I finally had a chance to see one of those sights I've always wanted to visit and never thought I'd find the time for. I finished with our customers today in upper-state New York and discovered that their shop is only a few miles away from where the battle of Saratoga was fought during the Revolutionary War. I didn't have a great deal of time because I wanted to get home ASAP, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to take 30 minutes and stop to see the place.

Saratoga was a major victory for the American forces in the Revolution. Originally, the British General Burgoyne had intended to march South from Canada and link up with British troops coming North from New York. The plan was for General Howe to be the guy to march North, but he decided it was more important to waste everyone's time and occupy Philadelphia. Anyway, this would have split the 13 colonies in half and seperated New England from the rest of the Country. General Washington sent help North in the form of Benedict Arnold to stop the British and he managed to do so at Saratoga in a brilliant military campaign.

There is a monument here in the form of an obelisk which is kind of cool. It has 200 steps which you can use to get to the top and would be perfect for leaf-watching. For whatever reason, it was completely locked up in the middle of the day even though all the lights were turned on. (Thank you National Park Service) Arnold's name is conspicuously missing from the site, for obvious reasons.

As you might be able to tell from the photo, the snow was really coming down at this point and I was incredibly anxious to get home. Since I couldn't do much, it was cold, and I didn't want to drive in the slush, I didn't have a reason to stay more than 15 minutes. At least I can I say I've now been here.