The west to East Thruway run might be fun. Buffalo to Rochester to Syracuse To Albany get you hitting the bigs. You could throw Binghamton in there, possible Ithaca and depending upon when you come the seasons are spectacular.
The wine trails are magnificent, there are breathtaking lakes and even tiny little mountains in the Adirondaks and the Catskills.
You could go to Old Forge, Lake Placid, and of course if you came in the Fall you could catch wonderful sports at both the professional (OK my mistake The Bills have some continuing growing pains although the Jets have their training Camp at SUNY Cortland) and collegiate sports can be fun as well U of B, U of R, RIT, Syracuse, Cornell, Cortland, and even Ithaca College just to name a few,
Then of course if you were serious you could always dip down into NYC
Best wishes!