Karen Fig

Schenectady is a much smaller city than I was imagining, but it made up for size in it's delectable snack options. I finally got a slice of NY pizza, and we wandered into some tattoo shops to see if we could decorate our cyclist thighs. We got lucky and some artists had availability! I love my shaggy new friend and Andrew got mountains added to the goat he got during our Glacier National Park trip.

We also wandered into a tea/lunch place where we had one of the best meals of our lives. A ratatouille crepe, red pepper tomato soup, and a forest berry scone. I had been craving fresh fruits and vegetables after trying hard to finish the oatmeal/backpacking meals we had brought - this place hit the spot.

Schenectady is where George Westinghouse invented the rotary engine and where Thomas Edison founded General Electric, so we wandered to the Museum of Science and Innovation but it was closed. More interesting to me is that Kurt Vonnegut worked here at GE and this is where he ultimately decided to quit and become a writer.

We got a great deal on a historic hotel that seemed to be completely empty (including staff) but no complaints here. We've spent most of the last three weeks sleeping outside on the ground so a night on the 8th floor of a potentially haunted inn was fine by me!

We have one more ride to get in, from the Amtrak station in Chicago back to our house. Almost there!Read more