Cooperstown

The gang left this morning.  Butch, Louis and I did more exploring of the area.

We walked around the town of Cooperstown and did some shopping. It is a cute town and very dog friendly.

We went to the Cooperstown Distillery. I bought vodka in a bottle shaped like a baseball. Why wouldn't you buy vodka in a bottle shaped like a baseball?

We drove around the country side, stopped by the Fly Creek Cider Mill again and scouted out places for dinner.  The winner for dinner is The Lake House in Richfield Springs.

Early tomorrow morning, we are driving home. I am looking forward to seeing my newly paved driveway. 

Dinner

The evening activities began with a round of appetizers headlined by fresh tomatoes from the Sullivan garden.

Following the appetizers, we dined on a grand meal in our formal dining room.

Chef Eric grilled the steaks and Charlene brought a platter of mac and cheese from home.

Here we are enjoying our meal.  Look under the table, you can see Louis looking up at the camera

Name one thing none of us wants to buy

Answer: Aga cooker

The house has an Aga cooker.  For those of you not familiar with Aga, it is always on and there are no controls for the temperature. There are 3 burners - low, medium and hot. There are various oven compartments each at different temperatures.  We hated it. It takes forever for anything to cook and the oven compartments are so small. You would never be able to cook a turkey dinner.

Here is Charlene showing off the Aga cooker

Fly Creek Cider Mill

After visiting the hall, we made a quick stop at Doubleday Field and then went home to pick Louis up. He did well at the rental house. Nothing destroyed and he seemed relaxed.

Fly Creek Cider Mill is what Stew Leonard's and Lyman Orchard's used to be. They have so many products made from apples including Vodka.

They have a bakery, sauces, fudge, candy, cheese, wine and crafts.

We are going to BBQ tonight. Everyone but Butch and I are going home tomorrow morning. Butch and I are going to go back to Cooperstown.

Baseball Hall of Fame

Here's the gang entering the mecca for baseball fans.

There is a mind boggling amount of things to see in the museum.  Some of my favorites: the bracelet made for Lou Gehrig's wife, the pine tar bat, bats broken by Mariano and the World Series home run bat of Reggie Jackson.

The hall itself is impressive.  You could spend all day just reading every plaque.  We found all of our favorites.

Advance Team Arrived

Louis and I made it to the rental house in 3 hrs 15 mins.  The GPS in the new truck performed admirably and we never got lost. This was the longest road trip for Louis in the 4 yrs he's been with us and this is his first rental house.  He has a lot of traveling to do to catch up to Hacksaw.

The rental house is very nice.  It is situated on 40 acres surrounded by farmland. Although, everything in upstate NY is surrounded by farmland.

Louis and I scoped out the nearest town looking for a supermarket and some places to eat.  We found a hot dog cart with a very pleasant vendor.  He gave Louis a free hot dog and allowed us to relax in his chairs under a large shade tree.

We are now waiting for the rest of the gang to arrive.  

Blame it on Louis...

We are off to Cooperstown this weekend.  It is all the dog's fault. The driveway is being paved so it was either have him be trapped in the yard all weekend or go somewhere. Not surprising, we chose "go somewhere."  The somewhere being Cooperstown, NY. Amazingly enough, I have never been to the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Readers of my blogs might not be surprised given that I rarely go places that I can drive to.  Pyramids in Egypt... check. Baseball Hall of Fame that is 3 hrs away... not so much.  In addition to Louis and Butch, the rest of the gang is joining us.  The only pet-friendly house I could find in the area has 7 bedrooms so I invited all the usual suspects for a weekend away.

Next update from upstate NY...