"I am Dave; namer of towns!..."

It was my last full day in the states today and we woke up feeling the need to explore just a little more of local upstate New York. Our first stop was a railroad car diner. It was a 1940's railcar and was totally what I expected. I had the traditional American breakfast with pancakes. Oh I'm so going to miss those beggers when I gets home.

This set us up for the day and we packed the dog in the car and headed out north! Our intentions were to see mountains because I didnt know what else was around here. Sam suggested we go to see Saratoga. I knew i had heard that name someplace before but when asked Sam said I's probably heard her talking about it on the phone or that there is a spring there. So we trundled off to see this town.
We found the springs. Its popular for locals to come up and collect fresh spring water in containers and while we were there, four or five locals were filling up various containers full of fresh spring water. Water from around this area has different properties. One spring we tasted was a normal spring water while another a few yards up the road was incredibly sulphuric.  It was amazing to taste.

This was the sulphur spring, only a stone's throw away from the more palatable spring. This one was... well... interesting, to say the least. So we left the park and drove a little around Saratoga. The houses here were something else. We took a quick tour of some of these house, just look at these beauties....

I think my mother would appreciate the decorations on this one. Later Sam said "Or you may know the name of Saratoga from a battle where the Americans Beat the British" wow really? springs? phone calls? you didnt think i may have heard about this?! This rather important battlefield? THATS where I had heard the name before. Ok, so now the challenge was on to find the battlefield itself.
In England, we had the battle of Hastings that was actually fought near a town called Battle, here the Americans have the battle of Saratoga, where they were victorious against the British, actually fought near a town called Victory... Is the same guy naming these towns or what? Anyway, we found the battlefield and, this is why i love the yanks, the battlefield was 'drive thro'! No kidding, you can drive from point to point. Seeing as we were late the site, it was going to be dark soon but we managed to see a lot of the drive thro tour.

(Warhammer nerd alert!- expect MMO references, not for the unknowing) We entered the tour and became RVR flagged. Looking around for gankers, we saw only deer so carried on. We followed the tour directions and it was most informative. We made our way to the American 'warcamp' and learnt alot about this turning point battle. This picture is of me at the American River Fortifications...

Ok, that's ONE battlefield Objective captured! Typical, Sam was taking a picture instead of watching my back for a damned witch hunter! *Sigh*. It was Getting dark by the time we finished the tour but wait! Whats this at Burgoyne's HQ? I.E, the British 'warcamp'??

Thats Sam, flying the 'jack'! God damn those xrealmers! After failing to lock the zone, I got the loosers tick and left. We made our way home.
Tonight, however, we managed to get into the Old English for the Fish and Chips dinner we didnt get the night before.

Ah it's just like home! We had a couple of drinks and had to go, you see, on the way home from the 'British Embarrassment' we had picked up a christmas tree and Sam was eager to set it up and decorate it. I said I'd help but seeing as my family employed fairies to decorate our tree every christmas, I didnt know how much help I'd be and upon unpacking the lights, it became apparent that I really wasnt cut out for this....

So, finally we got me untangled and completed the tree, the result, is not as bad as I had previously anticipated....

That's it. That's the last full day in America. Tomorrow I'm off home and back to my normal, everyday existence.  I have no idea how I'll cope with that, stay tuned to find out..

Thankyou....