Cooperstown, NY

On Wednesday, we left Niagara Falls and headed to Cooperstown, NY.  We stayed overnight in the Cooperstown KOA and then broke camp and traveled in the RV into Cooperstown on Thursday morning with the intention of seeing the Fly Creek Cider Mill and Orchard and the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Let me set the scene, we are traveling in a motor home towing a car so altogether our traveling circus is about 54 feet long or so. We can't back up without unhooking the car (which is not that easy to do) and we can't make sharp turns easily...

Tom called the mill and made sure there was bus parking and we both assumed that the Baseball HOF would have tour buses coming through there all the time so we didn't bother calling there to check out the parking situation.  Do you see where I'm going with this?

We went to the mill first. No problems. It was fun and there was lots of food to sample and wine to taste (who cares that it was only 10:00 am the tasting cups were really tiny so it doesn't count!) The cider press doesn't start up until after Labor Day so we didn't get to see it running but we watched the movie and learned all about it. Here is a pic of what it looks like:

The original Fly Creek Cider Press is still used today.

Flash ahead to the Baseball HOF.  We saw a few park and ride trolley stops on the way to the HOF. Did it occur to us that they were there for a reason? Nope. I'll spare you the details of the actual trip in the RV through the little town of Cooperstown.  Let's just say it was tense. With a capital T! Unfortunately, it didn't get much better even after we made it to the HOF either.

So here is what we learned from our trip to the HOF:

1. Call ahead about parking even if you think you know that it will be ok. Duh.
2. If you see trolley park and rides, they are probably there because they don't have any parking. Duh.
3. If your kids hate baseball, the Baseball Hall of Fame is probably not the venue to drag them to. Duh. (Yeah, that probably deserves a double duh.)

Tom and I enjoyed the Baseball HOF. Maybe we'll come back someday without the kids. (But I think we'll fly here and rent a taxi to drop us off at the front door!)

Anyway, after everything was said an done, we ate lunch in the RV at the park and ride and took off for a few days at Lake Champlain.

More to come...