Baseball Hall of Fame
Cooperstown, home of the Baseball Hall of Fame, is a cute one-stoplight town nestled between the Adirondacks and the Catskills in Central New York. Sports memorabilia stores line the streets along with cleverly named restaurants like “Home Plate.” The town is named after the family of James Fenimore Cooper, the famous American author.
Cooperstown, was a mid-way stopping point from Vermont to the Finger Lakes. We stayed for a week and decided to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame while we were in the area. I am not a particular fan of baseball and my expectation was a small museum with baseball stuff. This is not what I found. The Hall is a three story museum with interactive displays, videos, and exhibits.
The museum has exhibits on Babe Ruth, integration, Hank Aaron, a continuous video loop of Abbott and Costello’s, “Who’s on First”, and much more.
They deal very frankly with steroid usage, gambling, and other issues that have been controversial. You can even add your opinion by taking an interactive survey about Pete Rose (gambling) and the impact of steroids on the home run title.
Mascots
Inductee Row
Famous Doubleday Field that is thought to be where baseball was invented and played for the first time.
We settled in to watch some little leaguers show their stuff.
Our adventure continues in New York to the Fingers Lakes Region.
Hobbled in Vermont
We were so excited to spend a month in Vermont’s Green Mountain area – hiking and enjoying nature. After the more urban camping that we have been doing, getting back to nature was so what we needed.
The Lye Brook Falls was a moderate hike with a nice waterfall and seemed like a good way to ease our way back to hiking. We expected to do some more vigorous hikes with better views later during our stay, but it was not to be.
The next day we thought we’d do an easy trail and drove to the top of Mount Equinox to walk to the lookout – about half a mile. Scott stepped up on a bench to take a photo and when he did he felt a pop in his knee and pain that doubled him over. He limped (very slowly) back to our car for the ride back to our campsite for RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation). Good thing we packed the crutches. After two days the pain was still high with no ability to put any weight on that leg so we had to seek medical help. Two weeks, one physicians assistant, an X-Ray and a visit to an orthopedist later, we determined that Scott’s injury is most likely a meniscus tear. The pain level had improved somewhat, so he opted to do physical therapy on his own and re-evaluate in a few weeks.
JULY 4th
So hiking was out, and we needed to be creative with the rest of our trip. Some people had told us that fireworks on July 4th on Lake George were impressive. Lake George is actually across the border from Vermont in New York. It is a very clear and clean lake and has beautiful views of the Adirondack Mountains.
The crowds were intense even three hours prior to launch.
Ben & Jerry’s Factory Tour
We drove over an hour to visit Waterbury, where Ben and Jerry’s Factory is located. I can’t say that the tour was that impressive, but there was free ice cream. YAY!!
Ben and Jerry’s has a flavor graveyard for ice cream flavors that they have retired. Schweddy Balls was a blast from the past, so we had to take a photo.
Next stop…Copperstown, NY.
Wicked Awesome Boston
We spent a week in Boston and really enjoyed ourselves. Highlights of our trip included a guided tour along the Freedom Trail, a cruise along Boston’s Inner Harbor to the Charlestown Navy Yard where the USS Constitution is berthed, a trip to the Skywalk Observatory, and another cruise along the Charles River.
New England Aquarium
At the New England Aquarium, I joined the kids by putting my hand in the pool to pet the sting rays and a tiny shark.
Also saw the penguins having breakfast. Check out the video below.
Inner Harbor Cruise
The USS Constitution is a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy named by President George Washington. The Constitution is most noted for her actions during the War of 1812 against the United Kingdom where many of the British shots had rebounded harmlessly off Constitution’s hull. An American sailor reportedly exclaimed “Huzzah! her sides are made of iron!” and Constitution acquired the nickname “Old Ironsides”.
Old North Church (officially, Christ Church), is the location from which the famous “One if by land, two if by sea” signal is said to have been sent. This phrase is related to Paul Revere’s midnight ride, of April 18, 1775, which preceded the Battles of Lexington and Concord during the American Revolution.
Freedom Trail
Boston State House or the New State House, is the state capitol and seat of government for Massachusetts.
Faneuil Hall located near the waterfront and today’s Government Center has been a marketplace and a meeting hall since 1743. It was the site of several speeches by Samuel Adams, James Otis, and others encouraging independence from Great Britain. Now it is part of Boston National Historical Park and a well-known stop on the Freedom Trail. It is sometimes referred to as “the Cradle of Liberty”.
The round paved circle is the site of the Boston Massacre where 5 colonists died as a result of British musket wounds. The Old State House is in the the background.
Granary Burying Ground where Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, John Hancock, and the 5 who died at the Boston Massacre are buried here.
Charles River Cruise
Prudential Building, the second tallest building in Boston.
The Boston Citgo sign is a large, double-faced sign featuring the logo of the oil company Citgo that overlooks Kenmore Square in Boston. The sign was first built in 1940 and replaced with Citgo’s present logo in 1965. The sign has become a landmark of Boston through its appearance in the background of Boston Red Sox games at Fenway Park.
Prudential Skywalk Observatory
The Prudential building is the second highest building in Boston. A skywalk on the 50th floor allows you to view Boston in 360 degrees. There is audio narration that tells you what you are seeing and the historical significance.
The Longfellow Bridge spanning the Charles River to connect Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood with the Kendall Square area of Cambridge. The bridge is also known to locals as the “Salt-and-Pepper Bridge” due to the shape of its central towers
Plymouth
We loved our trip to Plymouth. We decided to take a walking tour of the area with Leo. He was wonderful and so knowledgable.
History depicts Pilgrims with buckles on their hats and shoes. This is untrue. Pilgrims were very plain dressers. (Puritans had the buckles).
The oldest working mill in the country.
This statue is dedicated to all the married women who came over on the Mayflower. 130 people came over on the Mayflower. 78% of the women did not survive the first year. It is incredible that given this fact, there are over 35MM decedents living today. Many famous people are descendants of the Mayflower, https://www.themayflowersociety.org/the-pilgrims/notable-descendants.
Plymouth Rock is the rock that the Pilgrims stepped on to descend from the ship. The rock was originally 3 times the size it is today.
P-Town, Nantucket and Whale Watching
Provincetown
Provincetown or P-Town is located on the very tip of the Cape. It was P-Town, not Plymouth, where the Pilgrims first landed in the US on the Mayflower.
Pilgrim Monument commemorates their landing in 1620.
We decided to take the five mile roundtrip hike to Long Point Lighthouse, one mile across the jetty and the rest over sand and beach.
Nantucket Island
We took the high-speed ferry to Nantucket. While interesting, I expected more.
The grey-shingled buildings are common on Cape Cod and the Islands.
We stopped at the Nantucket Whaling Museum. The 46 foot long sperm whale skeleton is one of the striking things about the museum. One of the exhibits depicts the Essex, the ill-fated whaleship which was sunk in 1820 in the Pacific Ocean and inspired Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. There are exhibits of beautiful scrimshaw work and the whale oil trade.
As the whaling industry became more lucrative, so did the necessity for a jail.
A very large fire in 1846 destroyed much of downtown Nantucket. To commemorate the fire, there is a museum devoted to fire equipment used in the 1800’s.
Whale Watching
We had to go whale watching while in Cape Cod. We took a boat from P-Town to the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. We didn’t see any whales breach the water (darn), but was still a nice trip.
Cape Cod National Seashore and The Upper and Lower Cape
Cape Cod has always been a place I wanted to visit. When I was in 7th grade some kids took a trip to the the Cape. I always remembered how much fun they had and their description of their whale watching adventure. When we started planning our trip to the East Coast, I thought of the Cape immediately and Scott was all in.
We scored a wonderful campsite on the Cape Cod Rail Trail (CCRT), a 22 mile bike trail that is flat and well marked. Our campsite is also less than a mile from the Cape Cod National Seashore and twenty miles from Provincetown, or P-Town as the locals call it. We stayed here for a month.
First order of business is a lobster roll. While Maine may be best known for lobsters, Cape Cod did not disappoint.
Cape Cod National Seashore
Henry David Thoreau wrote about Cape Cod, “A man may stand there and put all America behind him.” Today, the great Outer Beach described by Thoreau is protected within the national seashore. Forty miles of pristine sandy beach, marshes, ponds, and uplands support diverse species. Lighthouses, wild cranberry bogs, swimming beaches and walking and biking trails are all together in one wonderful place.
The famous lighthouse on every bag of Cape Cod Potato Chips.
Truro
Highland Lighthouse is nearby and has an adjoining golf course. Scott played 9 holes and said the views were wonderful.
Chatham
Digging for Clams.
We went to the Chatham Fish Pier to watch the fishing boats come in…
but we were not alone…
Cape Cod Canal
The Cape Cod Canal is an artificial waterway thats connects Cape Cod Bay in the north to Buzzards Bay in the south, and is part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The approximately seven-mile-long canal traverses the narrow neck of land joining Cape Cod to the mainland. There is a bike path here that takes you from the Cape Cod Canal Museum to Buzzard Bay
The is a vertical lift railroad bridge. The middle section lowers for trains to cross, then goes back up for boat traffic. Very cool.
Hyannis
Home of the Kennedys’ and the JFK Museum and the JFK Memorial.
