I grew up in western NY, just south of Buffalo and went to college in central, NY @ Morrisville and Syracuse. There is a lot of pretty country in upstate NY once you get outside of the old rust belt cities.
It is like a whole different country north of Westchester County/NYC. The Adirondack Park is one of the largest forever wild areas in the US.
I’d visit Buffalo two or three times a year when I was serving the steamship fleets. American Steamship Co. was based there until recently.