A Detour to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and More!

A perfect day for a paddle! 
Green Lakes State Park, Fayetteville, NY.

Our itinerary called for a one-night stop at a Harvest Host site in Vermont and then on to a state park in New York, at least it did until Rog noticed that we were going to pass within 30 miles of Cooperstown, NY and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. My darling husband loves baseball and his puppy dog eyes rivaled anything that Riley or Raney could throw at me. Needless to say, we adjusted our route so we could spend a night in Cooperstown.

We spent Sunday, 6/21, at Vermont Distillers in West Marlborough, VT. It was a great Harvest Host site where they made some really interesting spirits and liqueurs. They had about a dozen different bottles lined up and offered samples of any or all. Their flagship product was Maple Cream Liqueur. That sounded too sweet for my taste, but hey, we’re in Vermont where everything is Maple, so I gave it a try. That was mistake. The stuff was delicious! They added it to root beer to make a “dirty soda” and it was one of those combos where two plus two equals five. Yum!

Great spot to park and a lovely view, but those storm clouds are threatening.

Vermont Distillery

So many choices!

The distillery had a great deck with a fabulous view.
We bonded with total strangers over the Maple Cream Liqueur. Lol.

After our obligatory stop at the Distillery tasting room, we walked a short distance to Naked Brewery for pizza. At that point, we were still trying to get Riley to eat and pizza crusts are one of his all-time favorite things. He initially refused even those, but Rog finally cajoled him into eating a whole piece of pizza. Forget the crusts, he got the whole slice. No spoiling in this household. Lol.

Super fun little brewery with a wood fired pizza oven. 
(Only the best for Riley! Lol.)

We found another Harvest Host site, Fly Creek Cider Mill and Orchard right in Cooperstown. They had a huge gift shop, but I was most interested in the fresh pressed cider and warm cider donuts. I am so not losing any weight on this trip, in fact those whoopie pies and donuts are sticking around longer than necessary if you ask me. Lol. We also snagged a couple of their specialty, pot roast sandwiches, for lunch. Can you guess who also benefited from that? Yes, we pulled out all the stops and tempted Riley with pot roast. And of course, we couldn’t leave Raney out. She is happy to benefit from all the yummy treats we’re throwing Riley’s way.

Fly Creek Cider Mill - a fun family run orchard and cider mill.

After lunch we headed into town to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and spent a fascinating four hours perusing an amazing collection of baseball memorabilia and history. There are three floors to explore and 25 themed exhibits with thousands of photographs and artifacts. And we saw them all! Lol.

Rog was super excited to visit the
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

Love these sculptures on the museum grounds.

The suggested order is to start on the second floor with the 16-minute film, Generations of the Game. Exhibits on that floor include New Inductees - introduces new inductees through artifacts related to their lives and careers, Taking the Field – an in-depth look at baseball’s beginnings and evolution, Baseball Timeline – baseball history shown through artifacts and documents, Babe Ruth – a fascinating look at one of baseball’s greats, The Souls of the Game – documents important stories of black baseball players through the years, Diamond Dreams – the history of women in baseball on and off the field, Viva Baseball! -celebrates the history of baseball in Latin America, and A Whole New Ballgame – exploring the last 50 years of the game.

I loved the antique baseball themed toys and book. 
Also displayed are handwritten rules proposed at the 1857 Baseball Convention.

From a troubled childhood to a baseball legend - Babe Ruth was a fascinating character.

Displays honoring Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays.

Diamond Dreams covered the history of women's leagues and
women MLB executives, scouts, broadcasters, and umpires.

Viva Baseball!

From there we moved to the third floor with exhibits on Chasing the Dream – all about Hank Aaron’s baseball career, Yaku|Baseball – highlights the cultural exchange of baseball between Japan the United States, One for the Books – records and milestones of the sport, Autumn Glory – artifacts from historic World Series moments, Shoebox Treasures – a wonderful display about the history of baseball cards, Your Team Today – modern artifacts from every major league team presented in 30 team lockers, and Getting the Nod – bobbleheads! Lol.

The amazing Hank Aaron.

Baseball in Japan...

...and a hometown favorite. Ichiro!

Baseball is big business!
The Mariners were the least valuable franchise in 1990 worth "only" 71 million, in 2020 they ranked 16 at 1.6 billion. In the same time frame the Yankees value went from 225 million to 5 billion!

Great display on the game's outliers.
Tallest (6'11") and shortest (3'7"), youngest (15 yrs, 7mos) and oldest (59 years, 2 mos).

All kinds of homerun records!

Of course an exhibit on the World Series would include the Yankees. Lol.

The Cards Your Mother Threw Away.  Lol!

Modern memorabilia.

This display was way more fun than we expected.
Who knew there were thousands of variations on the Bobble Head!

The first floor contains the holy grail, the Plaque Gallery containing 354 bronze plaques of baseball’s greatest players, managers, umpires, and executives. I thought only players got inducted into the Hall of Fame. Learn something new every day! Rog spent a lot of time perusing the hallowed Hall of Fame. A couple of exhibits, Baseball Discovery Zone and Sandlot Kids’ Clubhouse had hands-on activities for the younger fans. Scribes and Mikemen celebrated the great sportscasters and writers. (Hats off to Dave Niehaus, the Voice of the Mariners. That brings back memories.) And two fun exhibits,  the Art of Baseball and Baseball at the Movies. I’m sure I missed a few and obviously could only photograph a small fraction of the amazing displays. I loved the odd facts and a peek at the history, especially the stories of marginalized players whose love for the game helped them overcome blatant racism and sexism. It’s certainly worth the trip, regardless if you’re a baseball nerd or only a casual fan, there’s something for everyone. Oh, and a HUGE team gift shop. Of course. Lol.

The Hall of Fame.
Baseball hallowed ground.

The first inductees: True legends of baseball.

Dave Niehaus, the Voice of the Mariners. Miss you!

The Art of Baseball exhibit.

Two favorites right up front: Field of Dreams and The Sandlot. 

So many baseball movies, how many have you seen?

And last, but not least, a shout out to the Savannah Bananas! IYKYK. Lol.

We’d borrowed a day from Green Lakes State Park in Fayetteville, NY to visit Cooperstown. While it was time well spent, we now had just one full day to explore the park. We arrived on Tuesday, 6/23, and got settled in. The sites were nestled amongst big trees, which gave us lovely shade but totally kerfluffled the solar and Starlink. Sigh, compromises.

Shady spots. With solar and Starlink, it's a love/hate relationship.

Woodchuck or groundhog, whatever you call them, the locals were adorable.

Just across from the state park entrance was trail access to the Erie Canal Tow Path. We pulled the bikes off the rig and headed out on a gorgeous Wednesday morning for a ride. The tow path parallels the canal with informational displays along the way and is part of the much longer Empire State Trail. Construction on this section of the canal began in 1817 and was completed in 1825. The canal was an immediate commercial success and was enlarged in 1862. It remained in use until the New York State Barge Canal opened in 1918 and was then abandoned. We rode almost 18 miles of the 36-mile trail and could have gone farther, but we had other plans for the afternoon.

Erie Canal or Reflecting Pool? Hard to tell the difference, eh? 😒

On the tow path.

Bridges and fishing piers provide access to the canal.

Fishing for what? How about one of these giant carp.

The Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum was our turnaround point.

In places the canal widened into a pond.

Green Lake and nearby Round Lake are two of six meromictic lakes in New York. What is that, you ask? Because I did. Lol. The water layers in meromictic lakes do not mix. The top layer changes seasonally, while the deep, oxygen-deprived bottom layer remains entirely isolated for thousands of years. The water is a striking Caribbean blue color (Mariner Teal since baseball is still on our minds. Lol). Green Lake also contains microbial reefs. Deadman’s Point on Green Lake is a freshwater reef system formed over thousands of years by cyanobacteria, which get energy from the sun. The bacteria bind sediments and minerals from the water to form solid, rocky structures. The reefs in Green Lake are formed of hardened deposits of calcium. Very cool.

Yep, definitely going with Mariner Teal. Lol.

The freshwater reefs were very interesting. 

The park does not allow any personal watercraft on the lakes, but rents single and double kayaks and rowboats. We opted for a double kayak, so Rog could paddle while I took pictures. Just joking. Sorta. Lol. We covered the whole lake in about an hour. It’s not a very large lake, but it has an extremely popular swimming area at one end and a hiking path that goes all the way around it. I’m so glad we had a beautiful sunny day, the water color was just stunning, especially when the sun hit it just right.

Kayaking selfie time.

Green Lake is fairly small, but very popular!

The pups are doing fine and for those following Riley’s “let’s scare mommy and daddy to death” episode, he continues to improve each day. I’d say the swelling is pretty much gone. The vet at MVMC wanted him on antibiotics for six weeks which seemed excessive, since they didn’t even know what caused the swelling. I asked our regular vet, and Dr. Pam said she would normally treat with antibiotics until the swelling was completely gone plus one week. I’m down for that. So Riley is eating and taking his meds, although he has become quite the master manipulator, stopping halfway through his bowl and requesting more treats and topper please. I think we’ve created a monster!

The monster of which we speak. Lol. Love you, Riley!