit the nail on the head,some of the cities are nice and have nice areas but the natural beauty of upstate is very underrated. My wife and I went to Lake Seneca last year and it was amazing. The natural beauty of Watkins Glen and the lake, a ton of wineries and some nice local restaurants. A must visit if you live nearby.
As a Rochester native and a big geography geek I really enjoy your videos and this one in particular- although the state of affairs in upstate is very sad. I do want to mention that Rochester was/is well known for it’s horticultural roots and is fortunate to have three county parks designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of landscape architecture. I live in NC now for economic reasons, but Rochester will always be home. Thanks also for highlighting our gastronomic achievement of “the Garbage Plate” as disgusting as it looks they are DELICIOUS-my version is home fries, mac salad, cheeseburgers and hot sauce!! Yuuummm!!
You cannot talk about the Adirondacks without mentioning Lake George, Lake Champlain. Also The Saratoga Battlefield National Park. Pretty important! Good job overall though.
Yes! As someone from the Rochester area I was waiting for this video. I think you did a good job assessing the area and you pronounced Irondequoit pretty well for someone from out of state. I will mention that after moving to central Connecticut, I've noticed that Rochester has a lot more good coffee shops downtown than where I live now.
I'm from Syracuse and go to school in Buffalo. This video is a great overview of Upstate NY. Not a great economy and a shitload of snow. Why the fuck do I live here?
@@appa609 I grew up just south of Watkins Glen. I have to say, now 26 years old and back in the region, that Watkins feels like the 'last stop shop' when traveling north. It has barely changed since I can remember. The road leading to Geneva at one point becomes a four line as if at some point there was an expectation that the town would have expanded. Hell, there isn't even a McDonalds. Just a BK, Walmart, Tops and one gas station. The town is massively under developed for the shear amount of tourism it gets. However, travel 30 minutes north of it and you're transported back in time to Mennonite and Amish farms as well as countless towns that have all but met their fate.
Former upstate New Yorker here. I never heard anyone refer to it as "the" upstate. Just upstate. Shout out to Seneca Falls, home of the national women's Hall of Fame and Elizabeth Cady Stanton's home. Also Susan B. Anthony's grave is near Rochester, I believe. Might also have mentioned the Erie canal; you can rent houseboats and travel on it.
I have family in Rochester and you're right it is quite rough around the edges. Hopefully you can make a video about Long Island, NY, where I'm from, one day
Thanks people don't know that, he partied in Buffalo thats for sure. In Rochester the bars had to close at 2, but many would at 1. We would leave at 1 and the sober guy in the group would do the the hour drive to Buffalo where they are open till 4. Rick James would truly party all the time and be seen at many bars. He was good friends with Eddie Murphy who you would occasionally see with him.
@@zoicon5His (Rick James’) tombstone 🪦 is beautiful. I am from RNY but live in the mid Atlantic region, and a lady came into my place of work. She was from Buff and knew Rick. She had a pic of his monument in her phone. It was beautiful.
I live in Albany. I think "Albany really isn't that bad" is our motto.
I too live in Albany and can confirm this message
Lol same here
@@jroyggz Smallbany.
It isn't that good what a shithole upstate is unfortunately I live in Schenectady can't wait to retire and leave this place
@@bobtorn1955 The countryside and rural communities are many times better than upstate cities. Upstate cities look like the depths of the 1930's depression, except Albany itself which is made to look good because the capital is there; a lot of state cash floating around. The positive of Upstate is its natural beauty. The negative is incompetent state government.
You really are opening my eyes to usa . As a european all i see from New York is the metropolitan area. Happy New year to you. Hope to visit some of the place you talk about when the corona is over.
@Ryan D yes you should definitely visit the adirondacks especially the high peaks region you can drive up whiteface (or hike up like me) and you can see everything 360 views
@Kevin McCabe Utica greens are awesome!
@Kevin McCabe. I grew up near Utica and the local food is awesome!
@Kevin McCabe your very correct there is a lot here
@Kevin McCabe Visted Utica for the first time a couple of years ago (even though I only live in Albany!) Munson Williams Proctor Art Institute is a small gem.
“Well, I’m from Utica and I never heard anyone use the phrase, ‘steamed hams’”
Oh no, it's an Albany thing.
@@mirzaahmed6589 Seriously; to anyone from the Albany area, do they actually call hamburgers "steamed hams" there? In Connecticut (where most of my family is from) there are actually a few diners that cook cheeseburgers by steaming them.
@@andyjay729 No we don't. It's just a Simpson's joke :)
@@emu5088 you don't YET, the simpsons always predict the future
@@johnthegreat97 that's very true!!
SARATOGA SPRINGS needed to be mentioned. The food, the racetrack, and SPAC.
Saratoga sucks!
@@mrgooglethegreat you’ve either never been there or you grew up there and still live there and haven’t seen what’s crap is out there
Im from Rochester. Ive been living in Brooklyn for a decade. Ive lived all over NYS tho. If u like it there then i love it. No worries! 👍
A hole is in my soul since he didn't mention Plattsburgh. Really disappointed.
There are a few towns with that _arrogant_ feel. Ithaca was mentioned. There are two others upstate that should be mentioned; Saratoga and Skaneateles.
You did a pretty good job. But being from Syracuse , You forgot salt potatoes. A staple for back yard BBQ's here.
Also forgot that Thousand Island dressing is from the 1000 Islands. LOL. Can't forget that. And Potato chips were invented at Moon's Lake House on Saratoga Lake.
I grew up a little south of Syracuse, and salt potatoes were an *event!* They were everything, with a little melted butter for dipping/drizzling.
I live in KY now and no one has heard of salt potatoes here :/
Also (and you can find these in Syracuse): Utica Greens and Chicken Riggies (from Utica). Both delicious italian-american dishes.
I go to school in Syracuse and I gotta say this city is growing on me. It is a good sized city with surprisingly one of the largest malls in the country. Also, the Finger Lakes region and the Adirondacks are some of the most beautiful and underrated parts of the East Coast. So many state parks, ski areas, apple orchards, wineries, trails, lakes, rivers, glacial features, even beaches!
That mall is insane!
I love upstate NY
Wayyyyy more than ANY part of L.I.
I live in Brooklyn 💪🏾💯
when salt city market opens, it is OVER! i can't wait
I graduated from Cuse' in 18' - loved every second of it!
I haven't been to the finger lakes very often. On the other hand, I live fairly close to the Adirondack. The mountains are best part of New York state.
-KR
Just one thing you left out that I think deserves a mention. Cooperstown.
Baseball hall of fame
There are plenty of other things to go over, but then he'd be making an hour-long video. Saratoga? Glens Falls? Lake George? The whole lower Hudson Valley? The Adirondack Park deserves more attention, too.
@@nerdbot37 He forgot Cortland! The Jets held training camp there, and had a few celebrities' go to their college
im from the Rochester finger lakes area and i wanted to say this was a good video! You said Irondequoit correctly btw. Im a farmer so i can tell you that ag is a very big part of what goes on in western new york. Also locals call it western new york. one big thing you missed was letchworth state park. its one of our states gems. and yes garbage plates, we love em
Ag is huge in NY, or it was when I lived there. I have flown into Rochester from the south many times with a window seat, you can tell you reached NY when you go from seeing the small mountains to seeing farm fields
Hi from a suburban Rochester girl 👋🏼
@@SuV33358 which suburb? that's important for people from that region. I lived in Chili for 2 years then moved out to Holley west of Brockport ... Moved out of NY as an Adult.
@@johnliberty3647 born and raised in Chili. Married and was in Gates for sometime. Divorced, kids grown and gone, and I'm in Greece now. Possibly going back to Chili in near future. happy new year!
He also didn't mention any of the local beaches like Sunset, Ontario State beach, Woodlawn, etc.
WEGMAN'S IS THE BEST!!! YESSS!!!!
That’s my job!
They need to come to Long Island.
You somewhat mischaracterized downtown Rochester. Yes it's rough around the edges but the high crime is in poorer neighborhoods mainly between people that know eachother. Rochester has a decent nightlife and lots of bars and restaurants downtown area and punches above it's weight in that respect. including one of the top 20 best bars in the country (Good Luck)and is more than just Park Ave...Neighborhood of the Arts, South Wedge, East End. Summer festivals including international jazz fest.Yes during a weekday its not going to look like much. There's also world renowned Eastman Theater and the National Museum of Play and Strasenburg planetarium. It's not a city that hits you in the face you need to stick around to discover it more.
Upstate NY is without a doubt one of the prettiest states in the US. (There always seems to be a delay in the audio with your videos.)
Rochester, NY. I love my city. There's a lot of things you could have mentioned but I'm assuming you aren't aware of them. We have an amazing museum and gallery culture. Also a great music scene.
I live 1 hour away from Buffalo on the Canadian side. My dad and I and my son are huge Bills and Sabres fans. My son and I love going to Buffalo. Many Canadians like to go to Buffalo on weekend shopping trips especially during black Friday sales. My parents went to Letchworth for their honeymoon and went there sometimes after. It was one of my dads favourite places to visit. I hope to go sometime. I travel through upstate NY to go to my sisters in PA. The Erie canal is interesting along with its history. I love upstate NY. Thanks for posting this video.
About ten years ago I was out for a walk and alongside the road a car was parked, the driver was leaning against the fender just staring up at a tree covered hill alongside the road ..... We got to talking and turned out he was from Texas just out on a national road trip and he said he was just stunned that what he was looking at was New York .... like many people his picture of New York was always that of New York City.
Texan here. Even on my first visit as a kid, the outstanding beauty of your state impressed me.
We have mountains Out West, but much of Texas is really flat. And every Texas lake was created by damming a river -- nothing like your glacier scoured lakes.
Even your towns and small cities have charms although some seem to be having hard times...
One of our local memes are
Your from NY: picture of NYC
No, I'm from NY: picture of a tractor at walmart or a farm.
And i saw one for my hometown that said upstate, like albany and was a Snapchat of a 5miles to canada road sign.
We have natural beauty in spades and 2 jokes, that we are not NYC and that we are basically Canadian. 3 if you count "at least we don't have tornadoes/wildfires/earthquakes/hurricanes while shoveling mountains of snow when the air hurts your face"
Maybe the locals dont want the secret to get out. Nobody has any idea what's up there.
@@Nick-gk6hj We like it that way
i am from around syracuse. i worked in a little hardware store in a town neerby and had this sweet texan lady come in and ask me where she could look at the canal. tbh kinda a culture shock as no one as ever asked me before or sence what they could pray for me for lol.
Fun fact: in Buffalo, you don’t say goodbye. You instead end it with a Go Bills!
Go Bills
@Jack Attack ight salty boi here have fun lol Nobody circles the wagons like the buffalo bills
Go Bills
Go Bills
Hey ay ay ay!
You forgot Saratoga. One of the nicest areas of the state. Between Albany and Saratoga is growing because of High Tech. It has the best winter weather and best recreation in the state, with Lake George. You could do a whole video on the area.
Letchworth State Park is often considered one of the best state parks in the country, located between Rochester and Buffalo, and to the south a bit.
And it’s still not the best in the state- ‘dacks obviously A1
@@Nick_J_ I live in the 'Dacks and concur! It's an outdoorsman's dream!
Letchworth is pretty amazing. It's this huge, fancy park in the middle of nowhere with amazing scenery and you realize it was created to provide recreation opportunities for wealthy Kodak and IBM executives and their families. And they're gone, but the park is still here...
Going to college in the area. Thats incredible to hear!
NY has very good state parks, I like that they are state parks it keeps the tourists down
You did pretty good with your pronunciation of Irondequoit
Ya I've heard worse , 😄
You Should try to pronounce Skaneateles... I probably spelled it wrong too.
@@xvillin Or Schaghticoke. Or Coxsackie.
As an upstate New Yorker I'm glad someone noticed us ;-;
I can't believe you are so negative on Ra-cha-cha. It probably has the best economy of any Upstate city right now.
Nick Tahoe's Garbage Plate was the best.
Hey, I'm from Buffalo. Some rapid-fire fun facts:
1. Buffalo was the 8th largest city in the country at one time, and at its height had 580,000 people in it (the city itself, not the metro area).
2. Niagara Falls is running at only about a quarter of it's natural volume. Both the US and Canada divert a lot of water from above the Falls for hydro power.
3. Niagara Falls froze solid once.
4. In the 1800s, the Canalside area, where the Erie Canal and Lake Erie meet, was estimated to contain 50 percent of all the murders in the entire world.
5. That song "Buffalo Gals Won't You Come Out Tonight" is about prostitutes, who were a favorite diversion for the workers who'd travel the Canal. There was even an incident where some New York City prostitutes came to town to try to cut in on the Buffalo Gals' business, with a small riot breaking out. The Buffalo prostitutes won.
6. Because large bodies of water moderate air temperatures, Buffalo has never officially recorded a triple-digit temperature at its National Weather Service station (another city that can claim that is Honolulu, believe it or not). And yet modern air conditioning was invented here.
7. Buffalo's City Hall is kinda shaped like a middle finger, aimed right at Canada. That's why we made it so big. (I kid 'cause I love.)
Also goo goo dolls is from Buffalo too!
fact number 4 especially interests me. any more information?
Don't forget: William McKinley was assassinated in Buffalo New York. Also, I thought that "Buffalo Girls" got there name because they perform their services on a buffalo skin rug, not because they were from Buffalo New York.
the middle finger is aimed at NYC and Albany
But do you actually consider Buffalo upstate or western ny
Not me immediately clicking the notification because I'm from upstate.
Lmao same
Welcome from SmAlbany.
lol same. I've never clicked faster on one of his videos!
He forgot to mention the black flies... Moved to Wisconsin in 2010 and people here still think I'm exaggerating about upstate NY snow.
Yep same. From Saratoga
I'm from Rochester and I wanted to say that this is mostly accurate (although as someone else mentioned, locals distinguish between Western NY and Upstate/Northern NY). Also, while Kodak and Xerox are no longer headquartered here, they do still have manufacturing facilities here. Kodak, especially, is much diminished from what it used to be, though. Yes, the Rochester metro is a bit rough, but there is much to be said for the area as a whole. There are plenty of outdoor activities in both summer and winter. Letchworth is just amazing. There are a number of good universities and hospitals here (U of R and RIT). There are a lot of fun festivals in the summer months. And if you have kids, the Museum of Play is world renowned. I'm not a native Rochesterian. I came here for college and ended up staying and putting down roots and the area has grown on me.
Also Syracuse is considered CNY. But to be honest it's all Upstate whether the Catskills, 'Dacks, CNY, WNY, Southern Tier, Finger Lakes, Hudson & Mohawk Valleys, etc...
@@justasimpleguy7211 . Yes. what you said is 100% accurate. I grew up in “central New York” but it is located in upstate New York.
@@301rs I grew up in NYC and we considered anything north of Yonkers Upstate. Hehehe.
What always amazes me is the beauty of the state and the fact so many people from other parts of the country are totally unaware of it.
My parents had a small log cabin in the Adirondacks and I've spent a good portion of my almost 62 years here. After Dad retired in the mid-80s they moved here and when I got the chance to work from home 100% I relocated here several years back.
I'm about 25 miles north of the village of Lake George and about a dozen miles west of the lake and nestled between Loon, Brant and Friends Lakes. It's Paradise. :-)
@@justasimpleguy7211 . I envy you. I would love to get a summer home on a lake in the Adirondacks. Not too far off the beaten path though. Lol. I always joke with my kids and refer to upstate New York as “God’s Country.” But I am sorta serious...ya know? I would go to Boy Scout camp near long lake New York as a kid and I miss the call of the loons. Upstate NY even smells different and better. I was truly blessed to have experienced it.
@@301rs Before I relocated and for the ten years I was in Syracuse and Rochester I was using the house my parents bought when Dad retired as a vacation home. I'd use the bulk of my vacation from Memorial Day to Labor Day, spending a good 30 or so days here.
The drive up was always so exciting. I-90 to the Rome exit at Turning Stone. Route 365 to Route 8 and eventually a left turn off Route 8 onto Landon Hill Rd and just a quarter mile to the house. Route 8 through the Southern Adirondacks goes through some of the least populated areas of the 'Dacks and even on the major holidays there's hardly any traffic whatsoever. Just a two lane country highway where I'd put the Silverado on cruise control and not have to hit any pedals for dozens of miles on end.
I had a lineup of Rush and Zeppelin CDs I'd crank up during the drive, doing my best to hit the high notes of Plant and Lee. LOL!
Before that I was in the Capital District for 17 years and it was a much shorter drive, not much more than an hour. I'd make it up much more often.
And yes, "God's Country" isn't that far off the mark!
Michael Scott: WE WILL BURN UTICA TO THE GROUND!
Someone is already doing that.
Steamed hams.
I'm old enough to remember when Upstate NY was an industrial powerhouse. All the cities you mentioned, including some small ones like Ithaca, had massive industrial infrastructures. I found your presentation spot on. For someone who lived in California, you really got your information correct. If one lives outside of the cities, in the countryside, politics aside, it is a literal paradise. I like it here.
The upstate economic downturn really keeps the cost of homes cheap and affordable.
Yeah but the crime terrible I live in Albany, it is a shame that these once integral cities are now forgotten
Yeah but the crime terrible I live in Albany, it is a shame that these once integral cities are now forgotten
I've lived in Buffalo for 15 years now (ori8from Yonkers) and Buffalo has really thrived in the last 10 years, especially the downtown/ canalside area. It's really special and one of the only eastern cities where you get to see the sun set over the water. And the food is out of this world!
I live on the west coast and I agree that the foods the best in the Midwest and east coast. The only thing I’ll say the west coast has that’s better is sweets. You can’t mess with the west coast. We got award winning bakeries and pie shops. There phenomenal
I couple of years ago we visited Buffalo and took a Silo City Grain Elevator tour with Explore Buffalo. Highly recommend if/when they start up again post-pandemic. Even my disgruntled teen still talks about it.
I live in Buffalo I agree
I like Buffalo as well😁 Used to travel up to Western NY for work a lot in the early 2000's. Miss those good Beef on Weck sandwiches, cruising the 190 along the Niagara, etc. Buffalo is similar to Cleveland and Toledo in feel, but most interesting than either, one of the more interesting bigger cities.
I confused. I live in coastal Massachusetts. Every day I watch the sun set over the water.
As someone from NYC with family in the Binghamton area and friends in the finger lakes, I always found upstate to have some of the most underrated places in the east
🎯🎯🎯💪🏾💯
And we hate the NYC tourists
periodt
Lmao ive lived in Binghamton my whole life and its terrible
@@ericschuldt5553. I went to school at SUNY B and didn’t think Bingo was too bad. Of course a lot has probably changed since I graduated in ‘84.
Im a downstate man learning about upstate...I love NY!... Thanks for the input
It still blows my mind to think that Buffalo was once the richest city in the country.
I just want to say thank you for doing upstate NY. I am a newer subscriber and suburb resident of Buffalo. I got giddy when I saw that you knew of the bubble man! I loved your review. I have been impressed thoroughly by your videos and your honesty is accurate.
Thank you!
a weird upstate quirk- to new yorkers, upstate just means upstate relative to them. There's no agreed upon "upstate". "where you from, White Plains? that's not upstate, Newburgh is upstate" "where you from, Newburgh? that's not upstate. Albany is upstate" "where you from, Albany? Albany's not upstate, saratoga springs is upstate!" "where you from, saratoga springs? That's not upstate, Plattsburgh's upstate!" "Where you from, Plattsburgh? That's not upstate, Montreal is upstate!"
surprised you didn’t include catskills and hudson valley, and u didn’t mention saratoga springs
The Catskills are very underrated, even among New Yorkers.
Catskills and most of Hudson Valley are usually considered downstate, at least by upstate New Yorkers. Agree that SS deserves a mention.
Catskills is definitely upstate though
@@jessepinkman801 I understand why there may be differences of opinion on what is "upstate" and "downstate." There are certainly towns in the Catskills that have New York transplants and summer residents who are downstaters. But there are many towns in the Catskills that are quite rural and removed from downstate influence. Perhaps one reason why people north of the Catskills don't got there is they think it is more downstate than it is. There are NYC transplants in the Adirondacks, Berkshires and Capital Region too. And some people confuse the Catskills with the more southern Borscht Belt/ Shawangunk region. Anyway, I find the Catskills more interesting and enjoyable than the Adirondacks.
yea, i live in the hudson valley, i'm suprised its not upstate. My town has like 2,000 people in it. idk how thats "metropolitan"
Hello from Rochester, ny!
I think what most of the country would find most unexpected about upstate is how rural it is. I live in the Binghamton area and for me to go the slightly over an hour up to Syracuse (because of the mall) the interstate I travel up (81) has hardly any towns along it. Of the companies that left upstate, the major you left out is IBM, founded in the Binghamton area, though it didn’t leave the state, it just left upstate.
I thought the same thing. The state is very separated, and its weirdly not uncomment to travel from anchor city to anchor city. I grew up just north of Corning and commonly drive to Bing for cars, etc. The economy is weird because of this. You'll find yourself wondering how the people who live between the cities can even afford to, then I remember I commute 45 minutes for work and it makes sense lol.
I live in Cortland county right on I81
Overall you did a great job BUT Buffalo and Rochester are in Western NY. Syracuse and Utica are Central NY. Then there’s the North Country (Watertown, etc), the Southern Tier (Elmira, Binghamton...). Albany is in the tri-state as you can literally be in Vermont/Massachusetts/or even Connecticut in no time at all.
We may be ‘upstate’ of The City (this is how anyone living outside of NYC refers to said city) however we do not all say that we live ‘upstate’. We claim our respective regions. Or even area codes. (Who remembers when Buffalo and Rochester shared that 716?)
I heard no mention of the absolutely beautiful Hudson Valley. Or Saratoga. I mean c’mon. The racetrack is legendary.
As a born and bred western NY’er I do feel that more time should have been spent on Wegmans, lol. And then there’s the Lilac Festival. People literally come from around the world to visit those flowers.
Mount Hope Cemetery. Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony (amongst other notable names) buried right in Rochester.
You did us ‘other New Yorkers’ a little bit of justice though. Can’t wait to see the next one!
Finger Lakes guy here to represent! Great job on this video man, I got so excited when I saw the thumbnail 😁
Excellent video! One could argue that the Adirondacks offer some of the best true wilderness areas in the country: Five Ponds Wilderness, Siamese Ponds Wilderness, McKenzie Mt. Wilderness, High Peaks Wilderness, Boreas Ponds Tract and the William C. Whitney Wilderness. In 1900, Theodore Roosevelt was off on the summit of Mt Marcy when President McKinley was shot, and it took a runner to deliver the message that he was now the President. When the twin towers fell on 9/11, I was canoeing 10 miles from any civilization, and only heard the news 3 days later.
I imagine there's much research that goes into your videos. You are to be commended!
Thank you!
Salt potatoes. Don't forget salt potatoes!
From the Syracuse area. I grew up with salt potatoes, and thought everyone knew what it is. I was so surprised when an acquaintance from Florida had no idea what I was talking about.
My blood pressure just went up 20 points just thinking about it.
Salt potatoes were popular in Utica too.
One food you missed ... found only in the Binghamton area: Spiedes (pronounced speedies) are marinated cubes of meat cooked on a skewer and typically served up in a long roll. They're delicious. Imported as a delicacy from Italy, it's widely believed that spiedies are strictly a Greater Binghamton phenomenon. It's widely known that they are a phenomenal meaty treat.
I admire Binghamton city Very much, firstly because of the university...
Now, I admire It for the "speedie"...
Hell yes, gotta have lupos all the way
I grew up 30 minutes from Syracuse and never heard of a spiedies until I moved to the Binghamton area 20+ years ago. I love them. In addition to spiedies, he could add Cornell chicken, and salt potatoes. Also, IBM as a company that started here and pretty much gone.
Born and raised (until 22) in Rochester and I've never heard of those! I did like flying planes into BGM though. On a little plateau (like Seattle) and always a fun trip when the foliage was peaking! I'd usually just take a plane up on my own or with a passenger or two and fly around a bit aimlessly around the southern tier and Finger Lakes. I'm not sure I've spent any time in Binghamton but it wasn't much if I did.
Very popular in NE PA as well. Especially at my house! Lupos or homemade marinade.
Thank you for this video. I am considering moving to Rochester, NY to be near my family and, more importantly, to get my son, who is autistic, the kinds of services he can't get almost anywhere else. The services there are arguably the best of the country and people move there from more "attractive" places for that reason.
Yea we have one of the best hospitals in the state too.
@@Conrailfan2596 Also, one of the top universities in the country with its arguably best school of music.
I would suggest avoiding pittsford even though it is the nicest suburb and on paper has the best schools but if your son is autistic the district SpEd is not (coming from a pittsford sutherland senior with asperger's) they are very hesitant at times on support and the support is awful in elementary especially (I had to leave for a specialist private 5th grade because they were not doing a good job and I had enough) though middle and high schools are great and much better with SpEd once you get fully into the SpEd system which can be rough at times. Overall the area is great (though it's all I've known) and the resources outside of school fairly plentiful for special development.
@@smarkwick7814 Thanks. My son has “aged out,” so he would not be attending school. It’s more about other services and work. I am in contact with the Golisano Center and Rochester really is a model for people in our position. And as I mentioned I have family there.
Love the Rick James album in the background. A Buffalo hero.
It's really important to emphasize the whole state is based on two corridors - the Hudson/Champlain corridor to Upper Canada and the Mohawk Valley corridor to lake Erie. So much history is based on this, especially concerning my (favorite?) North American War: the French/Indian War of 1758-1765.
Still relevant today as I-87 and I-90.
Rochester's Mount Hope Cemetery, has more people than in the city itself.
Susan B. Anthony is buried there.
I believe it is extremely unfair to characterize a city on the basis of a few days' visit and some economic stats. Rochester and Buffalo have "rough" areas - name me any city in the US, or the world for that matter, that doesn't. Rochester and Buffalo are beautiful cities with great architecture, outstanding universities, beautiful parks, cultural attractions and great neighborhoods. Look around the entire northeast and upper middle west and you will find virtually every large and medium size city has lost population within city limits since the 1950s. But they all are the major center of large metropolitan areas. And high poverty rates exist in cities throughout the nation primarily because middle class and upper class people have moved to the suburbs - which only exist because of the existence of the central cities.
He's kinda right about Park Ave though. Meh. It's a pain to drive down, nowhere to park, and the shops and restaurants are mediocre.
@@BrianB14471 I agree. I moved away years ago. When I go back to visit I don't go near there - not my vibe. But, if such areas are important to someone it is understandable that it would be a negative.
I don't understand the characterization of upstate cities as uniquely terrible. At least they don't have massive homeless encampments like "better" cities in warmer climates.
I’ve lived somewhere in NY my whole life and I learned a lot from this video! But if you haven’t been to the catskill mountain region, I’d highly recommend going there.
My comment as well.
Although I'm from NYC and I've been upstate a few times since a kid, I recently learned that some people don't consider it upstate until you pass what's considered the Hudson Valley, which could be as far north as Kingston or Albany, depending who you ask (or as far north as the Metro North goes). I feel he was going by this definition.
Also upstate shout outs to Cooperstown NY (baseball HOF), Fort Ticonderoga (Lake Champlain region), Saratoga Springs (horse country), & The Erie Canal.
Saratoga Springs! Birthplace of the potato chip.
As a WNY native, highly recommend beef on weck. Have lived in several regions of US since, but Buffalo has the best pizza; amalgam of Chicago & NYC style. Billieve!!!!!
Don't miss those winters, I live in Tucson now.
A Buffalo native. Got tired of the snow & went to U of A for grad school. Bear down!
'k - Syracuse native here - stood the snow for 30 years and bugged out to Dallas. I agree with almost everything you said; I was really saddened to hear that Syracuse has sunk to 140k population. I was in 7th grade in 1959, when we learned that the city population was 221k. I guess everybody moved to the sun belt or followed their jobs to Mexico. so sad. I know that you can only cover just so much in 21 minutes; it pains me greatly that small towns have cratered so badly, and if ever you need a project, research the former Borscht Belt, a thriving entertainment center in the Catskills *which no longer exists*. I was wrecked. points to you for pronouncing Irondequoit correctly! food interests are Colosse cheese and Croghan bologna. and my last fillip - Upstate is defined by me as being above the 42nd parallel!
I don't think the population decrease is as bad as it sounds. Family size is much smaller than it was 60 years ago, so density isn't what it used to be.
There’s a lot of CNY’ers here in DFW
Great idea about covering the Borscht Belt.
Go Bills
GO COLTS
Go Steelers and pats (barfs in mouth after saying go pats) today
I like the bills and josh Allen but I love my Steelers lol
Let's Go Buffalo
R u cole Beasleys Burner account
I can't believe you actually mentioned Elmira! I didn't know that we were the last to get past the 08 recession. Makes sense though..... We're a prison town. You're either a cop or someone in your family is in one of the 2 prisons. You're totally right about Ithaca being a snobby college town though! 😂 Oh yeah Elmira also is the home of Mark Twain's (cabin?) Idk what to call it he wrote many of his books here. Plus we're the home of the first black Heisman award winner, Ernie Davis, and Eileen Collins, the first female pilot and first female commander of a Space Shuttle.
How do you talk about upstate NY without mentioning the Catskills. And mention Tupper Lake and not mention Lake George or Lake Champlain when talking about the Adirondacks. And potato chips were invented in Saratoga, which is also the home of the oldest horse racetrack in the country.
You forgot IBM, and spiedies for binghamton.
Proud Upstate (Mohawk Valley) New Yorker here! I wish more people from out of state knew just how much the state has to offer outside of NYC. So many beautiful landscapes and some of the best food. Thank you for this video!
I've been to many other states and I always miss the food here in NYS.
I hope they don't. I love upstate New York, but call someplace paradise, kiss it goodbye. Look what happened to California.
I lived in both Elmira/Corning/Finger Lakes area & Rochester for a good period of my life. Few things I recommend:
1. Check out Letchworth state park
2. Other AMAZING regional cuisines: Chicken Spiedies (originally from Binghampton area,), chiavetta's sauce
(from Buffalo), and chicken French aka Chicken Française (from Rochester area). Of these three, spiedie sauce is my absolute mouthwatering favorite! Definitely get the beef on weck once you get a chance!
With the craft beer boom a lot of the smaller towns have found some revitalization, but I left the area for the same lack of opportunities most did after high school & college.
Born and raised in Elmira, spent 25 years there before moving to Dallas. Miss the scenery!
I've lived in elmira and I've lived in LA. Elmira's not so bad
@@nathanbarr1237 I enjoy visiting the area, but will never live there again.
Grew up outside of Corning (in Beaver Dams) and you're absolutely right with the end of your comment. Somewhat not mentioned in this video is how "dissected" the land is due to the hilly terrain. There's an abundance of small "towns" that are not self sufficient and require residents to commute/ travel 20-40 minutes commonly. These towns connect most of the Cities mentioned in the video, albeit in some regions it is somewhat puzzling to think about what would happen if you broke your leg lol (two hour ambulance ride?) I lucked out with a job at Nucor, but it is a 45 minute commute.
Your three minute explanation of lake effect snow was fantastic! Growing up in the Rochester media market those three minutes on the local news were effectively the first Christmas special of the year.
I can all but smell the mittens drying by my parents’ back door, long ago.
Technically its worse because the mountains force the air up even higher making it even colder and wringing all of the snow out of the lake effect. But yes very good for a very short description on why we have 2 snowbelts where the lakes are just perpetually dumping snow. (At any given time if you check the radar in winter you can probably identify atleast 1 of the snowbelts on an otherwise clear day for the state)
Same here. I'm from NYC and knew it snowed more upstate but didn't know why until this video.
i live in Buffalo, and I approve this video ^_^
wait...please replace that Scott Norwood ending with a pic of Josh Allen maybe..? :-D
I just subscribed - thanks. It's a shame that Upstate NY shares the Rust Belt problems with much of the Northeast and Midwest. People are friendlier than Downstate. We just moved from Long Island to Kingston, with the Hudson River and the Catskills at our doorstep. Our son lives in Buffalo, which is much improved from when I was in university there in the early 80s. When conditions again permit, check out the free tour of Buffalo City Hall, an Art Deco gem.
I’m from Altamont a little village near Albany. You did a great job with this. A shout out should also go to Lake George, which is one of the most beautiful in the country. BTW the Adirondacks which you covered are truly spectacular, as is the Finger Lake region and the Catskills mountains (which you didn’t mention), have much to offer. There is more to life than the money, and upstate New York has a high quality of life in that regard. From Albany we can get to NYC, Boston and Montreal easily.
I live in Knox!
Altamont! My family moved to Altamont when I was about four or five ('59/60). It was a wonderful place to grow up. Access to mountain, lake, fields, streams, and open air ... it was, and is a real community. Though I no longer live there, friends still do ... visit frequently enough, but, must admit I miss the Helderbergs.
i grew up in Fonda Home of theTrack of Champions big dirt car racing fan an upstate has so many dirt speedways, did you know that Lee Wallard who won the 1951 Indianapolis 500 was from Altamont, i lived in Guilderland center for a while, upstate n.y is beautiful that's why i stay!
LET'S GO BUFFALOOOOOOOOO!!!
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Bills by a billion
Not a NY resident or Bills fan per se, but I gotta say that Buffalo is due. OK, more than due. And if the Bills win the Super Bowl, that will mean beating the Steelers, which is a great thing in and of itself. So, go Bills.
Thank you for doing such a good job on my home state. Keep doing these long detailed videos
FINGER LAKES REGION
According to the 2020 census, both Buffalo and Rochester GREW in population. This was buffalos first time adding to the population in many many decades. Cleveland is still declining but Buffalo and Rochester reversed decades of decline and increased their populations. Buffalo grew by 6.5% , which is exactly the percentage of people that left Cleveland over the past 10 years (2010 Buffalo had 261,310 but in 2020 increased to 278,349). Rochester had 210,565 in 2010 and increased to 211,328 in 2020.
Both of those cities have been declining since the 1960 census and considering many other Rust Belt cities continued to decline into 2020, this is pretty significant.
They managed to reverse projection’s and the overall trends. so they’re doing something right in Buffalo and Rochester. Syracuse grew slightly as well BUT it’s metro area declined in 2020. One of the few metros in all the country that experienced a decline, the others mostly being in Ohio (Akron, Toledo, Youngstown) and Alabama and Louisiana. Syracuse went from 145,170 in 2010 up to 148,620. It’s metro in 2010 was 662,577 down to 662,057 in 2020.
Buffalo and Rochester metros grew.
Buffalo metro only grew by 2.8% but considering that’s the first time it added since 1970 census that’s pretty good. They went from 1,135,509 in 2010 up to 1,166,902 in 2020.
The Rochester metro added 1% but they have not been struggling the way Buffalo has in terms of their surrounding region, never experiencing a decline in their metro population.
Rochester metro went from 1,079,671 in 2010 up to 1,090,135 in 2020.
I live in Watertown, Fort Drum is a large Army instillation and tends to keep Watertown going economically.
Grew up in Albany/Schenectady area and I’ll always be an advocate of the 518 and upstate. I know this isn’t where I’ll spend the rest of my life, but I couldn’t imagine growing up in a better area. Being only 2.5 hours from NYC, and a few hours from the Adirondacks, you get to experience EVERYTHING. The college towns are an amazing experience (Oswego 💚💛) and I love all the other SUNY school towns that I’ve visited. The snow is a lot but you can have so much fun with it (snow days!). Very surprised Kyle didn’t mention Saratoga, however. Arguably the nicest tourist area of the 518... BUT he did mention garbage plates which are even better than advertised!!! 😋
As an Albany native and Oswgeo Alumn I could not agree with you more!!! 💚💛
My teen son says that if he HAD to live somewhere besides Albany, he would move to Troy.
New York State is like the "California of the east" because not only is does it have it an urban/economic coastal powerhouse, but New York state also I think it has more variety in physical geographic than any other state in the east, and the only one that IMO comes close to California.
You have Niagara Falls, the Finger Lakes region, and the Adirondacks. Unique scenery not found in any other state. Also a variety of towns and cities, from the smaller big cities like Buffalo and Rochester (that would be the largest in many other states) to major university towns like Syracuse and Ithaca, to lake resort towns in the Adirondacks.
Also interesting that because of similar latitude and climate, the main types of agriculture you find in upstate New York is the same you find in Wisconsin and Michigan, which have similar climate/biomes. Wisconsin is the 2nd in dairy production, Michigan is 6th (NY being 4th), Michigan is 3rd in apple production (NY being 2nd), and Wisconsin is 4th and Michigan 5th in maple syrup (NY as 2nd).
Actually, California is the New York of the West, since we predate California in the nation. 😀 All kidding aside, your post is spot on!!!
Steamed Hams anyone?
Aurora borealis
Albany’s greatest food!
@@wids May I see it?
I may or may have not clicked on this video purely for the purposes of finding this reference in the comments.
Ithaca is the only place in the USA where a woman yelled at me for holding the door for her. I shot back at her that I'd hold the door for anyone behind me, not just her because she was a woman. I'll never forget that exchange. Other than that, Ithaca is in a wonderful setting if you are there in the Summer.
My dad grew up there. I remember stories about people tobogganing down one of the hills by Cornell. Every few years someone would hit a tree and die. I seem to remember it got bad enough that they threatened to expel anyone they caught doing it. (Also something about stealing trays from the cafeteria for sleds).
@@nacoran I graduated in 2019, we still sled down on snow days!
Gotta love Taughannock and Buttermilk falls!
I love the Buffalo /Niagra region! When in Buffalo you need to stop by Ted’s Hot Dogs (regional chain), Tim Horton’s, Duff’s famous wings, & have an ice cold Labatt Blue beer at bar 716 or hit Chippewa Street. Good times!!!
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Kyle is correct, us western New Yorkers love our Canadian friends. Buffalo has been making a big comeback the past decade.
@@MrSpankee02 that is so true, example is before ever Buffalo Sabers NHL game they play both US & Canadian National Anthems (even if both teams playing are from US cities).
As a native, this is spectacular. Very well done!
Being from the Adirondacks I'm happy you did this my whole life people think if you're from new york your from nyc not 5 hours north so thanks for this
Chestertown here. :-)
I’m from Rochester, born and raised. I was going to be disappointed if our garbage plate wasn’t mentioned but I’m so glad you had a chance to try it! It’s really a game changer. Great video! Go Bills!
go bills
Great video as always. But some exclusions: the Adirondack chair and baseball bat. Lake George, ausable chasm, cooperstown( baseball HOF), the Catskills region, Hudson River area. Saratoga Springs and racetrack.
Grew up in massena area, Lake George was all we could ever afford for summer vacay. Great Escape here we come!
@@derhak727 same with our family. Dad had an aunt in Schenectady. We stayed there. Shot up route 50. Fort William Henry, Gaslight Village, steamboat ride on Minnie ha ha. Good times
As a native downstater, Lake George is where my family would vacation once every year for a week in the summer. It’s my home away from home and my favorite place on earth.
Yes! I'm so happy you made this! I grew up in Albany for 20 years, went to college in Buffalo for 5, and then grad school in Rochester for 2. I love upstate NY and am excited to watch this!! The cities are unique and interesting. They have a shared industrial (with the Erie Canal and its branches and the railroads) and geographic heritage. As cool as the cities are, the landscape of upstate is what I truly miss! Adirondacks, finger lakes, waterfalls, picturesque towns and valleys... all gorgeous. If anyone has any questions I'd love to discuss it, but I'm sure you did a great job Geography King!
Overall, I felt he did a excellent job, especially as an introductory video! For the cities I've lived in and places I'm familiar with, I felt he hit all the major points and has some great unique facts/places. Sure I could nitpick (a tad bit hard on Rochester and no mention of High Falls or the abandoned subway...I think that's super unique! Also needed to talk more about the Erie Canal!)... but I don't think I've ever seen such an excellent, concise summary of each place, focusing on unique aspects of them. Well said about the scenery too! I'm tired of explaining to people that I'm going to New York (to visit my cabin in the mountains and I'm HUNDREDS of miles from Times Square). Fantastic video!
i´ve heard its a bit boring up there, whats your opinion?
@@ruddelluddel2062 depends on what you like to do. A lot of us are outdoorsy, so we love to hike, ski, boat, mountain bike, etc. But in the cities, there are some really exciting restaurants, shops, and breweries downtown and in some neighborhoods. Especially Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany/Schenectady/Troy, Ithaca, and Saratoga. I loved the relatively tons of festivals in Buffalo and Rochester when I lived there. Each area has their own sports teams they like to root for/ cry with. Hope that helps!
Thank you! I had to make a few cuts in editing like Lake Champlain and Erie Canal. But I didn't even know about the Rochester subway. I've seen a few comments on that and I like learning things through the comments.
I heard a rumour that the remnant subway in Rochester was going to be destroyed soon for development. That made me very sad. Anyone from Rochester know if this is true?
I see what ya did Rick James is from Buffalo ....nice!!👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾
🎯🎯🎯💪🏾💯
Great video. Born and raised NY’er and I learned a bunch. Cheers!
As a native of the Adirondack/Lake Champlain region, I have several comments. Adding to Albany's appeal is its relative proximity (no more than a half day's drive) to three major metro areas: NYC (about 150 miles to the south), Boston (about 170 miles to the east) and Montreal (about 225 miles to the north). It's also only about 30 miles south of Saratoga, which is an appealing summer vacation area. Albany also is within relatively easy driving distance from ski resorts in southern Vermont (e.g., Killington and Stratton) and about 2.5 hours from Whiteface Mountain (near Lake Placid) in NY. Next, a little known fact: Hamilton County, in the heart of the Adirondacks, has the lowest population density of any county east of the Mississippi. It has all of about 5,100 residents in an area almost as large as the state of Delaware. The comment about Utica "struggling a little economically" is an understatement. An industrial center from the days of the Erie Canal, it has been reeling from the closure of many factories (silverware and cutlery principal among them). Couple that with the closure of the Griffiss Air Force Base in nearby Rome several years ago and it's been one depressed (and depressing) area. Finally, I am pleased that Buffalo is making a comeback. As property values in other areas of the country become increasingly unaffordable, I suspect more people will consider the Buffalo area as a place to live.
Buffalo and surrounding counties is western ny not upstate ny. Upstate is Adirondacks
Always shocked me that New York never split into 2 different states. The difference from just the White Plains to NYC is insane! Awesome content as usual!
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they probably should split... upstate is getting fucked by the high taxes of nyc
@@UserName-ts3sp Can upstate survive without the tax revenues generated by greater NYC? I doubt that the NYC burbs will want to join a state that doesn't include the city.
@@UserName-ts3sp It's actually the other way around. The high taxes of NYC supports upstate.
@@UserName-ts3sp actually it's the opposite New York City metro alone practically makes up 90%+ of the New York state budget. If New York state was to split then all of upstate New York's taxes will increase dramatically. People do not really understand how much big cities are subsidizing rural communities. NYC budget was $88 billion. NYS $177 billion. Mind you the city tax rate is a way smaller percentage compared to the state tax rate and yet New York city's budget is literally half of New York state budget. The fact is upstate New York will be a third world country if wasn't for New York City
You did a good job describing upstate NY. I went to grad school at Syracuse eons ago (1972-76) and met my lovely spouse (who hails from the Central Valley of CA, by the way). We survived those 4 years of some of the snowiest and coldest weather we’ve ever experienced but we also spent our summers camping in the Adirondacks and southern Ontario and Quebec. Looking back it was pretty amazing and I have mostly fond memories of those years. Except for the Carrier Dome, the campus looks much the same but the city has lost so many manufacturing jobs, it is quite depressing. One side note, more recently my daughter worked for a genetics professor at what was SUNY Buffalo (now University of Buffalo) one summer and we made a couple trips to visit her. I was surprised that the city was pretty cool and how beautiful the architecture of the city was during its heyday (1880-1920). Not all has survived but what has is very impressive.
Wasn't there an enormous snowstorm during those years? Or was that 72?
@@rhoetusochten4211 yes, the winter of 1975-76 was particularly brutal. However, the worst snowstorm I’ve experienced was in the DC suburbs of Maryland in February 1979. 30+ inches plus enormous car-burying drifts.
Half of the video was describing Western NY. We are definitely not upstate. Upstate is east of Syracuse.
@@robertcoren7318 I lived in the Syracuse area for 5 years (B'Ville) and during the winter of 2010-2011 it was hit with 195". It was insane and I think a couple inches from its all-time snowfall record.
I also live in the Capital District for 17 years and I forget the exact year but it was in the early 90s and we got one storm that was epic. 29" of snow, temperature near zero and wind gusts over 30 MPH. It was a true blizzard in all respects.
@@justasimpleguy7211 That beats me by a long shot! That’s more than 18 ft.
For the economy, you forgot IBM which was based in Endicott. 65,000 people lost their jobs when they decided to pull out of New York.
My dad worked for IBM in Endicott. IBM leaving devastated the southern tier of NY. It still has not recovered.
R.I.P. Record Theater.
Midtown Plaza!
Glad water was discussed! The long term economic prospect of Upstate, NY is positive thanks to abundant water! It is a resource that needs to be cherished and protected, especially as other parts of the country run dry...
great video. informative reminder of how grand NY is. I was born and raised in the Hudson Valley but always loved the Adirondaks and Finger Lake region. Miss it up there
Lake George is the queen of the Adirondack lakes. It attracts thousands of tourists from around the world. Way more than Tupper and Placid. Highly recommend for anyone who’s never been
Grew up in buffalo and can finally understand why it's "upstate"
I am from Queens and have spent some time in various upstate towns and areas. Your video hit the nail on the head,some of the cities are nice and have nice areas but the natural beauty of upstate is very underrated. My wife and I went to Lake Seneca last year and it was amazing. The natural beauty of Watkins Glen and the lake, a ton of wineries and some nice local restaurants. A must visit if you live nearby.
As a Rochester native and a big geography geek I really enjoy your videos and this one in particular- although the state of affairs in upstate is very sad. I do want to mention that Rochester was/is well known for it’s horticultural roots and is fortunate to have three county parks designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of landscape architecture. I live in NC now for economic reasons, but Rochester will always be home. Thanks also for highlighting our gastronomic achievement of “the Garbage Plate” as disgusting as it looks they are DELICIOUS-my version is home fries, mac salad, cheeseburgers and hot sauce!! Yuuummm!!
I lived in Rochester my whole life and never had a garbage plate from nicks I always go to dog town
What are the names of the parks designed by Olmsted?
The fact a small town in Upstate NY hosted the Olympics twice is mind blowing
A small town has hosted the Olympics more times than major world cities
It's not mind blowing at all. Small towns often host winter Olympics. Squaw Valley, California has hosted it
You cannot talk about the Adirondacks without mentioning Lake George, Lake Champlain. Also The Saratoga Battlefield National Park. Pretty important! Good job overall though.
Yes! As someone from the Rochester area I was waiting for this video. I think you did a good job assessing the area and you pronounced Irondequoit pretty well for someone from out of state.
I will mention that after moving to central Connecticut, I've noticed that Rochester has a lot more good coffee shops downtown than where I live now.
I'm from Syracuse and go to school in Buffalo. This video is a great overview of Upstate NY. Not a great economy and a shitload of snow. Why the fuck do I live here?
You were born there
Atleast y'all aren't Oklahoma (where I'm from) lol
“Lots of freshwater” but don’t swim in Onondaga lake, you’ll die
A geographic profile of western Pennsylvania would be very interesting. I feel it’s one of the most unique areas in the country.
As a citizen of Syracuse, I can say this is a very well done video. Also worth noting is the spicy tomato oil, chicken riggies and chicken wing dip
Live just north of Elmira and can confirm, it's a sad area. Watkins Glen is pretty amazing though
Watkins glen is the prettiest place in the east
@@appa609 I grew up just south of Watkins Glen. I have to say, now 26 years old and back in the region, that Watkins feels like the 'last stop shop' when traveling north. It has barely changed since I can remember. The road leading to Geneva at one point becomes a four line as if at some point there was an expectation that the town would have expanded. Hell, there isn't even a McDonalds. Just a BK, Walmart, Tops and one gas station. The town is massively under developed for the shear amount of tourism it gets. However, travel 30 minutes north of it and you're transported back in time to Mennonite and Amish farms as well as countless towns that have all but met their fate.
Former upstate New Yorker here. I never heard anyone refer to it as "the" upstate. Just upstate. Shout out to Seneca Falls, home of the national women's Hall of Fame and Elizabeth Cady Stanton's home. Also Susan B. Anthony's grave is near Rochester, I believe. Might also have mentioned the Erie canal; you can rent houseboats and travel on it.
SBA’s grave and house are both IN the Rochester city itself.
The Cemetery is called Mt. Hope Cemetary.
Salt potatoes are a staple of Central New York that you won’t find them anywhere else. A summer barbecue is not complete without the salt potatoes.
I have family in Rochester and you're right it is quite rough around the edges. Hopefully you can make a video about Long Island, NY, where I'm from, one day
Me hearing Long Island: 🙄 nothing to see here..
Shoutout to the Rick James cover, especially since he's from Buffalo!
Thanks people don't know that, he partied in Buffalo thats for sure. In Rochester the bars had to close at 2, but many would at 1. We would leave at 1 and the sober guy in the group would do the the hour drive to Buffalo where they are open till 4. Rick James would truly party all the time and be seen at many bars. He was good friends with Eddie Murphy who you would occasionally see with him.
Rick James is buried in Buffalo. His grave is not far from Millard Fillmore's.
@@zoicon5His (Rick James’) tombstone 🪦 is beautiful.
I am from RNY but live in the mid Atlantic region, and a lady came into my place of work. She was from Buff and knew Rick. She had a pic of his monument in her phone. It was beautiful.