Cooperstown, NY, is a great small town. Granted, it probably wouldn't exist without the sports tourism that makes it famous, but it's definitely a must-see for any sports fan. We started our day at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, which exists here because it is believed that the game of baseball was founded in Cooperstown by Abner Doubleday. The Hall of Fame is a beautiful building that contains a well-informed history of baseball and the influence of the game's greatest players.
We spent a decent three hours wandering through the museum, reading facts, taking pictures, and appreciating those former baseball players who have made the game as great as it remains today. Since I grew up in a baseball-loving family, it was nice for me to finally have the chance to "see" first-hand some of the game's history. I enjoyed learning more about Babe Ruth, Joe Dimaggio, Lou Gehrig, Roger Hornsby, Sandy Coufax, Yogi Berra, Roberto Clemente, Nolan Ryan, Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton... the list goes on and on and on.
I think one of my favorite parts of the museum was the small section that compared the all-time leaders in certain statistical categories to current players. For example, Ricky Henderson has the record for 1406 stolen bases. No one in the past or present even comes close to him in this category. In this area also, it became evident how good Pete Rose was in certain categories, but due to his admitted cheating on baseball, he'll probably never fully find his place inducted into the Hall of Fame. In addition, the area of the Hall of Fame that shows every inducted member is pretty special. It was really amazing to see the different players who have been inducted to the Hall of Fame since 1936.
Overall, I found the museum to be quite informative and interesting. Anyone who loves baseball would appreciate a day or two in this environment.
After our visit to the Hall of Fame, we had a bite to eat in a local restaurant. We spent the next few hours walking around the main street in Cooperstown, which contains a variety of baseball memoribilia shops. It's amazing to me how many of these stores exist in this small town and how many fascinating items they have for sale - baseball cards, t-shirts, souvenirs - anything you could possibly want related to baseball or baseball history can be found here. Definitely a pleasure for any true fan.
We also stopped by Double Day Park, which is a ballpark that is still used today. I first learned of Double Day when I watched A League of Their Own. This is the ballpart that is featured at the beginning and end of the film. The Hall of Fame does indeed have a section on the All American Girls Baseball League which the film highlights. I enjoyed seeing this piece of history as well. We also spent some time in a wax museum that depicts some famous baseball players in wax. I'll contend that it wasn't necessarily worth the money, but still interesting to see. The Abbott and Costello film of the famous act "Who's on first?" made the wax museum experience a little more worth the fee.
All in all, our stop in Cooperstown was absolutely enjoyable. Highly recommended for anyone who appreciates the sport of baseball in any capacity. You won't be disappointed.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Road Trip, Day 1: New York
Jen arrived around 7:30am to pick me up. She's a trooper, by the way, because she had to work a 12-hour nursing shift before picking me up. Talk about dedication. We threw my stuff into the car, took a photo, and headed out for our big adventure right before 8am. This was the plan, so we could hit the road early and avoid traffic.
I drove this leg of the trip so Jen could rest. She helps people, you know, so she deserved a good solid nap. The morning was a bit cloudy, but about halfway into our first drive, the skies cleared and the sun was shining. It was beautiful weather for hitting the open roads. We cruised through northeastern PA, northern New Jersey, and into New York in good time. In reality, we crossed the George Washington Bridge into Queens - this was my first time driving in any part of NYC and I must say, it wasn't that bad. I wouldn't want to do that every day however.
(By the way, tolls to cross bridges in NYC are ludicrous.)
Our first stop was CitiField or the "New Mets Stadium" for a Mets game versus the Marlins. Being that Jen and I are true Phillies fans, we headed out for this adventure wearing Phillies shirts. If you follow baseball you know the Phillies and Mets are NL East Rivals and Mets fans HATE Phillies fans. I was well prepared to have a beer dumped on me, but thankfully that didn't happen.
CitiField is an extremely nice ballpark. I think we were both most impressed by the food offerings. Pulled pork sandwiches and spare ribs, brick-oven pizza, tacos, nachos, Nathans hot dogs (of course), among others... whatever the food, it was kicked up a notch and quite well cooked. Lots of fancy condiment options as well. Jen enjoyed a pulled pork sandwich and I sampled some french fries from Box Frites with chipotle sauce. Very delicious. (It's not Chickey's and Pete's crab fries, but not bad at all for ballpark food.)
We were also impressed with Jackie Robinson rotunda, which is a main entrance to the stadium and a tribute to his legacy of breaking the color barrier in baseball and basically being a phenomenal addition to the sport. We ruffled some Mets fans' feathers, though, when we hopped in front of the blue 42 to get a picture taken. Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do for the tourist photo memories.
We didn't have the greatest seats for the game. We sat in the upper deck along 3rd base. Apparently, the Mets fans who sit in this section are required to have an IQ below 60. Honestly, these people were quite ridiculous. Many of them didn't actually have seats where they were seated and would then get upset when the rightful seat holder would ask them to move. It ain't rocket science, you know? Seats have numbers for this very reason.
We had the pleasure of sitting by a family of four - man, woman, boy age 5, girl age 3 - who thought it was appropriate to purchase only two seats and then plop themselves into a total of 4 seats. While the girl was cute in her little Mets cheerleader uniform, the boy whined obnoxiously. Sometimes I like children at the ballpark; this was not one of those times.
We also had the pleasure to sit three seats away from a Mets fan who reminded us that the Phillies weren't actually playing the Mets. Funny that he thought we wouldn't have known this when we purchased tickets that read "Marlins vs Mets." I didn't know I could ONLY wear a Phillies shirt when I was, in fact, AT a Phillies game.
We did see three other Phillies fans. They were nice. Like us, they too could be considered slightly insane for wearing Phillies gear in this hostile environment, but we all seemed to survive the random comments of "Phillies suck" or "Utley sucks" or "You know the Phillies aren't playing today?" Strange. Who won the 2008 World Series? Right.
A fun factor to the game was that my friend Scott happened to also be in attendance. He's a Mets fan, but I try not to hold that against him. We had the pleasure of hanging out with him for a few innings and explore some of the ballpark which was also quite fun.
The best part of the game was that the Mets lost to the Marlins! It's fun to watch the Mets lose!
After the game, we hopped back into the car and hit the road to our second stop - Cooperstown, NY. I also drove this leg of the trip while Jen dropped in and out of consciousness. Cooperstown is quite a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. Seriously, one could get lost here and fall off the face of the earth. It's a cute place, though, from what we've seen so far. A very small, quaint town dotted with Bed & Breakfasts and baseball memoriabilia. We had a nice dinner before we settled in for the night.
Tomorrow, as you can guess, we'll be acquiring new baseball knowledge as we explore Cooperstown's Baseball Hall of Fame. I am sure day two will be just as fun as today!
I drove this leg of the trip so Jen could rest. She helps people, you know, so she deserved a good solid nap. The morning was a bit cloudy, but about halfway into our first drive, the skies cleared and the sun was shining. It was beautiful weather for hitting the open roads. We cruised through northeastern PA, northern New Jersey, and into New York in good time. In reality, we crossed the George Washington Bridge into Queens - this was my first time driving in any part of NYC and I must say, it wasn't that bad. I wouldn't want to do that every day however.
(By the way, tolls to cross bridges in NYC are ludicrous.)
Our first stop was CitiField or the "New Mets Stadium" for a Mets game versus the Marlins. Being that Jen and I are true Phillies fans, we headed out for this adventure wearing Phillies shirts. If you follow baseball you know the Phillies and Mets are NL East Rivals and Mets fans HATE Phillies fans. I was well prepared to have a beer dumped on me, but thankfully that didn't happen.
CitiField is an extremely nice ballpark. I think we were both most impressed by the food offerings. Pulled pork sandwiches and spare ribs, brick-oven pizza, tacos, nachos, Nathans hot dogs (of course), among others... whatever the food, it was kicked up a notch and quite well cooked. Lots of fancy condiment options as well. Jen enjoyed a pulled pork sandwich and I sampled some french fries from Box Frites with chipotle sauce. Very delicious. (It's not Chickey's and Pete's crab fries, but not bad at all for ballpark food.)
We were also impressed with Jackie Robinson rotunda, which is a main entrance to the stadium and a tribute to his legacy of breaking the color barrier in baseball and basically being a phenomenal addition to the sport. We ruffled some Mets fans' feathers, though, when we hopped in front of the blue 42 to get a picture taken. Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do for the tourist photo memories.
We didn't have the greatest seats for the game. We sat in the upper deck along 3rd base. Apparently, the Mets fans who sit in this section are required to have an IQ below 60. Honestly, these people were quite ridiculous. Many of them didn't actually have seats where they were seated and would then get upset when the rightful seat holder would ask them to move. It ain't rocket science, you know? Seats have numbers for this very reason.
We had the pleasure of sitting by a family of four - man, woman, boy age 5, girl age 3 - who thought it was appropriate to purchase only two seats and then plop themselves into a total of 4 seats. While the girl was cute in her little Mets cheerleader uniform, the boy whined obnoxiously. Sometimes I like children at the ballpark; this was not one of those times.
We also had the pleasure to sit three seats away from a Mets fan who reminded us that the Phillies weren't actually playing the Mets. Funny that he thought we wouldn't have known this when we purchased tickets that read "Marlins vs Mets." I didn't know I could ONLY wear a Phillies shirt when I was, in fact, AT a Phillies game.
We did see three other Phillies fans. They were nice. Like us, they too could be considered slightly insane for wearing Phillies gear in this hostile environment, but we all seemed to survive the random comments of "Phillies suck" or "Utley sucks" or "You know the Phillies aren't playing today?" Strange. Who won the 2008 World Series? Right.
A fun factor to the game was that my friend Scott happened to also be in attendance. He's a Mets fan, but I try not to hold that against him. We had the pleasure of hanging out with him for a few innings and explore some of the ballpark which was also quite fun.
The best part of the game was that the Mets lost to the Marlins! It's fun to watch the Mets lose!
After the game, we hopped back into the car and hit the road to our second stop - Cooperstown, NY. I also drove this leg of the trip while Jen dropped in and out of consciousness. Cooperstown is quite a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. Seriously, one could get lost here and fall off the face of the earth. It's a cute place, though, from what we've seen so far. A very small, quaint town dotted with Bed & Breakfasts and baseball memoriabilia. We had a nice dinner before we settled in for the night.
Tomorrow, as you can guess, we'll be acquiring new baseball knowledge as we explore Cooperstown's Baseball Hall of Fame. I am sure day two will be just as fun as today!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Anxious Anticipation
On Saturday, cousin Jen and I will embark on a 11-day road trip, what I am calling "Carol and Jen's Northeast Adventure." I have wanted to take this road trip for years and now that the trip is planned, I am definitely ready to go! We have an exciting assortment of sites and attractions planned in seven states and we plan to explore and eat our way through this part of the country. If you're interested in the itinerary, it follows:
Sat, May 30: Mets vs. Marlins - Flushing, NY
Sun, May 31: Cooperstown, NY
Mon, June 1: Burlington, VT
Tues, June 2: Franconia State Park, NH
Wed, June 3: Portland, ME
Thurs, June 4: Wells, ME/Kennebunkport, ME
Fri, June 5: Salem, MA/Red Sox vs. Rangers - Boston, MA
Sat, June 6: Boston, MA
Sun, June 7: Providence, RI
Mon, June 8: Mystic, CT/New Haven, CT/Yankees vs. Rays - Bronx, NY
It's going to be a blast!
Sat, May 30: Mets vs. Marlins - Flushing, NY
Sun, May 31: Cooperstown, NY
Mon, June 1: Burlington, VT
Tues, June 2: Franconia State Park, NH
Wed, June 3: Portland, ME
Thurs, June 4: Wells, ME/Kennebunkport, ME
Fri, June 5: Salem, MA/Red Sox vs. Rangers - Boston, MA
Sat, June 6: Boston, MA
Sun, June 7: Providence, RI
Mon, June 8: Mystic, CT/New Haven, CT/Yankees vs. Rays - Bronx, NY
It's going to be a blast!
Monday, May 25, 2009
Pete Yorn & Coldplay
After a torrential downpour of some thunderstorms with lightning included, the skies actually cleared enough for this concert event to go on. Due to the rain, the opening acts were adjusted to accommodate the schedule. Howling Belles, who I never heard of, didn't get to perform; Pete Yorn, who I absolutely love, performed for only about 30 minutes but he was as great as expected. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a good photo to share but I can tell you that I'm certain his new album will be great. He featured one new song and I did like it. He also played some all-time favorites including Strange Condition and For Nancy which are obviously two of his best songs. I hope to see him again for a much longer show.
Coldplay was, hands-down, amazing. Seriously, they put on such a great show - a fantastic mix of their new album with some old classics. From the new album, I really enjoyed Strawberry Swing, Lost, and of course Viva La Vida. Old favorites that I enjoyed were Fix You, Politik, The Scientist, and Clocks. It was a great mix of energy and enthusiasm.
Chris Martin is fantastic. He's an unbelievable performer. I especially enjoyed when he initiated the "first ever Mexican cell phone wave throughout Hershey Stadium". He did this from a microphone that was set up about 30 feet from our seats. The whole band came up into the stands and sang a few songs. It was great. I think Chris Martin exemplifies someone who just loves what he does on a daily basis - I find him inspirational.
One of the biggest reasons I like Coldplay is because they really seem to want to connect with their fans as much as possible. It was especially great when they handed out a free CD with about 9 songs on it at the end of the show. Granted, these are probably accessible for free from their website, but it's a nice gesture.
What a fanstastic event. I hope to see them again.
Coldplay was, hands-down, amazing. Seriously, they put on such a great show - a fantastic mix of their new album with some old classics. From the new album, I really enjoyed Strawberry Swing, Lost, and of course Viva La Vida. Old favorites that I enjoyed were Fix You, Politik, The Scientist, and Clocks. It was a great mix of energy and enthusiasm.
Chris Martin is fantastic. He's an unbelievable performer. I especially enjoyed when he initiated the "first ever Mexican cell phone wave throughout Hershey Stadium". He did this from a microphone that was set up about 30 feet from our seats. The whole band came up into the stands and sang a few songs. It was great. I think Chris Martin exemplifies someone who just loves what he does on a daily basis - I find him inspirational.
One of the biggest reasons I like Coldplay is because they really seem to want to connect with their fans as much as possible. It was especially great when they handed out a free CD with about 9 songs on it at the end of the show. Granted, these are probably accessible for free from their website, but it's a nice gesture.What a fanstastic event. I hope to see them again.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
A Month Since...
It's been a solid month since my trip to Memphis. I haven't posted about anything in my life since then. I'm not really sure why, as I spend the majority of every day talking to myself about all sorts of random things. Because I only work part time a few hours a day, only a few days a week, I do have a lot of time to play around with, and I spend a lot of this time immersed in my own thoughts. Since my trip to Memphis, it's become fairly obvious to me that there are a few things I miss.
For starters, I generally miss my independence. It's not to say that I don't do what I want every day, because for the most part, I do. But it is to say that I miss having my own world, my own independent world. I miss having my own space in my own apartment. I miss using my own things, like my own pots and pans and my own television. In essence, I miss having control over my living arrangements. I know that's somewhat of a petty thing, and I don't mean to sound unappreciative of the roof over my head and the food on the table, but there's just something about having my own space that I really relish and really miss.
I also miss what I feel is my daily sense of adventure. That's not to say that I had this crazy independent adventurous life at all times because that certainly was never the case. But there's just the sense that when I was out on my own, each day could hold some very different mini-adventures. Living in a city meant I could run into very different random faces at basically every corner. Again, I'm appreciative to be home and spend time with people I normally don't see, but after these few months, it's all become quite routine. Same restaurant. Same bar. Same people. Same gym routines. Repeat.
I guess that lately I've been feeling a little bit bored on a daily basis. Not that job searching is boring by any means, because it's not, but when paired with my general sense of boredom, I find myself quite antsy lately. Physically, I'm ready to move on to my next life phase, but the cosmos have not yet aligned, and I'm stuck - waiting and pondering, waiting and pondering - while going through the daily motions. I haven't freaked out yet or had a breakdown, and I've been quite pleased with my sense of patience, but I'm ready...
ready for what exactly, well, that's still working itself out. I'm pretty certain, though, that I'll know it when I see it.
For starters, I generally miss my independence. It's not to say that I don't do what I want every day, because for the most part, I do. But it is to say that I miss having my own world, my own independent world. I miss having my own space in my own apartment. I miss using my own things, like my own pots and pans and my own television. In essence, I miss having control over my living arrangements. I know that's somewhat of a petty thing, and I don't mean to sound unappreciative of the roof over my head and the food on the table, but there's just something about having my own space that I really relish and really miss.
I also miss what I feel is my daily sense of adventure. That's not to say that I had this crazy independent adventurous life at all times because that certainly was never the case. But there's just the sense that when I was out on my own, each day could hold some very different mini-adventures. Living in a city meant I could run into very different random faces at basically every corner. Again, I'm appreciative to be home and spend time with people I normally don't see, but after these few months, it's all become quite routine. Same restaurant. Same bar. Same people. Same gym routines. Repeat.
I guess that lately I've been feeling a little bit bored on a daily basis. Not that job searching is boring by any means, because it's not, but when paired with my general sense of boredom, I find myself quite antsy lately. Physically, I'm ready to move on to my next life phase, but the cosmos have not yet aligned, and I'm stuck - waiting and pondering, waiting and pondering - while going through the daily motions. I haven't freaked out yet or had a breakdown, and I've been quite pleased with my sense of patience, but I'm ready...
ready for what exactly, well, that's still working itself out. I'm pretty certain, though, that I'll know it when I see it.
Monday, May 04, 2009
Memphis Trip, Recap 5
OK, so I dropped the ball on recapping my trip. It seems like it was ages ago, even though it was only a few weeks. I have a weird perspective on time right now, probably because I have so much time to do whatever I want with. Anyway, here's the summary on the rest of my trip.
On Saturday night, Sebastian and I went out again. The bottom line is it wasn't the most fun I've ever had. I'm not saying it wasn't enjoyable, because it was, it just wouldn't have been my first choice of where to be and who to spend time with on such a short visit. Thank God for Rachel - she always comes through in the clutch and was definitely the highlight of the evening. We had a good time continuing to catch up while not getting too crazy. I ran into some random former students which was kind of fun, but overall it was just your pretty average night out...
until 2am, that is.
Around 2am, some of my former soccer students showed up and were, you could say, a little out of control. But these guys always make me laugh, and laugh I did. I don't even really know what prompted such random chanting of Irish soccer songs and other craziness, but it was definitely a good time to laugh loud and laugh hard. I guess I was still pretty wired because I had Sebastian drop me off to hang out with some other former soccer students late in the evening/early morning. The events that transpired past 3am are not for all to hear about, so I'll just keep those memories to myself.
I will say that Rachel gets the award for "Best in Show" as she had the best showing of the former students for hanging out with me and making me laugh so darn much. She's pretty much a legend and I am so glad I got to spend so much time with her.
The remainder of the trip was pretty casual. I had a nice lunch with the golfers and a nice relaxing afternoon hanging out with Sebastian before I headed to the airport. I'd say, overall, it was a very enjoyable and rewarding trip, and apparently exactly what I needed.
On Saturday night, Sebastian and I went out again. The bottom line is it wasn't the most fun I've ever had. I'm not saying it wasn't enjoyable, because it was, it just wouldn't have been my first choice of where to be and who to spend time with on such a short visit. Thank God for Rachel - she always comes through in the clutch and was definitely the highlight of the evening. We had a good time continuing to catch up while not getting too crazy. I ran into some random former students which was kind of fun, but overall it was just your pretty average night out...
until 2am, that is.
Around 2am, some of my former soccer students showed up and were, you could say, a little out of control. But these guys always make me laugh, and laugh I did. I don't even really know what prompted such random chanting of Irish soccer songs and other craziness, but it was definitely a good time to laugh loud and laugh hard. I guess I was still pretty wired because I had Sebastian drop me off to hang out with some other former soccer students late in the evening/early morning. The events that transpired past 3am are not for all to hear about, so I'll just keep those memories to myself.
I will say that Rachel gets the award for "Best in Show" as she had the best showing of the former students for hanging out with me and making me laugh so darn much. She's pretty much a legend and I am so glad I got to spend so much time with her.
The remainder of the trip was pretty casual. I had a nice lunch with the golfers and a nice relaxing afternoon hanging out with Sebastian before I headed to the airport. I'd say, overall, it was a very enjoyable and rewarding trip, and apparently exactly what I needed.
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