This morning there is no alarm, but our bodies wake up around 8:30. We hurry downstairs for the much-hyped hotel lobby breakfast and it’s…decent but nothing special. As today is the Fourth of July, much of the hotel staff has the day off, which we support wholeheartedly.
Our only order of business today is to do more laundry, since of course we got drenched a second time yesterday. We walk a decent distance across town to where two equally squalid coin-op laundromats compete for business. A google review makes it clear that we should walk the extra block to pay $2 per wash instead of $4. We agree. This part of Albany has seen better days.
“There’s an idea for a Pixar movie: what happens to the clothes you lose in the laundry?” Becca proposes, upon noticing that a pair of her underwear seems to have been left behind. TMI Side note: nobody told us until now that you actually aren’t supposed to wear underwear with proper padded biking shorts, so it’s no great loss.
The server at the Hill Street Cafe near the laundromat offers us a big table and the Wi-Fi password so that we can work on the blogs over lunch while we wait for our clothes to spin. The Yankees game plays in the background. We finish up and head back to the hotel, spending the rest of the afternoon alternating between blogging and napping. Technically the festivities at the state capitol start at 5pm, but our very helpful hotel concierge, Ananda, assures us that we should wait until 7:30 to head over.
It’s raining again so after some deliberation under the hotel awning, we agree to skip the official festivities. We are in no mood to get drenched again, and they end up postponing the fireworks to tomorrow night anyway. This is the kind of downtown (like Hartford) that absolutely shuts down at night and on holidays (which makes sense given most of its business revolves around government), so after calling 6 restaurants we are thrilled to finally find one that is still open for dinner. We promptly hail a Lyft and our driver laughs at our whole journey and at how much our butts hurt. It was funny except he dropped us off a block early in the heavy rain.
Becca’s cobbled-together party outfit. The shirt is from the 2019 women’s World Cup during which, as is printed, “USA BEAT EVERYBODY.” Both the suspenders and the “NY” in the Yankees hat logo are rainbows. Half 4th of July, half NYC Pride?
We arrive at the Albany War Room, a place that prides itself on having the finest sushi in the capitol area…cool? We slide into 2 seats at the bar, get a quick food order in before the kitchen closes, and sympathize with the one clearly overworked bartender juggling glasses and plates of food. Like we said, it’s the only place open, so everyone is here. We hear at least 4 languages being spoken, plus groups of every age range. Three TVs behind the bar each play different content, and we alternate between being heavily invested in Reuters Newsreels, Deal or No Deal reruns, and the on-screen lyrics, because on top of everything else, it’s karaoke night at this bar.
Becca somehow convinces Marty to duet with her on the NSYNC classic, “Bye Bye Bye,” and we bring the house down. Later Becca solos on one of the many Amy Winehouse songs we still want to perform with a band someday. She gets a huge high five from the bartender and we decide we’d better quit while we’re ahead. The bar is long and not very big, so we have to walk right through the “stage” to make a polite exit while someone else gives a Lil Wayne song his best effort. At least he’s having fun.
The rain has stopped, so we walk home to the hotel and call it a night. The real adventure continues tomorrow…
NY’s State Capitol Building after the fireworks got rained out and everyone went home…