Folks, my birthday trip that I’ve known about for two months finally arrived! My boyfriend, Josh, decided he was going to test his sanity and our relationship by bringing me to the Baseball Hall of Fame, but for doing so has been referred to as a keeper by some. After working nine days in a row, I was more than happy to go on this trip and get away.

Thursday, May 26

I waited until the morning of to pack, which, to other people seemed very unlike me. Regardless, I didn’t overpack or forget anything. I used this weekender bag and hanging travel toiletry bag along with an older small suitcase I had. Everything worked really well and I was able to easily fit and find everything.

Josh picked me up around 1:00 p.m., and after a stop at Dunkin’ for iced coffees, we were off.

We were on the highway for about two hours, and once we got off the highway in New York, we ended up in some very, very rural farm country, and I began to wonder how often mail is delivered out there, if they qualify for Amazon Prime, and how trash pick-up works. I think we spent close to 45 minutes on backroads before finally pulling into Cooperstown.

We checked into the hotel after 4:00 p.m., and I spent some time just lying on one of the beds. Yes, one of the beds, because the only room that was available when we first booked the trip had two queen beds. I told Josh I needed a moment after the long car ride before getting ready to go out.

For dinner, we went to Red Shed Brewery since they had a food truck and were open until 10:00 p.m. Not to say we were going to be there that late but at least we didn’t have to rush if we got to the hotel later than we originally planned.

We each got flights and sourdough grilled cheeses with tomatoes and bacon. So good. For my flight, I got Jessica’s Red Ale, Cloudy Girl Hazy IPA, Barn Swallow Vienna Lager, and Awestruck Apples & Pears Cider.

I was caught in the act of taking a picture by Josh, who was just doing his duties as a blog boyfriend. The result of the picture I took can be seen on the right.

I think we left there close to 7:00 p.m. and went for a walk around the hotel property to look at the lake before watching some TV. The hotel is right on Ostego Lake and looked so peaceful.

Friday, May 27

Unfortunately, both of us struggled to sleep Thursday into Friday, probably just being in a new environment. As we were getting ready, we watched people back their boats up into the boat launch at the shore. One of the guys had a dog with him who then went out on the boat; we assumed that the dog has its captain’s license. But it was pretty cool to see them getting ready for the summer season and start docking the boats.

We went for breakfast after 9:00 a.m. at Stagecoach Coffee, which was a short walk from our hotel.

Since it wasn’t too busy, we decided to eat inside. I got an iced chai and egg and cheddar on an English Muffin and Josh got an iced coffee and a breakfast sandwich. It was super cute inside and a great breakfast option for us.

Then it was off to the Hall of Fame! Of course, I had to take a picture in front before we went inside. Masks weren’t required but suggested, and we were going to wear ours anyway since we’d be around crowds of people. (For the most part, we wore our masks inside when we were around a lot of people, just to be safe.)

I took a bunch of pictures of the exhibits, but here are just some of the ones I liked the most:

We had spent almost 3 hours walking around the second and third floors, so we decided to take a lunch break since we could go back into the HOF any time before 5:00 p.m. There was a small cafe down the street, Doubleday Cafe, that I had looked at before the trip that we chose for lunch.

I got a hummus wrap and Josh got a Rueben. We were seated and ate fairly quickly, so it made for an easy lunch before going back to the HOF.

Our final stop in the HOF was the Plaque Gallery on the first floor where all of the players’ plaques are. It’s pretty cool to see the older ones compared to the newer ones, and I was annoyed that some of the font types were different on them. But that’s a me thing.

I took a picture of the 2014–2016 section because I knew every single name on the wall (left to right; top row to bottom row): Bobby Cox, Tony LaRussa, Frank Thomas, Craig Biggio, Pedro Martinez, Ken Griffey Jr.; Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, Joe Torre, Randy Johnson, John Smoltz, and Mike Piazza.

And we had to take a picture with the future home of our close, personal friend David Ortiz’s plaque.

We stopped into the gift store and I got a t-shirt and mug, and Josh got a sweatshirt—that we both agreed on because there’s a 100% chance I’ll steal it later. During the whole time in the HOF, Josh just followed behind me and listened to all of the dumb facts that take up space in my brain.

I wanted to go into a few other shops before we headed back to the hotel to relax a bit before dinner.

Josh and I will literally go anywhere that has a giant pretzel—or fried pickles. We went to Upstate Bar and Grill, which was a five-minute drive from the hotel. I got Neon Rainbow for a beer, we split the giant pretzel, and I got a Cuban sandwich and Josh got the buffalo chicken wrap.

Our final stop for the day was at Cooper’s Barn for ice cream, of course. It was their first day open for the season and surprisingly they weren’t busy. It was pretty cool that you could pick your own custom ice cream flavor; you’d start with a base of either vanilla or chocolate and then pick a few things to mix in it. I got the smallest size possible of Teddy Bear, which was a vanilla base with graham cracker, shortbread, and cinnamon, and Josh got Strawberry Shortcake, which was a vanilla base with strawberries and shortbread.

Saturday, May 28

We slept a lot better Friday night into Saturday and slept in a bit since we knew we had one stop on the way home after breakfast and checking out of the hotel.

We started to pack up after 10:30 a.m. since check-out was at 11:00 a.m. before heading to our final stop on the trip. When we originally planned everything out, I had looked into an art museum that was about five minutes from the hotel, but by Friday night, I was tired and we decided to skip the museum.

When we first got there, we took a loop around the outside where they had a duck pond in the back with ducks and geese and then a little farm area with chickens and roosters.

I totally know the measuring stick is for kids, but we had to take pictures with it since Josh and I are drastically different heights.

Upstairs in the building is where their apple press is—they weren’t pressing since I think it’s something they do in the fall—but we did find the tasting room. We had wine flights before noon, and that’s the best kind of wine flight. We both got a bottle of their hard cider, and I got a drinking glass and Josh got a shot glass.

We grabbed a quick lunch from their snack barn before heading back home. We stopped twice at rest stops for the bathroom, and we ended up driving in a thunderstorm on the Mass Pike coming back east. We got back after 4:00 p.m., and we spent the rest of the night hanging out at my place and just relaxing. And, not gonna lie, it was nice to sleep in my own bed again.

But, overall, I had so much fun and really enjoy the trip. It was our first one away as a couple, and I think we did pretty well. Josh has been on a ton more trips than I have so that made me feel comfortable to have him as my travel partner. I’m looking forward to our trip to Maine next week! Which will also have a pretty detailed recap post when I get back.