Day 1:
Check in and dinner at the Aurora Inn

Day 2:
Breakfast at the Aurora Inn

Day 3:
Breakfast at Dories

You will be escorted to your beautifully appointed guest room, where we can have a bottle of chilled wine awaiting you upon your request. Take your time, unpack, freshen up and walk downstairs where a wonderful dinner is in store.

Enjoy a leisurely dinner in our dining room overlooking beautiful Cayuga Lake. Start off with a classic shrimp cocktail or any of our more inventive appetizers such as the baked goat cheese salad. Move on to the main course with a variety of selections ranging from good old-fashioned pot roast to our pan-seared sea scallops to perfectly grilled veal chops. Your waiter will tell you about our nightly roast special too! Be sure to save room for dessert. You won't want to miss ice cream covered in our very own caramel sauce, or our devilishly good chocolate cake.

After dinner, you can settle in your room after picking up your complimentary DVD from the front desk. Or you can linger over a nightcap in our tavern or play a board game in our parlor - backgammon anyone?

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Your day will always start out right at the Aurora Inn because we deliver fresh hot coffee (or tea) to your door with a newspaper. Spend a little time lounging, sipping your morning beverage and listening to some light jazz on your Bose CD player.

When you are really ready to start your day, wander downstairs to enjoy a full breakfast in our dining room. If want a healthy but hearty breakfast, try the slow-cooked oats with berries and skim milk. If you want to be a little decadent, enjoy New Hope Mills pancakes or hand dipped French toast. If Atkins is your thing, have eggs cooked to order with bacon or sausage. Freshly squeezed orange juice and grapefruit juice are always on hand.

One mile south of the Aurora Inn is MacKenzie-Childs, the world-renowned maker of hand-painted pottery and home furnishings. Located on a 75-acre former dairy farm, the Farmhouse at MacKenzie-Childs was restored recently with warmth and charm and now offers public tours daily at 10:00 am. More than 15 rooms in the magnificent Victorian homestead reflect how the company's pottery, glassware, tiles and home furnishings can be comfortably paired with a variety of styles, including antique, modern, French provincial and stately English.

The guided tours, which typically last about 90 minutes, are meant to inspire designers and home "dreamers" alike. Bathrooms use MacKenzie-Childs tiles and knobs, tables are lavishly set, the company's wool area rugs grace the floors, and furnishings, such as the extraordinary Kitchen in a Cupboard, are used throughout the home. All three floors are open to the public and are handicap accessible. Tickets are $10 and are sold where the tour begins, in the shop at MacKenzie-Childs.

The MacKenzie-Childs Farmhouse will no doubt inspire you to make some minor (or major!) modifications to your own house, so you will likely want to wander around the shop for a little while for more inspiration. Once you have made your purchases (your $10 ticket is redeemable in the shop), we recommend that you head back to the village for a fun lunch at Pizzaurora. This very hip "Pizzeria with Pizzazz" serves home-made foccacia subs, great pizza and healthy salads.

Spend the afternoon watching the artisans of MacKenzie-Childs creating the magical pieces you saw earlier on display at the Farmhouse. The tour will last about an hour and 15 minutes and departs from the shop.

After a long day of touring and shopping, enjoy the ultimate luxury - a massage in the privacy and comfort of your own room. Our expert masseuse brings her own table and equipment. All that is left to you is to relax and enjoy. (Please arrange your massage well in advance.)

We think you'll want to go back to the dining room at the Inn. In case you want to explore beyond Aurora, we recommend spending the evening in Skaneateles. A 35-minute drive from Aurora, Skaneateles is another lovely Finger Lakes village. Please ask the front desk for driving directions and details on dining options, including Rosalie's, a wonderful Italian restaurant, the Sherwood Inn, Blue Water Grill or Kabuki, a sushi bar.

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Step into Dorie's for breakfast and feel as if you've stepped into a Norman Rockwell painting. A brisk walk from the Inn, this charming luncheonette and soda fountain from a simpler, more genteel era offers waffles, breakfast pastries, Green Mountain coffee or espresso and other delicious breakfast treats. Meander around and look at the unusual gifts for children and adults alike.

After breakfast, we recommend that you head north to Seneca Falls for a day steeped in history. The drive offers beautiful scenery and takes only one half hour. Seneca Falls is the birthplace of women's right movement in America and home to the Women's Rights National Historic Park. The entrance fee is only $3.00 and the museum offers a nice exhibit accompanied by a short interpretive film. When open, the home of suffrage leader Elizabeth Cady Stanton is well-worth the additional dollar to tour. The site also maintains the remains of the church in which the first meeting was held.

The main street on which the museum sits is also worth walking and houses a free museum. The Seneca Museum exhibits the history of the Erie Canal and waterways, as well as nineteenth century hand tools. A quick walk along the canal across and down from the Women's Rights Museum offers a nice place to sit and view the old knitting mill which, although not open, is a great reminder of the industry that spawned and grew from the canals and waterways of yesteryear.

At this point, history enthusiasts should head over to Auburn about 20 minutes away. Auburn offers three historical points of distinction: The Seward House, Harriet Tubman House and Cayuga and Case Research Museum. The three of these museums together offer a rather broad glimpse into the past, showing one the life of the rich, the oppressed, and the birth of a technology that eventually bridged both worlds.

You can stay in Auburn for casual dining or come back to the Aurora Inn! Please ask the front desk for driving directions and dining suggestions.

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