One of the things I used to dream about as a youth, besides becoming a professional bat-boy or brain surgeon (hey, I was a multi-faceted lad), was visiting Cooperstown, NY, situated in the middle of New York State. This past weekend, I had the opportunity to fulfill that dream (though I haven't fulfilled my professional dreams yet ;o). Paul, Cathy, D, and I took a road-trip to upstate NY state to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame! D was generous enough to load us into her BMW convertible and haul us up on Saturday morning up twisting highways, through the Adirondak Mountains, and through towns who gave us city-slickers dirty looks. We spent the late afternoon in Cooperstown watching a semi-pro baseball game at the first baseball park in the U.S., taking swings at Tim Wakefield-like, 40 MPH knuckleballs in the batting cages, browsing the numerous baseball-related stores in town, and eating the latest Willy Wonka innovation in candy - NERDS on a rope! During the evening, we checked out the mecca for all baseball fans - the Hall of Fame. There were so many relics and stories there, it would take a whole day to get through it. It was quite impressing, and still growing. I realized, though, that many of the baseball icons of my youth (like Mark McGwire) have only recently retired, so I might have to visit it again in 10 years to see them all pictured there!
After driving a few hours back towards the city in search of a hotel room for the evening, we ended up in Albany and the next morning we opted to bypass the TGI Fridays and Olive Garden breakfast in favor of Bleecker Cafe, a local restaurant where we indulged in some massive portions of food and morning cocktails (like...uhh...orange juice). On the way home Sunday, we stopped at D's mother's house north of the city and did a little swimming while the ladies oogled over D's baby nephew.
This weekend I'm heading back to Cali for a long, 4-day Fourth of July weekend. I'll be chilling out in San Diego, so if anyone wants to come visit me, let me know!
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