Baseball Vacation 2006

Niagara Falls and The National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown: July 24, 2006

      After drizzle the night before, we awoke to sunny skies at Niagara Falls. I took Mitchell on the Maid of the Mist tour (which I had done a couple of times before) and he had a blast going near the falls and getting wet. After seeing the falls, we crossed the border (which took a good while) and drove across New York to Cooperstown, home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Mitchell was quite surprised as I had not told him we would do that on this trip.
      We did not get to the hall of fame until about 7pm. They had a deal that, if you arrive after 7pm, you also get to go the next day. But they also have a membership deal, which provides a discount at the shop (and I knew I would spend a lot at the shop), two pins, a yearbook, and a magazine subscription, so I joined. Later in the trip, when we were at the gift shop at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, I was buying Mitchell a T-shirt when the sales clerk remarked to Mitchell "your dad is a real all-star." Mitchell, in all seriousness, replied "my dad is a member of the baseball hall of fame!" We laughed about that for days!
      We toured the hall of fame until dark and were so excited it was hard to leave. But we knew we were coming back the next day for more. We stayed 1/2 block from the hall of fame at the Tennyson Inn, in the Abner Doubleday room, quite appropriate I thougtht.

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The first thing we did at the Hall of Fame was to watch a special video in their theater. It was very impressive, if we had time we would like to have seen it again.
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Part of the Hall of Fame video.
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Part of the Hall of Fame video. A scene from the greatest baseball movie ever - The Natural.
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Part of the Hall of Fame video. I used to have a 1971 Topps Jim Hunter.
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Part of the Hall of Fame video.
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Part of the Hall of Fame video. The 911 tribute.
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A baseball card of the Sultan of Swat.
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Mitchell next to Abner Doubleday's portrait. We stayed in the Abner Doubleday room at a Bed and Breakfast just 1/2 a block away from the HOF.
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Can't imagine a baseball club with an 11 man roster these days, though having Honus Wagner on the team would help.
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I loved the old jerseys at the museum. I would have shelled out big bucks for a replica of many of them right on the spot.
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Babe Ruth could sure drive a baseball - not sure I good he was with cars.
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Mitchell examines a Ty Cobb exhibit at the HOF.
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Mitchell standing in front of Babe Ruth's locker.
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Bob Feller was an Indian great. Mitchell's younger brother has named his golden retriever "Feller." We had bought him Feller for his birthday in earlier in 2006.
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I would have loved to see the NY Giants play in the Polo Grounds.
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Craig Biggio's jersey is featured in the Astros locker display.
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An Albert Pujols jersey in the Cardinals locker. Somewhere downstairs I could hear the Babe Ruth plaque say "What am I, chopped liver?"
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Gotta show the Yankees locker.
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Niagara Falls from down low while we were on a Maid of the Mist tour.
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Mitchell thought the Maid of the Mist tour was cool and enjoyed getting wet.
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Another shot down low, of the American Falls.
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On the American side you can get down low and put on a yellow raincoat to avoid the spray.
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Approaching Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side.
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Looking across the boat at Horseshoe Falls.
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