New York...State.....

Weather can make or break your opinion of a place....but not the case with New York State.  We had rain for a couple of days while we were there, but as we have seen very little rain in the 6 months in Colorado, we welcomed it.  And it makes you appreciate why the countryside is so lush....we were heading to Albany...the capital city of New York (thanks Jakeb for that info) and were taking a scenic route to get there.  The rain was really heavy...not fun to drive in for Stuart......but we managed to get some nice photos along the way.....

We did spot this beautiful waterhole near the side of the road.....it was pouring with rain when I took this photo....

and there was thought that we might need some sort of water vessel in case of flooding...this was about all we could afford...

We love the bridges here in the US...and not just the covered ones.  They make amazing frames for rivers and lakes and are fancy engineering feats.

We arrived in Albany late in the evening and Josh and Stuart went off and saw World War Z at the movies..a zombie movie with Brad Pitt, that "stars" one of Jakeb's mates (he was 1 of 1000's of extras) who I think ends up being squashed by a bus in the movie! I spoke with Jakeb that evening, who informed me Albany was in fact the capital of New York....which was just as well as the next morning we headed into downtown to take a look. There were some lovely old buildings

 and we were surprised as to how small and quiet it was....not what you expect.  The boys went inside one of the buildings which reminded Joshuah of Hogwarts (Harry Potter....see it's all paying off!). We stopped at the Hudson River to take a look and as mentioned earlier, Stuart does some ordinary parking..this was another of his efforts, for which he was duly punished for from Josh...

We really wanted to purchase another number plate, so took in a scenic drive that involved crossing into Vermont.  The State border was Lake Champlain with a magnificent bridge.....and it was a calm, overcast, steamy day...so the lake was very eerie....

There was also a British fort that hadn't been completed on the NY side.....

So we crossed over into Vermont.....

 which was another picturesque part of the world....lots of sprawling, green properties and drove for an hour or so north

until we got to Charlotte, where we caught a ferry back to Upstate NY.

 When we travelled around Australia in 1999, we were in South Australia and came across free ferries to cross the Murray River.  We were so excited that we could take a car on the ferry, that we just kept crossing back and forth! But the first time we did it, Joshuah (who was 3 yrs old) was asleep and missed it, so we made sure to wake him for every crossing after that.  Needless to say, he was awake for this crossing from Vermont to NY and loved having his photo taken with his dad to prove it!

That night we stayed at a small, tiny, wee place called Willsboro where we had booked accommodation.  Turns out there isnt much more at Willsboro other than our motel, which was kind of on the water, but again we couldn't access the water as it was private property!

There was an antique place there that we stopped at to look for number plates...Stuart went in and very slowly and eloquently said "Do...you...sell.....car.....licence.....plates?" The guy looked at him for a while, then said "Spikes?  You want spikes?"!!!!  Bloody hell..what do we have to do!
We were heading towards Brockport...our next nights accommodation and came across this scrap metal sculpture park....which was on private property and you could see it from the road.  I don't think they wanted people to wander through it, so we took some photos from a distance....

  I really liked the Last Supper.....

The drive to Brockport was lovey...it was raining a lot of the way, which explained why it was so green.

Ausable Chasm

Ausable Chasm

Ausable Chasm

 and there were lots of small old towns with fast flowing rivers passing through them, with old bridges and suspension bridges connecting the houses to the centre of town...

We arrived in Brockport, spending 2 nights there.....I found a hairdresser as I desperately needed my hair roots coloured.  I said I just want my roots done and within seconds she had convinced me to colour my entire head of hair...DARK....so now the greys will show even more...and finding a hairdresser while you're travelling is so difficult....also, you have to tip hairdressers and I never know what to do....so it was an awkward few minutes when she had finished where she had to tell me how much to tip her!! Just for the record...AGAIN.....I hate tipping!!
Stuart found a canal in the town and the 3 of us ventured down there and took a bike ride (free bikes) along the canal.

We were able to have a squiz into people's backyards as we rode along and I have mentioned before...there are so many places with huge, huge yards, that are green, beautifully manicured, tidy, non fenced...

It makes no difference as to what country we are in...whenever we do something it turns into a competition. Naively, I thought Josh and Stuart were riding slowly to wait for me and to enjoy the scenery...turns out they were competing against each other, trying to make the other cyclist put their foot on the ground first, by riding really, really slowly and trying to block them!! The winner is the person who doesn't touch the ground first...they have been playing this for years, but I had forgotten....and then of course there is the sprint competition....so I just quietly pedalled along, blissfully unaware of what they were up to.....story of my life, really.

After the eventful bike ride (and me unsure who won), we drove into Rochester...where there was a brewery.....

and a mini Niagara Falls......

 but not much else, so we drove to Lake Ontario, near Rochester.  It was a warm Saturday afternoon.....and we were keen to experience "beach life" inland US style.  Well the lake

 and "beach" were lovely....

but we were absolutely dumbfounded by this sign....

It was so calm, not a breath of air, hot, a Saturday afternoon, people everywhere and the "beach" was closed...coz there were no lifeguards on duty. We couldn't believe it.  People were playing beach volleyball, there was music playing through loud speakers, families picnicking, kids playing under the 'beach shower"...but the water was roped off. It was the perfect area for little kids to have a ball, playing in the water and no one was allowed near it. I think there would have been a mini riot if that was in Australia....here, people just accepted it! We had actually driven for an hour trying to find access to the water and when we did, we weren't allowed in it! I don't understand the logic.
So we strolled along the jetty, watching people fish and people coming and going in their boats....at least they hadn't stopped them from doing that!

These are some of the traffic lights we had to deal with driving back to our hotel.  Confused?

We left Brockport the next day and decided to pay a quick visit into Buffalo which is the US side of...NIAGARA FALLS......yep..we went to Niagara Falls. 

The place was heaving with people and we were directed to a car park by some guys. When we asked how much to park he said $30! So we said 'no, we're not paying that", so he leaned into the car and whispered..."ok, $15 for you, but don't let the people behind you see me give you your change".  It was such a croc.....firstly he was obviously trying to rip us off and secondly, US money looks the same...no one from a distance is going to be able to see what change he is giving us! Dodgy brothers!
Anyway, despite that.....Niagara Falls is beautiful, immense, amazing, thunderous, wonderful.......

Canada on the left....

Patrons boarding the Maid on the Mist in Canada

You could see the spray for miles...we thought it was a bushfire at first, and then the spray hits you from a long way away....

It is absolutely worth visiting...even though the crowds were huge, the area is big enough to not feel to engulfed with people and again it is one of those iconic places where everyone is happy to be.
We drove away from Niagara Falls along the water.....to our next State........