We decided to get a bit of a feel for New York state so went to the bus station and with guide book in hand looked at the destinations and chose Saratoga Springs. 

A place with hot springs sounded just the ticket only it was not like Australian hot springs! In Saratoga it is pumped into expensive spa resorts and one has to pay dearly to "take the waters" . It is also pumped into drinking fountains in the town and you can supposedly taste the difference between various springs on a tasting tour. Oh well - we still enjoyed two days there anyway enjoying the scenery, taking long walks about town and for the first time eating in a diner where you sit up at the counter like in the old American movies. 

Saratoga is also famous for horse racing but the season had not yet begun. The town was beautiful and affluent. We also spent quite a bit of time in Saratoga doing planning for our next travels. Our vague plan to date had been to go up into Canada from upstate New York but now we hatched a new plan to go across to Boston and then up into Canada through Canada's most easterly provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.