Cooperstown, NY

What a lovely town!  With its small size, and obvious reliance on agriculture, we are amazed at the wealth of beautiful architecture.  Stately old homes with tons of gingerbread trim.  And a huge, very upscale lake resort on Lake Otsego, called the Otesaga Inn.  Otesaga is an Iroquois word meaning "a place of meeting."  The lake is vast and beautiful, with the tree line coming right down to touch the edges.  It's knickname is Glimmerglass, which is highly appropriate.

Cooperstown is the birthplace of baseball, where Abner Doubleday was said to have invented it,  and where the Baseball Hall of Fame resides.  We arrived at our campsite just out of town, plugged in, pushed out and headed out in record time.  Clem was very anxious to visit.   I will have photos to post, but wanted to catch up while I can use Clem's cell phone as a hot spot.  I love the campsite....we are deep in the woods, with only the chirping of birds to break the silence.   But there is no cable or wifi.  And I will be driving today to our next destination.  I enjoy driving the back roads....so much more to see. ....but it makes Clem nervous.  He is not yet as comfortable with the coach as I am in general.  And I am still the back up queen!!  haha!!    We extended our stay here another night, and visited the Fenimore Art Museum and Fly Creek Cider Mill, and strolled the downtown at our leisure.  That is, after all, why we bought our own RV.  So as not to have to rush to get it back when we wanted to spend another night!

The other thing we learned about Cooperstown, is that it is home to the author James Fenimore Cooper, and yet named for his father, a landowner of thousands of acres of New York, and a judge of prominence.  Most of those beautiful homes were owned by relations.  He married a woman by name of Fenimore, and their 6th and most famous son was the author.  His most famous works, which he penned on a bet from his wife, were the Leatherstocking Tales, among which was the Last of the Mohicans.  Most of his work was based on his life here and influenced by the lake.  The region is called the Leatherstocking region because of the leather protective garments worn by the people.

The rolling hillsides take me back to my youth, as I grew up not far from here.  It is interesting how you can go from state to state and feel the difference brought on by  the topography.   And fall here is unequalled, with the blaze of colors ranging from rusts, through shades of red that literally glow, to yellows.  And the hills are covered in deciduous trees, so they are en masse.  You really can't imagine it until you have seen it.  As a kid I remarked to my mother when looking out a window that the hills looked like a bowl of Trix.