Meet Debi Bower

Author, photographer, and creative director of Day Trips Around Rochester

About Debi

I’m Debi Bower, a travel writer, photographer, and web designer based in Rochester, New York. I created Day Trips Around Rochester to help people explore Rochester, the Finger Lakes, and Western New York—and notice more of what’s close to home.

The project began because I had become the person friends turned to when they were looking for something to do. I wrote down ideas on Post-it notes until a friend suggested I put them on a website. As a web designer, I could build that website myself.

That simple suggestion brought together several strands of my experience. I had worked for a travel agency, and my background in web design helped me organize and share what I was learning. Over time, the website grew into a collection of books, a newsletter, and an independent publishing business.

Running Day Trips Around Rochester brings together research, writing, photography, design, publishing, website maintenance, and the day-to-day work of managing an independent business.

More than two decades at Wegmans have also shaped how I approach that work. My experience across people, operations, finance, and digital marketing taught me how the individual parts of a business connect. I draw on that perspective as I make both the creative and practical decisions behind Day Trips Around Rochester.

I’m less interested in telling people where to go than in helping them notice what is already around them. A historic village, a small museum, a garden, a trail, or a scenic road can offer another way to understand the place we call home.

The more we experience the communities and landscapes around us, the more likely we are to value and support them. Local exploration can lead us to the people who preserve regional history, care for natural spaces, run independent businesses, and keep community traditions alive.

My Creative Work

As the author and creative director of Day Trips Around Rochester, I shape every aspect of the reader’s experience—from research and writing to photography, design, and publishing.

Photography has been part of my life since childhood. My dad was an engineer in standards at Kodak, and our family regularly tested new cameras and film technology. We took pictures of everything—often to finish a roll so it could be processed and evaluated.

That habit stayed with me. When I explore a place, I photograph more than just the scenic overlooks. I pay attention to entrances, paths, signs, buildings, and landscape details that help readers understand what it is like to be there.

That same attention to detail carries through the website and the books. The website offers practical ideas for exploring Rochester, the Finger Lakes, and Western New York. My books organize that work into collections readers can browse, mark up, carry, and return to when they are ready to plan another outing.

Together, the website, books, and newsletter convey the same idea: you don’t always have to travel far to find a place worth exploring more deeply.

Explore My Work

My books and events offer several ways to explore the region and to connect with the work behind Day Trips Around Rochester.

Keep Exploring With Me

In my newsletter, I share seasonal ideas, timely updates, new guides, and occasional reflections on local exploration and the creative process behind Day Trips Around Rochester.

Have a question, correction, or place you would like me to consider? Get in touch through my website.

Short Bio

For interviews, events, and other purposes, you’re welcome to use the biography below.

Debi Bower is a Rochester-based author, photographer, and creative director. She created Day Trips Around Rochester, a website and collection of books that help readers explore Rochester, the Finger Lakes, and Western New York.

Her work combines practical information, photography, and an interest in the landscapes, communities, and history that shape the region. Through her guides, she provides readers with the context needed to choose destinations and experiences that suit their interests.

go to daytrippingroc.com