Day 17 - Virtual Mistake

From - Lake Placid (New York)

To - Plattsburgh (New York)

Via - Au Sable Chasm (New York)

Miles Driven - 49 miles

Inches of Snow - 6

Vomit Inducing Rides - 1

Heart Attack Situations for Molly - About a dozen

Today's Photos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/32017704@N03/sets/72157609651260670/

I hate the kind of sneeky hangover that lulls you into a false sense of security and then kicks you in the head later in the day. Waking up as early as usual I took the first tentative steps of the day and thought "I think I've got away with this". A glance out of the window was slightly heart stopping as I thought Bridget (the car) had been stolen but in fact she was hiding underneath 6 inches of snow. All good so far. Breakfast next and that went down without incident. Dog walking time next and we did the same 3 mile nature walk route as yesterday although it felt completely different thanks to the overnight dump. If you were wondering where your christmas card cover scenes come from - it's here. Just a mild headache forming now but I'm blaming that on the sub-zero temperatures that only allow 90 seconds of uncovered ears before they start to burn and feel like they're going to fall off. It's a shame as hearing is pretty important when walking through this wood as there is plenty of creaking and fallen trees.

Before leaving Lake Placid we wanted to go back to the Olympic Centre (where the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" USA 4 - USSR 3 took place) and ride the virtual reality ride which is a prehistoric looking affair that simulates a bobsleigh, downhill slalom, a ski-jump, skeleton and ice hockey. This was the defining mistake of the day as we both got off the experience feeling decidedly crappy and that is how I stayed for the next five hours. Still, we are professional tourists so on went the game faces and the obligatory head-in-wooden-scene shots were taken with exemplorary results as I'm sure you'll agree.

It was only about 50 miles to Plattsburgh and we went via Au Sable Chasm which claims to be the oldest tourist attraction in North America at 180 years old. Back in Britain we have internet cafes older than that...and, more importantly, they don't close in October. The chasm is made up of a big waterfall (which we could see from the bridge) and a set of 200ft deep gorges (which we couldn't see). Shame we missed out on one of the wonders of this country because their desire to earn cash from it during the summer meant that it was all gated off during the off-season. We're kind of looking forward to getting down south where things are going to be open.

Also en route was North Pole, New York which is home to Santa's Workshop. For some reason Kate knew all this was here but it was a total surprise for me and I was quite excited - not only was I interested to see if they had got my numerous letters this year but it was also likely to be open given the time of year. Well it probably was open but after failing to get a fully loaded Bridget up the entrance slope (it's a slightly nervy moment being in 2 tons of steel that is sliding backwards towards the edge of a cliff) we decided to do the safe things and plough on (literally) to Plattsburgh.

The rest of the day is pretty uneventful. We checked into our hotel (La Quinta - it's pretty nice with a really young feel thanks to loads of school teams being here) and hit The Butcher's Block for a very welcome Harverter-esque lunch. Kate has had her pamper day, Molly had hers and now it was Bridget's turn as we put her through a car wash. What we didn't fully appreciate was that Molly would nearly have a heart-attack going though the rollers...well, maybe we did see it coming but for some reason we both take pleasure in her being uncharacteristically needy.

The night was a non-drinking visit to the cinema to see Role Models which was good mindless fun and has some great laugh out loud moments. But the highlight of the night was the pre-cinema look in Dick's Sporting Goods. The place has everything from cross-bows to canoes and Kate claimed it was the best shop she has ever been in. I'm going to struggle to get across how excited she was about this shop but we are staying in Plattsburgh an extra night just so we can do it justice with a proper visit tomorrow.