I feel like good sunrise spots are hard to come by in Upstate New York. At least, there aren’t many popular sunrise locations. This means we have to take matters into our own hands to find them ourselves! For me, discovering a new place to catch the sunrise makes the location even more personal, since I have a story behind it.

Ever since quarantine, I have found a deeper appreciation for the little things in life that normally I tend to overlook. This includes sunrises and sunsets. For me, catching a sunrise or sunset with my friends and family allows me to take a break from my busy life. I love to reflect on what I’ve done recently, but I also just use this time to clear my thoughts and purely enjoy what is happening right in front of me.

This is my first sunrise post for New York, but I hope to have one more for you all before I head back to college! For details on how to find this unique sunrise, read to the bottom of this page!

Discovering Top of the World Sunrise

I discovered this spot when one of my friends on snap chat posted a picture here with the name of the town, Eagle Town, and I pinpointed it on Apple Maps. I didn’t really think she’d tell me where it was so I saved myself the time. Technically, I can’t take credit for finding this spot, but also I didn’t have much to go off of!

Catching the Sunrise, Part 1

Originally, my plan was to see the sunrise with my friends Ally and Renee, but that plan was put on the back burner when I had to get tested for covid! Thankfully my test came back negative. I was bummed that I wasn’t able to see the sunrise as soon as I wanted. I’m the type of person, that once I have an idea in my head, I want to do it as soon as possible.

So instead of waiting until I received my covid test results back, I saw the sunrise with my dad. He always wakes up super early, like 3 am every morning, to workout and look at the stock market, so he wouldn’t have to change his routine.

That Saturday morning, I woke up at 4:30, put my glasses on and walked down stairs to find a hot cup of coffee waiting for me. We left our house around, 4:45. The sunrise was at 5:45 and it took us about 30 minutes to get there. But, like I’ve mentioned in my other sunrise/sunset blogs, I like to get to the location at least 30 minutes before the sun is supposed to rise/set so I can see the whole thing! Also, I wanted to plan extra time in case we couldn’t find the spot – remember I was just going off of a town name and using Apple Maps!

Once we arrived to the beginning of Eagle Town, Apple Maps was done directing us and it was up to us to find the right spot! At this point, we came upon a small fork in the road, but decided to keep going straight since that direction was more uphill and would more likely lead to a good view for the sunrise.

And we were right!

At the top of that hill, we had the PERFECT view of the sunrise over Oneida Lake, Green Lakes State Park, and this cute little farm! I actually recognized the area, it was basically the same place where I’ve seen the sunset before, at Top of the World! That’s why I named this sunrise spot “Top of the World”.

Top of the World sunset is about 500 feet south of this sunrise spot! My dad and I drove by Top of the World so he’d have an idea of the view of the sunset which I’ve watched there multiple times. We could see the city of Syracuse in the distance, lit up by the lights of the buildings.

We had reached this unique sunrise spot at about 5:20am, to give you a perspective on when the sun starts projecting vibrant colors into the sky! I had packed a blanket for us to sit on, but we decided to watch the sunrise from the bed of my dad’s truck since it had a better view. My dad and I broke out our Kind bars, and watched as the sun crossed the horizon. This spot is very peaceful, as there isn’t a lot of traffic, especially this early in the morning.

After the sunrise, my dad and I stopped at Brueggers Bagel’s to surprise my mom with bagels for breakfast! Highly recommend doing this after the sunrise, the bagels were FRESH.

The rest of the day I was SO productive! Usually I’ll take one or two naps, but I skipped those and worked on my internship and homework for my summer class. I felt really good about myself the rest of the day! I totally recommend watching a sunrise every once in a while to change up your routine, and you might end up having a super productive day like I did!

Catching the Sunrise, Part 2

The following week, when I found out I was covid free, I came back with my friends Ally and Renee! I promised them I would have my mom’s famous waffles waiting for them in the car for the sunrise. This encouraged them to wake up early since they aren’t necessarily early birds.

I reminded them the night before to set their alarms, yet I ended up being the one to sleep through my alarm! Yeah I know, it was very hypocritical of me but hey, it happens.

Ally had called my phone to wake me up, and at that point it was 4:30 so we still had plenty of time to make it to the sunrise. I literally threw my glasses on, grabbed my blanket and the waffles and headed out the door, sadly without any coffee.

As we were driving to the sunrise location at Top of the World, there had been clouds all along the east side of the sky, (literally not anywhere else), so I was hesitant that we would be able to see the sunrise. The clouds had actually made the sky even prettier!

The clouds kept moving through the sky, and eventually the sun rose above them (later than when it would have crossed the horizon). It was really cool to see the sunrise in the same spot as before, because the sun had put on a different show for us :)

Afterwards, we drove around Chittenango to see more of the area. We drove through the rolling hills as the sun continued to rise above us. I love driving through Upstate New York, the scenery is always so beautiful and I feel like I never appreciate it enough!

Finally, we made our way home. We decided to stop at this new cafe in Cicero, Bing Cafe! I had heard about it through some friends but had never tried it yet. We arrived two minutes after they had opened at 7am, and I don’t think they were expecting people to walk in so soon! It was literally amazing and is probably my new favorite coffee shop! I order an iced chai tea with oat milk and it was heavenly. Ally and Renee both ordered their featured drink – the iced s’mores latte, with marshmallows and graham crackers on top! I think I will be trying that one next time I go. I am obsessed with s’mores and lattes so my two favorite things together??? I don’t have a good reason why I didn’t try it the first time!

After I dropped them off, I snoozed on the couch in my family room. I didn’t have as productive of a day as before, but I still felt relaxed and was able to get stuff done!

Location of Top of the World Sunrise

Here is the location for this sunrise, located in Manlius, New York.

43.026, -75.921