Hallowed Ground

We left NYC on Wednesday, not for OKC, or even Philly. But for a much nobler destination. Cooperstown. It had been on the "maybe" list for this trip for some time, but I didn't really think we would end up doing it. And in some ways, maybe we shouldn't have, but I just don't know when we'll next be in this part of the world (could be several years), and therefore wanted to take the opportunity while it was there for the taking.

The idea was simple enough. NYC to Cooperstown to Philly. Start off early, drive the four hours to middle-of-nowhere-ish New York, spend four or five or six hours in admiration, drive a couple of hours to the nearest major town and grab some Zs, get up in the morning and head to Philly.

Unfortunately it didn't work that way. First, we got checked out of the hotel WAY late. Then, I got turned around driving out of Manhattan and was one turn away from entering the wrong tunnel, nearly taking the family to Queens instead of Jersey. I was on the wrong side of the island! Lastly, sometimes I forget that, with the kids, a four hour drive isn't really a four hour drive. It's sometimes a five or nearly six hour drive.

So, when we finally got to Cooperstown, New York, we had no time at all to enjoy the ambience of the town. We had to head straight for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and get through that in three hours (how long we had before closing).

The NBHF is a great place. I'm so glad we took the time to go. While we didn't get to take our sweet time and read every single thing on display, we didn't rush ourselves either, and were able to see everything and particularly admire the sections we enjoyed the most. If you're a baseball fan and anywhere in the vicinity of middle New York, it's just criminal of you not to take a weekend to visit the hall. But definitely take the whole weekend so you can enjoy the entire experience. Cooperstown is a great little town for a weekend getaway.


After we visited the hall, we got some dinner at a local eating establishment, which was quite good actually, and then we hit the road. Only, it had started to rain, and at times pour. Did I mention Cooperstown is in the middle of nowhere? Well, as very few people would classify driving on dark, winding, mountain roads in the rain and fog as fun, we had a notably terrible time of it getting back to civilization. And once we did, we stupidly did not stop to sleep as originally intended, and instead pressed on for Philadelphia. And again what was supposed to be a four hour drive turned into much more.

It was four in the morning before we got to our hotel room in Philly. Subsequently Thursday was mostly a sleep/recovery day instead of a visiting old friends and hang-outs day as it was meant to be. We did do some visiting in the late afternoon and early evening. But at the moment I'm making use of my free wireless internet (so far, the whole trip I've had free wi-fi in all of my rooms!) from the hotel laundry mat, as I am in the room that is farthest away from EVERYthing, and my signal is weak (fades in and out).

As there are no Phillies games this week (D-R-A-T), I'm hoping to at least be able to get a tour of the new ballpark tomorrow, followed by some old friend visiting. But my time here is almost done.