On the way up through New York State we stopped at Saratoga Springs because Rachael half-remembered there was a huge waterfall there. We saw geysers, which unfortunately all had brass fittings … uh … fitted. I guess they at least guaranteed a nice strong fountain of water. There was also a gorgeous stream which I seem to recall we were forbidden from entering. We weren’t however forbidden from entering the outdoor pool. It was a little on the cool side for outdoor swimming but we didn’t let that put us off and had an enjoyable splash about in the kiddie-sized pools surrounded on three sides by manicured lawns and less-manicured woods.

The lifeguard struck up conversation when he figured out we weren’t from around those parts.
When we said we were headed up to Montreal he said how he loved it up in Canada, the whole place seems cleaner. We didn’t really know what he was on about - the Springs area of Saratoga was pretty swank - but it put us in a good mood regarding our destination for that day, and his words would come back to us with force when we crossed back into the USA at Niagara Falls.

On the penultimate leg of our round-trip, we passed through the finger lakes, having nominated Ithaca as a cool place to check out. With the delicate balance between making progress on our 1400 mile tour and actually fitting in a holiday slightly in our favour at that point, we stopped at a local winery and had a taste. There we found a leaflet about falls around Ithaca, and discovered that Seneca Falls existed. Spurred on by this, we further found out that the falls Rachael had half-remembered were in fact Taughannock Falls, the “Tallest In North Eastern USA”. Not only that, but they were only just down the road.

Yay!