We visited the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York.
Ichiro exhibit:
More exhibits:
Bobbleheads on shaking shelves:
Women in baseball:
Baseball art:
The Baseball Hall of Fame:
Placeholders for the 2025 inductees, including Ichiro:
Media exhibits:
Baseball movies:
Who’s On First?
Good stuff.
We drove our coach 254 miles, about five hours of driving, from Youngstown to Richfield Springs, New York.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading east:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
Not heading to Canada:
Bridge:
Tolls:
Bridge:
Exit to I-290 East:
Exit to I-90 East:
Rest area:
BK for lunch:
Roadworks:
Another rest area:
Yet another rest area:
Paladin on the dash:
Rainy:
Arriving at KOA:
Our site:
We attended a game of the Toronto Blue Jays vs Philadelphia Phillies, playing at the Blue Jay’s ballpark, Rogers Centre, the only MLB team in Canada.
Jenn’s game summary:
Our first domed stadium. They can open the roof, but it was closed due to drizzle and maybe wildfire smoke. A lovely park with excellent food and a vibrant atmosphere. The Blue Jays came out for four runs in the 2nd and 3rd innings each to make total cream cheese of the Phillies, who only scraped together one run. Bassitt recorded his 1100th career strikeout, and Bo Bichette hit his 8th home run of the year. It was a fun game with a bit of local color—they sang a song called “OK Blue Jays” before “Take Me Out To the Ballgame,” and everyone knew the words and gestures, creating a great community vibe.
An interactive map of the ballpark environs:
This ballpark was a little more difficult to get to, as we had to cross an international border into Canada:
Toronto:
CN Tower:
Toronto Blue Jays:
Team store:
Mary Brown’s Chicken:
Poutine (of course) and chicken tenders:
Selfie from our seats in Section 119, Row 12, Seats 13 & 14:
Closed dome:
Ace, the Blue Jays mascot:
Cheerleaders:
Play ball:
Hotel rooms overlooking the field:
A run scores:
Two more runs:
The mascot “helping” the grounds crew:
Exploring the ballpark:
Chungchun rice hot dogs:
Gamsung hot dog covered in potato, and half mozzarella hot dog:
Cheerleader:
Blue Jays win:
Some viewpoints on the American side of Niagara Falls.
Niagara Falls State Park map:
American Falls:
Horseshoe Falls:
Maid of the Mist viewing tower:
View from the tower platform:
Maid of the Mist boat and access:
Nice!
We had a boat ride below Niagara Falls on Maid of the Mist, which goes up close to both the American and Horseshoe falls.
Boarding the boat via the floating loading platform:
A viewing platform tower, included as part of the package, which also serves as an elevator down to the boat:
A view of the Rainbow Bridge to Canada from the top deck of the boat:
The American Falls:
Cave of the Winds platforms:
Horseshoe Falls:
Canadian boat:
Back to the American Falls:
A super fun (and damp!) experience.
We visited Cave of the Winds in Niagara Falls, where one can walk below the American Falls.
A fun experience.
We stayed at Four Mile Creek State Park in Youngstown, New York. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A nice lakefront state park.
Dates:
Weather:
Noise:
Site:
Utilities:
Internet (in usage priority order):
Amenities:
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Gorgeous lakefront campground with stellar staff
All the sites are grassy back-ins. About half the park has no hookups, half has 30A, and one row has 50A. We managed to secure a 50A site with a view of Lake Ontario from our windows, which was a nice perk. The location is ideal for accessing Niagara Falls and Old Fort Niagara. It’s also convenient if you want to take a daytrip up to Toronto, with multiple border crossings to choose from.
The staff here were the best, however. Not only were they invaluable in pointing out things to do in the area, but we had a mechanical failure on the day of our departure, and it took a couple of days to get up and running again. The office staff were great to work with and very understanding of our situation. At one point, we needed some “muscle,” so several park employees and one or two locals joined in to help us out, and it helped restore some of my faith in humanity.
The only downside of this campground was the lack of full hookups. Due to our unexpectedly longer stay, we did use the bathroom blocks for once, and the showers were hit and miss (one I tried had a very weak spray and no hot water, but the one I tried on a subsequent day was much better). All in all, I would stay here again. We camped at Four Mile Creek State Park in a Motorhome.
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
Utilities… just electric:
There were a number of water stations dotted around the campground (marked on the map):
I used the nearby one (you can see our coach in the background) to fill our water bladder:
Then pumped the water from the bladder to the coach:
Then filled the waste tote in the back of the truck via the macerator:
And dumped the tote at the dump station:
My beard blowing in the wind while adding stickers to our coach:
Added the New York state sticker:
Just a few left:
Watching the sunset over Lake Ontario:
Very hazy due to wildfire smoke from Canada:
Lake Ontario:
Bathrooms:
We actually used the bathrooms once or twice:
Including the shower, due to filling tanks after our slide issue:
The playground behind our site:
Other sites:
A nice state park. We’d be happy to stay here again.
We drove our coach 213 miles, about four hours of driving, from Newbury, Ohio to Youngstown, New York.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading northeast:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
Rain pouring off slide topper:
Needed to return the laminated parking pass:
Road near Newbury, Ohio:
I-90 East:
Fuel stop:
BK for lunch:
Paladin on the dash when we returned to our coach:
Toe beans:
Paladin on the dash when underway:
Welcome to Pennsylvania:
A truck took the curve too fast, and rolled over; that’s going to take a while to clean up:
Welcome to New York:
New York Tollway:
Service plaza parking:
Not something you see on a trailer every day:
Text stop parking area; a good idea:
Buffalo:
Tonawanda bridge:
Welcome to the City of Niagara Falls; we avoided the Niagara Scenic Parkway due to the 12’ 0” height restriction (we are 11’ 7”, rather close):
And definitely avoided accidentally heading to Canada:
Arriving at Four Mile Creek State Park:
Our site:
Our coach:
Little did we know we’d be here a little longer than expected….
We attended a game of the Cleveland Guardians vs the Los Angeles Angels, playing at the Guardians’ ballpark, Progressive Field.
Jenn’s game summary:
A fun game with some interesting scoring stuff I’d never seen before, including a single that was also an E7 and then an “OAD 3-6-5” with the batter thrown out at third. Also, a delayed HBP call on a final out, so guys were back in the dugout and had to get back out to continue. The Angels struck first with back-to-back homers in the third (just after the above wacky play). Mike Trout got a couple singles and an RBI double, but the Guardians got three homers of their own (José Ramirez, Steven Kwan, and Carlos Santana) with some other hits mixed in to eventually win it 7-5. The food was pretty terrible (dogs were both soggy & burnt?!) but really good nachos and ice cream saved the day.
An interactive map of the ballpark:
Progressive Field:
Long line for the team store:
Pretzel, gross hot dog, soda, and water:
More edible mozzarella sticks and tots:
Angels vs Guardians:
Cheerleader:
Seat selfie:
The view from our seats in Section 136, Row Y, Seats 1 & 2:
Play ball:
This guy a few seats down from us caught a foul ball:
Heritage park:
Bullpens:
Exploring the ballpark:
Nice nachos:
Home run:
Perry’s ice cream:
Churro sundae:
Play under review:
Scores:
Guardians win:
We visited the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation in Detroit, Michigan.
But first, Lamy’s Diner within the museum for lunch:
Menu:
Classic diner food:
McDonald’s sign:
Presidential cars:
Trains:
Classic cars:
Sports cars:
Planes:
Hallmark collectable ornaments:
Bikes:
Machinery:
Cobbler:
Sewing machines etc:
Model T car:
Exploded Model T:
Glasswork:
Dymaxion House:
Wienermobile:
An interesting collection.