And so it begins...

Twelve years ago, we moved from Seattle to Woodstock, Vermont and spent a dozen years enjoying New England, and making friends we will have for the rest of our lives.  But, increasing age, and health concerns have led to the need to move back to our Northwest roots, and so for the next few weeks we will be traipsing again from coast to coast (this time from East to West), and seeing America from the road as we love to do.

 We spent most of the month of June in White Plains with our daughter Kara’s family, and enjoying seeing our grandson, Toby, graduate from high school, and be named his class’ best dressed.  It has been wonderful seeing our New York grandchildren grow up (and in Toby’s case –and up—and up).  Now we are looking forward to seeing our Washington grandchildren as they become teenagers.  

Our first day on the road (yesterday) after a teary (OK, sobbing) goodbye, we drove from White Plains to Cooperstown NY, which is a pilgrimage every baseball fan should make at least once.  Cooperstown is very isolated, and once we left the interstate, we followed Apple Maps on the most convoluted trip imaginable, through hamlets that make Woodstock look positively urban. But, we arrived at our lovely B & B.  Our host looked younger than our children, which I guess is part of getting older.

 

Today, we visited the Baseball Hall of Fame for the third time.  It is always different, and has special exhibits beyond the permanent ones.  This time it was a retrospective of the career of Henry Aaron.  Also, we saw the Plaque of my hero Edgar Martinez who was inducted two years ago.  We had planned to go to his induction, but health problems forced us to cancel those plans, so it was very exciting to see his honor.

 

We also went to the Fenimore Museum, which is an art museum located right on  beautiful Lake Oswego, just outside of the village.   We ate lunch in the garden and enjoyed the views, and then saw a retrospective of the work of Keith Haring.  We had not been too familiar with his work, so we really enjoyed his art.  He believed that art should be available to everyone, and made a career out of illustrating subway walls, etc., and giving away posters and drawings during openings at galleries.   Also, at the Museum, there was an exhibit about “Hamilton’s Last Act.”  This, of course, referred to his duel with Burr, which did not turn out too well for him. I saw pictures of Hamilton, and surprise, he did not look like Lin Manuel Miranda.

 We started this journey to the Northwest as a baseball odyssey, and certainly Cooperstown  was the right place to start.  But, the little village is so much more than that. Shopping, Art Museums, and a Farm Museum, which we did not have time to visit.  Tomorrow, we are off to Cincinnati (a two day drive), and the first of four ballgames on our trip.  The Bucket List includes going to every major league ballpark, and this will make 20.