Weekend Trip Idea: Cooperstown NY

I’m going to be upfront and tell you that I would take a trip to Cooperstown NY and not go to the Baseball Hall of Fame. So there’s that. But if you are into baseball, that’s an option.

I get my trip inspirations from the weirdest places. Sometimes all I need to see is one bar website, or restaurant review or article and I start planning a trip in my  head.  Two years ago I read an article in a doctor’s office or waiting room of some sort about the natural beauty of Iceland and I immediately went home and started wikitraveling an itinerary. I based my first time in Lake Placid solely around the fact that it’s the only place on the east coast to bobsled and Cooperstown came on my radar when I caught site of this online. You’re reading this correctly. I’m basing this itinerary on a cup. Could I order it online? Sure, but where’s the fun (and the instagram-worthy moment) in that? Plus the Ommegang Brewery brews official Game of Thrones beers and “winter is coming” has pretty much been the theme of this here blog since Halloween ended (although, sidenote: it’s 62 today as I’m writing this in November…when is winter coming?).

Cooperstown is just 2 hours from NEPA and a little longer at 4 from down here in southern PA, but could easily be combined with a trip to the Finger Lakes if you don’t want to feel like you wasted a lot of time.

If you want a liquid lunch that’s a little less potent than what’s offered at Ommegang, try the Fly Creek Cider Mill, where you can sample locally made ciders and cheeses. Howe Caverns is about a half hour away and offers cave tours of various degrees of adventure as well as a zipline above ground and Glimmerglass State Park, 8 miles outside of town has options for swimming, hiking, XC skiing and biking. It’s also where the Susquehanna River begins it’s 440 mile journey to the Chesapeake, so there’s strong PA connections.

Apologies if this is on the brief side, but I’m actually working on this post a week in advance so that I can spend Tuesday-Sunday of Thanksgiving week in a food/booze coma. Monday I’ll be moving my sister into a new apartment in Philly where hopefully I get to try this cool new German bar that opened across the alley from McGillin’s.