In case you didn't read Part 1, we arrived after dark and were the only people staying in the hostel which was in the lighthouse keeper's cottage. Due to the lack of others coming and going, we got a great night's sleep, only interrupted every 10 seconds by a bright light flashing in the window (could they not turn that thing off??). Next morning we had a stroll around to see the lake and the grounds before heading back into Cape Vincent for a couple of American sized pancakes for breakfast (which clearly we were never going to be able to finish, and so we took the remainder with us!). We headed up into the Adirondack (AD-DER-ON-DACK) mountains, trying not to squash any of the large number of motorcyclists who were in the area for the Americana Motorcade (basically a big motorbiking festival). We drove to Lake Placid (stopping to ask some bikers for directions) and found our way down to the Verizon Olympic Centre for bob-sledding. After paying up and signing away our lives, we were taken on a bus up to the top of the 1/2 mile bob-sled run, helmetted and strapped in. One, two, three and off we trundled down the long straight. Building up to 50mph, we were just getting used to the bumpiness when we hit the first left-hand corner - suddenly you are turned through 90 degrees such that your head and your bum are level as you whistle round the bend. There was much screaming coming from behind me (delight, surely?) and, following a few more twists and turns, we completed the 1/2 mile run in just over 40 seconds. Following that, we went back into Lake Placid and got lunch (with possibly the largest ham sandwich I have ever eaten). Then we had a look around some of the shops (where I eventually got my green shirt), during which time the weather suddenly changed and a largish deluge and small flood hit the town. Later that afternoon, we drove down to North River and looked for a room for the night. This was the only night that we had difficulty in finding anywhere (not helped by the return of the rain), but eventually we found a B&B On The Way.
Early next morning, we returned to North River and to the Whitewater Adventurers centre to join an overnight rafting trip down the Hudson river. We got signed in and kitted up before hitting the road in the Superbus. We drove up to Indian Creek and got the rafts off before carrying some of the huge amount of kit that we had down to the river for our guide, Jen, to strap in. After a quick training session (covering the essentials of how to paddle, when to paddle and what to do if you fell out), we set off. We were barely around the corner when we hit our first set of rapids. While not uncomfortably cold, the water certainly wasn't warm and you soon learnt to shut your mouth and steel yourself before hitting troughs with their inevitable resultant soaking. We stopped around lunchtime and set up camp before sitting down for a little lunch. Just after we'd finished eating, it began to rain and so we hastily erected the kitchen marquee and watched the rain for a while. Soon, it passed over, and we decided to go for a walk up into the forest. We passed the waterfall just behind the campsite and then headed up along the river for a bit before it started to rain again and we had to beat a retreat to camp. Jen started work on a huge dinner, cooking using a Dutch Oven technique, a main course and a dessert (the dessert being a very sweet and very pleasant raspberry concoction). During the course of the evening, the local flies made an appearance and made a savage attack upon my person, concentrating mainly on my legs. As the sun began to set, we decided to head back to the tent (not least because we had to cross a little river to get there and it was tricky enough in the daylight without doing it in the dark!) and settled down for the night.
Next morning, Jen woke us for breakfast. We had a bit of work to do to put down all the camping gear and Jen had to get everything strapped back in again ready for another day of rapids. Once packed, we simply waited for the waters to rise (the dam upstream released water for a couple of hours each day) and for the rest of the Whitewater crowd to pass through. We joined them as we continued downstream. At one rapid, Jen got adventurous and decided to have me facing upstream and paddling in that direction, effectively turning the boat around and around as we headed through the rapids. This worked splendidly until I decided to go for a tactical swim (or, as my little sister phrases it, I 'fell out of the raft backwards'). Thankfully I was able to grab hold of the raft almost immediately afterward (or at least, shortly after I'd figured out which way was up) and Jen sprung into action with a rescue effort, quickly hauling me aboard. Having learnt a valuable lesson, I subsequently paid much more attention to where my centre of balance was, transferring it quickly into the centre of the boat when I spotted anything that looked even vaguely threatening. We had a great time, mixing running rapids with the occasional swim in the quieter waters. The weather was good that day and we enjoyed some food back at the Whitewater Challengers centre to complete the trip. After visiting the nearby mineral shop (where the very gregarious owner chatted to us at length about various issues ranging from the minerals, through whitewater rafting companies in the area and about his cats), and consulting with Jen's roadmap (and thanking her for an excellent couple of days worth of adventure). We then headed south along Interstate 87 down towards New York. We eventually reached Albany and, have enquired at a number of hotels and motels, we eventually settled at the Scottish Motel which was cheap, had a ground-floor room but didn't appear to be in the least bit Scottish. We went for a little shopping trip that evening and then spent some time trying to unload the car and repack everything into our rucksacks.
Sunday morning and we headed for Washington DC. At 10:30am we came off the Interstate and found our way to the United Methodist church in New Paltz. It was a Confirmation Service for a group of teenagers, some of whom even looked as though they wanted to be there. The church was incredibly warm and we knew most of the worship hymns, which was cool. Afterwards there was cake, fruit salad and some fruit punch (which contained Pep-up, or some similar named fizzy drink which did exactly what it said on the tin). After the service, it was on down toward Washington DC. I must confess that by the end of the afternoon I was beginning to get a little tired of the old driving thing! In the 6 days that we had the car, we covered 1250 miles (which, considering that the car barely moved on one of the days meant that we covered the distance in 5 days). Kathryn had also managed to spot that I had booked the Washington DC Youth Hostel starting on the wrong day - I'd booked it from Sunday to Wednesday rather than Monday to Thursday as planned. We therefore decided that we would take the car INTO Washington DC and stay at the hostel that night rather than stop near the airport where we were returning the car to as we'd originally planned. Getting into the centre of Washington DC proved tricky, but we got there in the end and the friendly girl on the desk got us checked in and suggested we try the Thai restaurant down the road for dinner. This we did, being the only people in the restaurant at the time, but not due to the quality of the food, which was brilliant.
We had decided the night before that we would retrieve the car before the parking meter turned itself on the next morning. Unfortunately, this meant that we were sitting in the car BEFORE 7am! (And this is a holiday??). We headed up to Georgetown (eventually, once we'd eventually managed to fight our way onto the right road (kept finding it and not being allowed to turn on to it and then missing it on the way back!). We arrived at Georgetown and tried to do the walking tour in the car. This failed due to numerous restrictions on where you could and could not turn due to one-way streets and the like. Eventually, we just parked the car in a back-street and did the trip on foot. Then we retrieved the car (once we'd managed to figure out which blinkin back-street we'd parked it on, since neither of us had actually noted it!) and tried to re-find the airport. There had been a growing sense of frisson between myself and my number one navigator, and I think it was fortunate that we were returning the car that morning as in-car hostilities weren't far off. Having searched most of the south of Washington DC for petrol cheaper than what Hertz had offered to fill the tank with when we'd rented the car (and failed, I might add!), we returned the car to Ronald Regan airport. I then took K on a guided tour of the airport, for which she was most grateful - an excellent shopping opportunity as far as I was concerned. Having completed all this, we headed back into Washington DC and made our way to the Holocaust Museum. It wasn't exactly the most cheery of afternoons, but it was very educational. It is shocking how inhumane man can be to man. Oddly, although the museum did deal with modern day religious intolerance, it was very selective in what it mentioned (I'd kind of expected something to do with Muslim-Christian relations, but there was nothing). That evening we had dinner near the hostel at Red Sage, quite a trendy bar/cafe in which we clearly weren't deemed sexy enough to have the seat by the window, but hey - the food was good.
Up later than the morning before, but still earlyish, to head down to the White House. After looking at the entrance for tours, we headed down to the visitor centre to figure out how to get one. Put simply, you appear to need to book several months ahead either through your Senator (if you happen to be American (you have our prayers)) or via your embassy (if you happen to be a foreigner). As we hadn't done this, we had to settle for the Visitor Centre, which, in itself, was fine (although, again, oddly didn't mention some bits and pieces of White House history). After being almost physically thrown out of the building for not leaving in the approved manner, we had a wonder around the outside of the White House (the photo opportunity out the back being ruined by the fact that someone had pitched a tent in the lawn). Then we went out to the Air & Space Museum and spent the afternoon wandering around that which was really good. That evening, we headed back to the White House to attend a Twilight Tattoo. This was another fine opportunity for patriotic chest-beating to be displayed, telling the history of the US military from the point at which they beat the British in the Civil War onwards. It was quite a hot evening (especially sat in the sun), and there were a few moments of utter cringeworthiness, but otherwise it was entertaining enough. We had great fun trying to figure out how it would translate into the UK - at one point, the flag of each of the 50 states and 6 protectorates were trooped past, each getting a roll call along the lines of, "Indiana, the Hoosier State; Texas, the Lone Star State", etc.. So we'd have "Fermanagh, the culchie county" or "Berkshire, the terribly posh county" or "Norfolk, the 'Ger off my land' county" - many a happy hour of entertainment that would give.
Wednesday morning, after we'd figured out how to extend the hostel booking by a day, we walked to Grand Union Station stopping at the post office en route to get the postcards we'd written the night before posted. Once we'd arrived at the train station, we had a bit of a discussion as to whether to take the 9am train, little sister's preference, or the 10am train (my preference). We still hadn't really come to any real conclusion when we reached the counter but, when we explained where we wanted to go, the girl on the desk promptly revealed a 9:30am train which we didn't know even existed and simultaneously resolved the issue. Once we had that done (and visited a few shops in the station), we went to the International Spy Museum. I could tell you how good it was, but I'd have to kill you. Suffice it to say that we were in there till dinner time when we went to Old Ebbers Grill for our final, proper, American style meal. After that, we had a quick walking tour around the monuments on the Mall and around the tidal basin (some of which were quite cool!) before returning to the Hostel to start packing for home (which we completed at stupid o'clock that evening).
Up bright and early to get the train back to New York which wasn't that memorable, mainly due to the fact that we were both snoozing throughout. On arrival at Penn Station, we checked the stuff into left luggage again and then went window shopping in New York again. The heat dropped that morning which made wandering around the city much more fun. We didn't really get up to much, but simply whiled away the day before heading out to the airport. Little sis had great expectations for duty free (to be honest, so had I!), and so we were both hugely disappointed with a duty free shop smaller than the average petrol station. In fact, the post-security facilities really were terrible at JFK - you have better retail opportunities at the average motorway service station. Hey well - shouldn't really finish on a whinge - we had a great hol - we met a load of interesting and really friendly folk, saw a lots of amazing scenery, museums, monuments, etc., got to do lots of exciting things and had great weather. In the words of our favourite song 'God Bless the USA'!!!