It always seems that my great ideas take longer than I expect to finally materialize. Once again, I had come up with an idea -- this time to go to the Baseball Hall of Fame -- and it was derailed the first time. Because of (yet another) job loss, and some other much more important things that happened on either side of that, we were not able to go to the Hall last summer like I had originally planned. When something like that happens, I never give up -- knowing that most things will still be there at another time. Neither one of us had ever been to the Hall, and with Derek's constantly growing interest in baseball -- both playing and learning -- any time that works for us is the perfect time to take him.
The way the summer worked out, considering when I had Derek and could get off from work, we wound up going a couple of weeks before Jim Rice (and Ricky Henderson, and the other guy) was to be inducted. It would have been great to see Rice's plaque and all of that, but I realized that when I was given the chance to go, then we should just go. It did happen to be the week of the All Star break.
We were already packed up except for those last minute things we needed in the morning (such as toothbrushes, etc.). It was actually pretty smooth getting out of the house. We had a plan to get to the Troy, NY, area for lunchtime so that we could have lunch with a friend of mine that I had when I was in college, and to visit with her and catch up. It's normally about a 3 hour ride to Troy. And then it would be another hour and a half or so to Oneonta, where the hotel was already booked. Then we would be at the hotel before dinner, and we could rest up for the next day.
We took the scenic route and went through southern NH, southern VT, and across NY. I have made this journey quite a few times
going back and forth to RPI. It has been a long time since I've done the trip, so it was nice to see it all again.
There's a scenic viewpoint on Hogback Mountain in Vermont. We spontaneously stopped there, and I've never stopped to enjoy
the view before. The mountain was not camera shy, so I took a few photos. We poked around the gift shop for just a couple of
minutes. Derek noticed a sweatshirt with the name of the mountain, a picture of a moose's head, and the saying "Vermont -
What happens here stays here, but nothing ever really happens here." Gotta give them points for coming up with that one!
In Bennington, VT, they were having "Moosefest 2009". Five years ago, there were some (statue) moose that the Town put all over the sidewalks in various places. This year they were back, and each one was painted by some local artists. There were plenty of people walking around taking pictures of the moose, but we did not stop. We did see quite a few of them as we were stopped at many of the Town's stoplights.
We kept going and met up with Monica for lunch. It was a good thing the restaurant wasn't very crowded -- we spent almost 4 hours there! It sounds like a long time, but if you consider we haven't seen each other since the year I graduated from college, and I only found her again not too long ago on Facebook (yes, I'm on Facebook!), trying to fit all of those years into a 4 hour lunch is really an incredibly short time. I was very glad to get a chance to see her and to at least start to catch up.
After we left the restaurant, we had a little more than an hour and a half to go in order to get to the hotel. We made it after driving through the Catskills, which I have never been through before. That's some nice countryside! Too bad I was driving or else I would have been taking pictures. It really was very nice. Overall, the route we chose was MUCH more enjoyable than taking the Mass Pike to the New York Thruway, which would have been all big highways. I like the mountains and trees and farms, and everything else we drove through.
We made it to the hotel. The good thing was that our room faced the back of the hotel, where there are some trees in between
the hotel and the highway. That means that no one should be walking around outside of our room all night, like they would if
we had been on the parking lot side. The bummer is that I couldn't connect to the wireless network from inside the room (and
they told me I should be able to), so just hanging out in the room with the TV on meant I couldn't also connect to the internet.
I was able to easily connect if we walked down the hall to the other end of the hotel and sat in the little common area. But
I didn't want to make Derek sit there for too long just so I could poke around on some sites. I checked my email and that was it.
We did see a little bunny outside the room, looking for food or something. I took some photos through the screen, since the window
as really too dirty to shoot through. Sometimes you don't have time to set things up perfectly, and have to go with the best
you can do at the time. We went for a quick dinner, and then watched some of the Home Run Derby. Even though we were in the car for
a good part of the day, or sitting in restaurants, we were still kind of wiped out. At least it wasn't a hectic travel day.
Tuesday was our BIIIIIIIG day! We started the morning with showers and breakfast, and then headed straight to Cooperstown and
the Baseball Hall of Fame. We got to the Hall reasonably early -- before 10 am. It wasn't very crowded at all, and we started
by watching a quick movie about baseball. The theater was of course filled with ballpark stadium seats. Once that was over,
we started going room by room.
We're not the types who have to read every note about every item and every blurb about every moment in history. We certainly
did go around and see everything, but there were some things that we looked at quickly and kept moving. And there were plenty of
things that we spent some more time with. There of course were people wearing shirts, hats, and whatnot from their favorite team.
And yes, we both purposely wore Red Sox shirts. There were a lot of Red Sox fans. Probably more than any other team -- including
the Yankees. Anyway, one of the things that Derek was really hoping to see was the "bloody sock". And sure enough, we found
Curt Schilling's famous bloody sock from the 2004 World Series champion Red Sox. To our surprise, there was a wall dedicated
to no-hit games, and sure enough there was one from
Derek's Buchholz game. That was a nice thing to find!
Of course, there was plenty of old time equipment, jerseys worn at significant times, and other items which were sometimes
signed. We found a Big Papi jersey worn during the 2004 World Series. We found Yaz's uniform from his last game ever played.
There was also a very well done 3D art piece titled "The Curse is Dead" which was done in 2008 to commemorate mostly the '04
but also the '07 Series wins. There was a big statue of Ted Williams (that was one of the few times I gave Derek my camera).
Of course there was the Plaque Room, and we found certain significant Red Sox. There was a small area for each of the 3 future
members of the Hall, with "future" meaning about a week and a half. So yes, I'm talking about Jim Rice.
We saw a lot and enjoyed ourselves very much. (Tip: The Hall has kid prices, as well as AAA discounts!) But for as much as
some people have told us that it takes a full two days to see the Hall, we saw everything we wanted to at a slow enough pace,
and we were satisfied with it all. Our plan had been to go back and see more on Thursday, but now we don't feel the need
to go back on Thursday. Like I said, we're not the type who has to read everything about everything. Also, the Hall isn't
nearly as big of a building as I had expected in my mind. They do a great job of using the space and packing things in there,
but it still wasn't too much to see in one day. And that includes stepping out for a bit for a quick lunch.
When we left the Hall and went back to the car, we had parked at Doubleday Field and there was a game going on. So we grabbed
our cooler of snacks and caught the last two innings of that game. It looked like 12 year olds. And even after that, we still
had more time left.
We had passed a mini golf place called Barnyard Swing that morning on the way to the Hall, so we decided to stop and play.
Not only did I pull off a come from behind win over Derek (though he pulled too close for comfort at the end), but on the
18th hole you either get it in or you don't (and either way you're done) and if you do, you win a free ice cream. And I got
it in! So I gave Derek the camera and he took a (crooked) picture of me with the free ice cream in front of the last hole
(and the free ice cream sign). There are two spoons because we split it. While eating the ice cream at a picnic table that we
had to share with some Yankees fans that were already there, we actually got to talking with them (after jokingly agreeing that
we'd each stay on our own sides of the table), and they mentioned the Field of Dreams Park. It was behind the mini golf place,
so we drove to the entrance and went in.
Basically, there are a lot of fields. We popped in on a couple of games, and the parents of the kids were very friendly.
Everyone assumed we were there for the tournament (and that includes the girl at the front gate -- she asked if Derek was on
a team and seemed very surprised when I said No, we just want to see the place). One of the dads told me that every week at
this place they bring in 104 new teams, and it costs $850 per player. The players are put up and fed, but of course the
parents' expenses aren't included in that. Anyway, they are all 12 year olds. They play 7 games to determine the seeding
for the tournament. Once those 7 games are over, the teams are matched up in brackets and they play a huge single elimination
tournament. When it's over, they all leave and the next week a new set of 104 teams come in and they start all over. Wow!
We went to one game and saw a couple of innings, but they were still only in the 4th. We went to another and it went extra innings.
When that was over, we went back to the first game and it wound up being a one run game. No matter what, when leaving a game, I
just wished the parents good luck in the tournament (Oh, I also found out this was the last day of the 7 game round, and
the tournament would start tomorrow). Some of the kids were very mature, and some had serious melt downs. And some coaches
made questionable decisions. But we were there to watch some baseball, so the drama did not hit us like it did everyone else.
Still, we couldn't help but to cheer on the team for whichever side of the field we happened to walk in on. We saw teams from
Illinois, Utah, and Tennessee, to name a few.
After the end of that second game, we were pretty wiped out from what turned out to be a huge day. We drove back, had a quick dinner, and watched some of the All Star game. Since we had been planning to go back to the Hall on Thursday but know we're not, we now have an open day, and we already had a few ideas. The other thing is that even for what we had planned for tomorrow, it shouldn't take up the whole day, so we'll be sleeping in another hour tomorrow. We'll still be up and out at a decent time, but not quite as early as today. I think a bit of a slower pace will serve us well.
Wednesday morning we took just a little more time getting going. We still made it to the Howe Caverns at a
very reasonable time. We took the underground tour. They had names for some of the formations. Some were fitting, and some
were a stretch. But they gave the tour guide something more interesting to say than the occasional "Anyone around 6 feet
tall or more, please watch your head in here." There was Godzilla rock, the Witches of the Caverns, the bowling ball and hand,
the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Turtle Rock, and a few others I already can't think of. We walked for a while, through the rooms
and passageways. We then got in a boat and rode the river to the Lake of Venus, and then back again. We saw the Bridal
Altar, where they claim to have had over 500 underground weddings. And we went through The Winding Way, which was much
narrower (though still highly passable) than the rest of what we went through.
The thing about the Cavern is that with it being a walking tour with a group (we had 32 in our group), they do not allow big backpacks or tripods and such. So I had to go with my regular lens and my flash. That meant that any photo trying to show the long tunnel would not work. The nearby things would be lit well, and the light would fall of very quickly as the distance increased. So pretty much the only photos that came out were ones where everything of interest was about the same distance away, so that it was all lit equally. If I had more time and a tripod, I could have captured much better photos -- like the ones they have on their website. There's no way they took those hand held with a simple flash. I'm sure they had a decent lighting setup with a tripod for long exposures. So what can you do? I just did my best, and got a few good ones. I also got some where the only thing visible was a small light in the distance. Gotta love digital for instant feedback, and no worries about wasting film. :)
It is a constant year-round temperature of 52 degrees down there, at 70-75% humidity. We knew to bring light jackets.
They actually age NY cheddar cheese down there! After our tour, we had some lunch and took in the views of the
surrounding areas. We went through the shop, saw the skeleton-decorated motorcycle, and I guess that was pretty much it.
In photography, they sometimes tell you to use something of a known size to show scale. So to give you an idea about how
big the letters are, I chose a random 4'10" boy who didn't even fill up the O.
Next, we went to the nearby Gobbler's Knob for another round of mini golf. I had another come from behind win, but neither one of us won anything on the last hole. It was clear you could win something, but we didn't even know what it was you could win. Since we didn't win anyway, it really didn't matter. We got some ice cream, and headed back to the hotel for some much needed relaxing time.
We chilled out for a little while, and then had some dinner. We then went back to the Field of Dreams Park to watch some more baseball, as the tournament started today. We happened to walk in from the parking lot at the same time as the father who gave us all the information about the tournament yesterday. He said they just got beat, and were out. Bummer. We watched some ball and then came back to the hotel for beddie-bye time.
Thursday turned out to be a "bonus" day, since we originally planned to go back the the Baseball Hall of Fame today.
But we didn't need to. We woke up to a heavy rain, and were glad we had gone to the Howe Caverns the day before. (Our
guide said that when it rains, the water levels in the caverns rise. Above a certain point and they have to close the boat
part of the tour, and above another certain point they close the whole thing since some of the walking paths are under water.)
So we went to the Soccer Hall of Fame. During our planning, we decided to go to Howe Caverns on Wednesday instead of
the Soccer Hall because otherwise our entire vacation might be halls of fame. But now we had a day to go ahead and check
it out.
The two main players that seem to be featured are Pele (of course), and Mia Hamm. There were others, but those
were the two who were highlighted heavily. On the main level were the exhibits, and upstairs there were some interactive
things. Time yourself dibbling around players (who were hanging from the ceiling), clock the speed of your shot, practice
heading the ball (from an overhead feeder), and a small indoor soccer "arena". We went through pretty much everything, and
there were two boys, probably 12 or 13, who were also playing with things. They said they had 10 minutes before they
had to leave, so we played some 2-on-2. We all worked up a sweat. When we left the Hall, the rain had stopped, but it was
a very hot and steamy day.
We cooled off and grabbed a quick lunch. Then we found the Physical Sciences building at SUNY Oneonta because there was supposed to be some kind of Science Discovery interactive exhibits. We found it and it was open, but no one was in there. Basically it has some of what I would call the "classic" science demonstrations -- some things involving magnetism, gravity, mirrors, pulleys, water, sound, and stuff like that. Nothing close to the Boston Museum of Science, but not bad for a free exhibit in the basement of a college building. We actually wound up spending quite a bit more time there than I had thought we might. Derek took to some of the demos pretty well. Then two real live college students came in, and I really don't think either one of them were science majors (at least I hope not!). Derek had figured out some of those exhibits faster than they did. After a while, they told me they work in the building and are supposed to close up soon. According to the sign, we should have had about another 20 minutes, but whatever. So we headed back to the room to chill out for a bit. Keeping in mind that it was now sunny but still steamy out, I said that if the weather got more bearable later, like after dinner, then going back to watch some more of the tournament at Field of Dreams Park was a maybe. We got to the room and it started thunder storming. Good timing getting back! The rain eventually stopped, but the conditions were still not very good. I hooked up the DVD player I had brought, and we watched movies.
Friday morning went relatively smoothly as far as packing up, checking out of the hotel, and hitting the road. The plan was to
again go through Troy. This time to go around the RPI campus with a friend of mine who went there too, and then have lunch. We
managed to get to Renee's house and we all went to campus. Time apparently has NOT stood still and waited for me! Oh the changes!
They are building a huge football field and sports complex -- for a Division III school. Why, we don't know. But they are. And
there has been a LOT of landscaping done all over campus. Even the lowly freshman dorms have a nice little courtyard area in the
middle of them all. We found copies of The Poly -- the campus newspaper, and grabbed copies (yes, it's a free paper!). And of course
the foot bridge over 15th Street from the Union to the Quad is still there.
It happened to be an SO (Student Orientation) weekend, and for a half a second we said maybe we would join one of the tours.
We didn't. (That's all I needed -- for someone to give me a tour who was probably born in one of the years I went to the very place
that THEY would be showing ME around!) There was a gorgeous new residence hall, and some new academic buildings. We went in one
of them, and somehow it still had the exact same smell as all the old buildings. Hmmm... Anyway, there is a new performing
arts building, which kind of doesn't fit, but again, they built it despite us being an engineering school. And inside the
Student Union building was SO different -- for one thing the bowlng alley is gone. About the only thing that was almost
unchanged was the bookstore. I did lose my bearings a couple of times on campus, but between taking a moment, but mostly
thanks to Renee, we had no real problems. Derek was good through it all, not getting impatient and letting us compare what's
the same vs. what has changed. Then we went to lunch, and got Renee home where some of her friends were already at the pool with
her husband. Ooops, did I keep her out too long?
Despite being invited to stay, we knew that rain was on the way, and we needed to get going. We got hit with some really really really heavy downpours in places, and it made everyone slow down. But we made it home just fine, just a little later than we expected. Our lone remaining fish was just fine, and everything was the way we left it. Well, the grass was longer and although no one stole anything, no one cleaned up at all either.
There were a few key things that made this trip a success. The biggest being that it was a trip about me and my Boy spending time together doing things we knew we would enjoy. That's number one. Also helping a lot is the fact that I didn't pack every second of every day too fully, so that we could take our time and also have some flexibilty and also enough time to sleep every night. And speaking of sleep, I know I made the right choice in spending a little more each night for a room with two beds, since I know how much Derek tosses and turns. He's a heavy sleeper and would have slept well either way, but I know I slept much better in my own bed. And hearing him sing along with the CD like Geddy Lee on the way back was a nice touch! We had a great time, as we knew we would. Good places, long lost good friends, and of course, The Boy and me!
In ESPN fashion, here is our trip By The Numbers
| This... | is the number of... |
|---|---|
| 640 | miles we drove, start to finish |
| 39 | Red Sox in the Hall of Fame, though not all went in as a Red Sox (example: Babe Ruth) |
| 8 | times I checked my email |
| 0 | times I checked my work email! |
| 249 | pictures I took |
| 84 | pictures I deleted the very first time I saw them on the laptop (and more were deleted later) |
| 2 | pounds I gained |