Cooperstown, NY Side Trip Courtesy of Laura and Wad Stevens July 11, 2016
Laura picked all of us up at 9:30 to take us to Cooperstown where they live. Our first stop was Laura’s hometown of Richfield Springs where mom was able to mail some outgoing mail. Lovely town!
She stopped at their cabin next to drop me off, so I could enjoy their grass, view and loads of space! …Not to mention some loving and attention by Wad and Laura! HEAVEN!!! The air around and in the cabin smelled of woods & the outdoors…wonderful!!!
Laura then drove M & D on a quick tour of the town before dropping them off at the Baseball Hall of Fame…For true baseball aficionados, it really is incredible! For someone like mom it was still impressive and enjoyable! Dad showed me all the photos he took mostly for himself, but some for friends too… They managed to get through in a couple of hours before pulling themselves away to walk around the town a bit. They were entertained by various musicians in the park as they walked. That was a nice touch!
They picked up a town trolley that took them through more of the town before dropping them off at the Fenimore Art Museum. What a treat for mom in particular! They had some of her favorite primitive and folk art along with temporary exhibits of Whistler’s lithograph prints, Adam Ansel’s early work, Toulouse Lautrec’s posters, Letters of Alexander Hamilton & Aaron Burr, two excellent painting exhibits by local artists and the graphic design excellence of Mc Kowen's theatre posters. Mom was in the heaven; not to mention she kept raving about the beauty of the museum itself. A former home of one of the Fenimore's combined with the Stephen Carlton Clark art collection. Just incredible!
Laura picked them up at Fenimore, so they were back to the cabin with me before I knew it! We all had a wonderful time having cocktails, snacks and talking to Laura n Wad on their deck overlooking Lake Otsego. What a View!!! L & W gave us more history of the area including the fact that much of the town was built and owned by the Cooper’s. (As in James Fenimore Cooper’s ancestors.) Along with them, you had the Budweiser family, the Clarks (of thread fame who eventually bought our the Singers (sewing machine co.) Jane Clark is the sole survivor who still owns the North end of the lake and is very generous providing many endowments, just as her family had in the past…
Wad and Laura took them for a pontoon ride to one of their favorite lakeside restaurant’s, Blue Mingo. They saw lots of lovely small hotels along the lake, homes, restaurants, golf courses and the massive Otsego Hotel where all the Hall of Famer’s stay. (Laura and Wad owned two successful dining establishments for a number of years, so they had the pleasure of meeting many of the Hall of Famer’s that came through town.) It was so much fun listening to their stories! M & D said their meal was terrific too, but they didn’t bring anything for me. BOO! As soon as they returned, Laura drove us back to Moondance. What a full and fun day for all of us with memories we will cherish!
Wad and Laura took them for a pontoon ride to one of their favorite lakeside restaurant’s, Blue Mingo. They saw lots of lovely small hotels along the lake, homes, restaurants, golf courses and the massive Otsego Hotel where all the Hall of Famer’s stay. (Laura and Wad owned two successful dining establishments for a number of years, so they had the pleasure of meeting many of the Hall of Famer’s that came through town.) It was so much fun listening to their stories! M & D said their meal was terrific too, but they didn’t bring anything for me. BOO! As soon as they returned, Laura drove us back to Moondance. What a full and fun day for all of us with memories we will cherish!
Mike and I on Wad n Laura's pontoon boat on Lake Otsego in Cooperstown
What a wonderful night to be out on the lake! Love the smell of the evergreens and fresh water!!!
Sleeping Lion at the other end of Lake Otsego
Richfield Spring's Post Office
Look at this lovely mural inside Richfield Spring's Post Office
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| Richfield Spring's Farmer's Market |
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| The Park in the center of town...so pretty! |
one of Toulouse Lautrec's posters at Fenimore
Loved this graphic designer's Theatre Posters...most were done by scratchboard etching which is incredible difficult, but beautiful!
Robert Schneider's mural behind Wad's and Mike's head...we loved his exhibit at the Fenimore!
Wad captaining his boat
Laura, the hostess with the mostest!
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| Loved this old Tyme type sign |
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| Mike wasn't impressed with their bourbon, but we loved their decanters! |
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| Cooperstown looking down the street from the Baseball Hall of Fame |
Inside the museum
Items from present day Red's
For our Canadian friends of their present day player's items
For our San Diego family of their present day player's items
Pete Rose who should be in the Hall of Fame Gallery
Mike ran into Joe Nuxhall for years at the WMCA...great guy!
The Hall of Fame Gallery
Sculpture Garden
One of the local musicians entertaining those downtown, not sure what the chickens represented?
Front views of the Hall of Fame
The inside was much more contemporary than the facade shows...very well designed!
Peaceable Kingdom, by Edward Hicks, a Quaker minister...one of my Favorites!
Grandma Mose's was very much into more is more...lots going on!
Louise Nevelson introduced this folk artist and bootblack's work to MOMA
Front view of Fenimore Art Museum and former home of the Fenimore Coopers
Laura and Wad's Cabin that they converted from a former Carriage House
View down to Lake Otsego
Just one of their decks for entertaining
85 Steps to get down to their floating dock on the lake. This view was shot from the 1/2 way point/deck
The Clark's built this folly because they wanted one and they could!
Jane Clark's party boat...How fun!!!
Loved this shot that Mike took of it with the reflection in the water
Coming into Blue Mingo
More of Robert Schneider's wonderful mural behind Laura's beautiful head!
The view looking up to the Steven's cabin...time to say Goodnight...
Today dawned beautiful with M & D shoving us off by 8:30…at first M & D thought we would only go to Mariner’s Landing at Lake Oneida but they decided to move onto Brewerton on the other side of the Lake. We went through 5 locks today with the last 2 locks we descended…those were much easier since there isn’t quite the turbulence! They have a really long bicycle path alongside the canal that goes all the way to Albany…nice. Parts of it reminded M & D of the Loveland Bike Path in Cincy... Good Memories! ...And, the good news for me was we left the trains behind in Illion…I was over them!
If all goes as mom and dad discussed they should be in Oswego, NY via the Oswego Canal tomorrow where they will meet with Minnie and George on Thursday. If weather permits, we intend to be in Kingston, Ontario on Friday. We probably are going to spend 2-3 days there according to M & D. We expect to be in Canada about a month, so people can text or email us but calling will be expensive. Even my blog may become very limited unless we can find Internet services up there???
One of the original lock ruins left along this part of the Erie Canal. As you can see here, we were playing dodge'm with floating logs and trees today
Kind of a pretty way to fill it...our very own waterfall
On Lake Oneida in NY
We weren't sure if this was a ferry or a cruise ship crossing Lake Oneida since there are lots of low bridges on the Erie Canal
Another example of some owner or architect's whimsy as we came into Bremerton, NY
Our views from Ess-Kay Yards where we are staying tonight
Lily was loving all this grass by our dock
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