We
drove up on Thursday. It was a long trip from Reston but we
survived. We let Sue's Mom rest and we checked out Cooperstown
that evening. Before the tourist season starts, everything shuts
down pretty early. Its a pretty town with lots of trees lining the
streets and many big houses. Not sure where all the big money came
from for the houses but they were kind of cool. They were all in a
good state of repair. We only saw one that needed paint or other
repairs.Cooperstown is at the foot of Lake Otsego. The lake looked like it was 7 or 8 miles long on the map. Its not part of the finger lakes but looked a lot like them. Memorial Day was pretty much when the town started waking up for the summer. We were a couple of days early.
Braxton, Michelle and Brynn were driving up for the wedding too. We weren't sure when they'd show up. As it turned out they showed up at the hotel in the middle of the night and couldn't check in. The Best Western was willing but didn't have any rooms. In the morning, they had breakfast with us and slept in our room. We grabbed Brynn and took off to be tourists. The wedding wasn't until the next day so we had all day to look around.
First stop was Doubleday Field. It was built as a memorial to Abner Doubleday and
was built where he invented the game of baseball. They keep it
very busy with teams from all over the northeast and probably beyond.
One of the teams playing that morning was staying at our hotel.
They applied a year ago and were playing a league game on the field that
morning. We were really going to the
National Baseball Hall of Fame but stopped in to watch the first
inning. It was Brynn's first baseball game and she liked it.
Maybe not for the right reasons, though. She mostly enjoyed
climbing the steps in the stands.
After
watching a while, we headed on down to the Hall of Fame. If you go
to Cooperstown, either park in one of the trolley lots and take
the trolley (not until Memorial Day) or just pay $10 at the all day lot
near the traffic light. There's on street parking so you might get
lucky. The town is small enough to walk it all. There isn't
much parking, if any, at the Hall of Fame. Walking there,
you'll go past many baseball card and memorabilia shops. In many
parts of the country, those are closed but not in Cooperstown.When you get to the Hall of Fame, they first send you to a movie to get you oriented. Watch it if you
want but I didn't find it helpful at all. Its on the second floor
and you can just start your tour there. Brynn enjoyed all the
interactive displays. I enjoyed all the displays from the late
50's and 60's. That was when I was a big fan. That's
also where you see a lot of the old equipment and baseballs that
set records such as Aaron's 715th home run and others. I enjoyed
seeing the old equipment but not the famous baseballs. No matter
what record was broken, they still look like baseballs.
From
there we just wandered around. When finished in the museum, we
went to the first floor to where the Hall of Fame is. That's where
all the plaques are hung. There's only 202 people enshrined there
so its quite an honor to be inducted. I managed to find several of
the players I used to root for / against as a kid. Even
Willie,
Mickey and
The Duke from the song Talking Baseball.We stopped in the kids area for a while. Brynn played with a few things and we took pictures of her looking through the baseball card poster. As always, she was happy to smile. Now it was time for lunch.
Michelle and Braxton joined us for lunch. Nothing special but we had sandwiches outside. It was the
first day the restaurant was open for the summer. After the
sandwiches were served, we found they didn't take credit cards.
They didn't have a sign up either. There was an ATM near by so we
didn't have to do dishes but they could have warned us. We walked
around town together just looking. There's a lot of big houses
that are easy to admire. They are nearly all well kept and look
good. We walked down by Lake Otsego as well. Pretty lake and
big enough to put a decent sized boat on.Dinner that night was at the Pepper Mill Restaurant. Its gotten mixed reviews on the internet but we liked it. The service was good and the food was good. They were even patient with our 1 year old granddaughter. It was a little pricey but not as bad as several others in the area.
Saturday was the wedding and reception. No need to tell that story here other than both were very nice. Sunday was the trip home. 350 miles so not a short drive.
All in all, we enjoyed Cooperstown. Its a pretty town with a serious baseball thing. Doubleday Field, the Hall of Fame and many card and memorabilia shops keep baseball at the forefront. James Fenimore Cooper is also from that area and is featured in many ways. The main problem we had was cost. Its a very expensive area and we were there before the rates jumped for the summer. The Best Western was nice and was $135 on a weekend night. In two weeks, it would jump. I assume most other places are similar but didn't check.
If you're a baseball fan and appreciate the history of the game, you'd likely enjoy it as well. Of course, you won't have Brynn with you and she was part of the entertainment.