Cooperstown Day One

After a travel-filled Thursday, we arrived in upstate New York late Thursday night. You can see our prioriities -- we bypassed checking in our hotel at 11:00 PM and headed directly to the baseball complex to catch the last two innings of the 12U finals. The place was rocking, even at that time, and we were duly impressed with the facility -- 25 or so baseball fields in the single complex, along with the Athletes' Village, the snack shack (v. important), an infirmary and -- of course -- a gift shop. 

After eating our RDA of seeds, we finally checked into the oh-so-lavish HoJo (can you believe we are paying $240 a night?) around midnight. It's actually quite a nice little hotel, fairly new. Indoor pool. Big rooms. Everyone's happy.

We got up around 10:30-ish and got ready for a day of sightseeing. It's a beautiful small New England town, but there's not much here except the Hall of Fame, which was founded in 1939. You'd think after almost 70 years, the natives would have had a chance to get used to tourists invading their town, but not necessarily. Most locals were really nice, but some looked like they had seen one too many baseball-crazed fans come through their doorways and would rather get hit in the head with a Nolan Ryan fastball than suffer through answering another question about where the nearest public restroom is.

Speaking of public restrooms, I am happy to report that the Baseball Hall of Fame has a very nice one. In fact, the whole building -- exhibits and all -- has been upgraded since my last trip, almost 15 years ago. Everything was much more interesting and interactive. My favorites: the old scorebooks (of course!):

...and the scrapbooks! Yes, there are SCRAPBOOKS at the Baseball Hall of Fame. 

In fact, if you think about it, the whole place is like one big scrapbook. Photos + Memories = Scrapbook! Just think, if no one had kept all those cool pieces of ephemera, they'd have big empty display cases instead of a cool museum. Put THAT thought in your dip can and chew it.

The girls lasted about an hour before they were ready to hit the gift shop (see a theme developing here?) and get some ice cream. We hung out while the boys finished up at the HOF. 

While we were waiting, we took some pics

and looked at all the baseball-themed stores. Anything baseball, you can get here. I'll take some pics of some of the stranger items and share with you later.

We ran into some of the rest of our team members (Go Monarchs!), and are now resting until we meet them in a bit for dinner. Ben and the rest of the boys check into the "barracks" tonight, so it's my last few hours with my little Bubby. I kind of feel like he's going off to college! :(

For a week.

Comments

[Etta]

Glad to hear from you. Sounds like you are having a great time.

Miss you.

xoxoxo
E

[katie scott]

hey lain are you still going to be in ft lauderdale for the convention thingee? i haven't made any plans yet but if you are still going to be there maybe i'll make some quickee plans to go. :)

[Gab]

Sounds like a great time. I love NY. Haven't been there since my honeymoon 17 years ago though! I'm teaching DS (he's 5) to play baseball via Wii as baseball is not really big here in Oz

[sue Treiber]

Sounds like a nice place! Go Monarchs!

[Alison]

You should check out the Brewery Ommegang while you're in Cooperstown. It's a great craft beer brewery with beautiful grounds and a nice little gift shop.

[Marty]

i agree with the girls - about an hour suits me perfectly at the Hall of Fame. so cool to see the scrapbooks though. my mom remembers when her dad and uncles would take a day off of work each summer in the 40s to go see the major leaguers play there. have a great time.

[Seanna]

Yay! Glad the hotel is working out for you!! Enjoy your trip.