While the central New York city of Ithaca might be home to lovely Cornell University and the fictional University of Ithaca from the classic Breckin Meyer comedy Road Trip, it — like many places north of 35th parallel this week — is unpleasantly, bone-chillingly cold. But at least the folks at the Ithaca Visitors Bureau have a good sense of humor about the weather.

A trip to the Visit Ithaca website currently brings up an overlay with the VisitIthaca.com logo crossed out and a picture of a sunny beach scene below.

“That’s it. We surrender,” reads the notice at the top of the page. “Winter, you win. Key West anyone?”

“Due to this ridiculously stupid winter, Ithaca invites you to visit The Florida Keys this week,” the site continues. “Please come back when things thaw out.”

Of course, they haven’t actually given up on trying to lure people to Ithaca, regardless of the temperature. So the actual site for the city remains intact. But it is a clever way to acknowledge the unpleasant temperatures and how difficult it might be to get people to leave their homes, let alone travel hours to the middle of New York state.

“On behalf of 100 million Northeasterners, we’re saying that we’re done with cold and snow,” the bureau’s director explains to the Ithaca Journal. “This is a way for us to stay engaged with our customers at a time when Upstate New York isn’t exactly top of mind.”

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