On an On-Time Departure
Wednesday, July 2, 2025Queensbury, NY
Outside the Game:
It was another long day at work, coupled with a failed cooking endeavor on top of that (stupid rennet), but despite a deluge of work emails just as I was about to leave on time. Having booked my hotel the day before, all I had to do was grab my bags and head out on the road around 7 PM, and I enjoy quite a pleasant drive north, marred only by a blown out tire in the road that gave me a bumpy jolt.
I was able to successfully call my mother on the way, and the rubber band trick to hold the power cord into my phone worked, allowing the phone to recharge on the drive up, and the three hours passed quickly.
At about a quarter to 10 PM, I was able to take the exit for my hotel for the night, I was quickly redirected down a spooky, dimly lit road that led to an abandoned-looking building with no cars anywhere. Waiting for my eventual murder, I mustered up the courage to go inside, where I found a hotel lobby and a bored-looking receptionist waiting for me to check in. The parking lot would turn out to be out back, and the closed business next door just enhanced the Scooby-Doo energy of the place.
I got my key and drove around to the much more welcoming back of the building, where I parked and retrieved all my bags. I went to my room, unpacked, prepared for the next day, and settled in for some blissful sleep.
The Accommodations:
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| Baymont by Wyndham, Queensbury |
The Baymont by Wyndham Queensbury was a dichotomy. It was cheaply priced and a little frayed at the edges, but it clearly had aspirations for better things, with upscale furniture and memory foam cushions.
The bathroom by the front door had a vanity sink before the bathroom proper. The bedroom had a bed, nightstands, and a pull-out couch on one wall, and a dresser, bench, and desk on the other.
It did its job.
On a Strategic Rain Strike
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| Veteran's Field, 2025 |
Thursday, July 3, 2025
Saranac Lake, NY
Outside the Game:
Having gone to bed around when I normally aspire to go to sleep, I was up early, and had to busy myself with plans for the morning while I waited for the breakfast buffet to open.
I dragged myself down past the lobby to the restaurant, where I passed the failed businesses connected to the hotel that helped the spooky ambiance the night before. There was what looked to be some kind of toy store, the signs stripped away, but picture windows still holding an array of toys lost to time. The breakfast area was a defunct Bavarian restaurant. Poking around yielded old signage no one bothered to be taken down. The breakfast buffet, such as it was, was on the dais where the old restaurant buffet was housed, and it was a disappointingly bland breakfast offering at that. Equal parts let down and confused, I headed back to my room for a nap.
I showered, packed up, and checked out in time to burst out into the down pouring rain, a poor bellwether for the day. I drove the short distance to Lake George, a small lakeside village where my aunt and uncle used to own a vacation home. As I exited my car to go to Fort William Henry, the rain stopped, and it immediately changed to insufferable heat and blinding sun.
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| Boom |
Upon purchasing my ticket, I found that a tour had just started, which I affixed myself to the end of, where re-enactors took the group through the history of the fort, then performed musketry and canon demonstrations, to the delight of the children. I wandered the rest of the fort, which had some truly awful mannequins, but overall, it was quite an enjoyable edutainment experience. I made my inevitable purchases in the gift shop, and then headed out to the late morning.
I called my aunt to find out if there was some "can't-miss" food experience, and she just directed me to any of the pizza places in town, where I picked one and had a couple of acceptable slices. I went into an arcade and played a few games and got my fortune told before it was time for me to head up to Saranac Lake to check into my hotel.
The trip was a little more than an hour and a half and had no great incidents. The Sarah Placid Motel was run by a family who owned several of the hostelries in town. They managed this with key-code doors for all the properties that they texted you when room service was done with their sweep.
I pulled into the motel and was able to get into my room right by the empty Office and went about unpacking, setting up, and then taking a nap before my drive up to Malone for the game.
Grabbing my game bag, I was quickly on the road for the hour drive to just shy of the border, reaching the field in good time, but with ominous weather in every direction.
I popped out and paid for a ticket, walking around the small Veteran's Field and taking pictures as the weather got more and more threatening. It was, as the name suggests, an old VFW field that they had made some improvements to. There was a concession stand, a wood grandstand built over the bleachers behind home plate, improved dugouts, a small clubhouse complex, and a sign for the team added to the ancient digital scoreboard.
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| Not great |
However, I wouldn't get to see any of this in action, as the PA came on and told everyone to take cover, as severe weather was coming in. I walked back to my car, and sure enough, a vicious thunderstorm came through, drenching the area, but lacking any promised lightning or hail. But in fifteen minutes or so, it was completely gone. However, the damage had apparently been done, as I watched the teams scattered to their cars and vans even after the storm passed.
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| Slight rain |
I had researched a drive-in in town, so I drove up there to make something of the evening. I ordered up a "poutine burger" and was told there was going to be a wait, as apparently a ton of locals had come during the rain storm. I was given a large beer stein for my soda and access to free popcorn, so I waited until my heart-attack on a plate showed up, an open-faced burger covered in poutine, gravy, and French Fries. There are worse ways to spend an evening.
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| Healthy |
Not having anything else to do, I drove back to Saranac Lake early and parked up, walking down the road to a local ice cream joint for a hot fudge Sunday before stopping at a gas station for some beverages. I then wandered back to the motel and sat outside for a bit before settling in for an early evening.
The Accommodations:
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| Sarah Placid Motel, Saranac Lake |
For my last visit, I stayed in a motel down the road, but I decided to mix it up with the Sarah Placid Motel. I've already discussed the interesting check-in, but this was another well-maintained motel that was perfect for what I needed it for.
A small table with two chairs is by the front window, with a bed and nightstand one wall, and a dresser, TV, and refrigerator on the other, with a wall-unit AC right by the bathroom, which was delightfully renovated. All the furniture had a faux log styling, and it was everything that I wanted a motel to be.
On a Long Detour
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| The Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum, 2025 |
Friday, July 4, 2025
Clifton, NJ, by way of Cooperstown, NY
Outside the Game:
I woke early the next day, and only had a quick nap before showering and heading out. I was on the roads early, but Android had decided that the fastest way to get from here to Cooperstown was some of the most ass-end farming roads in northern NY. At one point I was stuck behind a horse and buggy, as well as several tractors.
Regardless, I still made some good time and pulled into Cooperstown around 11:30 AM. There was a game at Doubleday Field, so that lot was full, but I lucked into a no-charge parking space on a side street relatively quickly.
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| Healthy |
A long time coming, I went straight to the Cooperstown Diner and bought a jumbo burger for the first time since before the pandemic. It also downed on my that my last two meals were overstuffed burgers, but I tried not to think about that too much.
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| Interactions |
After lunch, I went to the Hall and saw the new exhibits on Negro League baseball, the induction class, and the bobble-head collection. I was two weeks early for the exhibit on Japanese baseball, appropriately debuting at the induction of Ichiro.
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| Serious history |
They had re-done the introduction movie (very well-done), but they also renovated the move theater to no longer be Cominskey Park, but just generic and theater-looking, which was a disappointment. (The usher also made us all sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" before we left, which I wanted to think was cheesy, but it was actually awesome.) I also discovered the Bananaball exhibit was permanent and not just there for the game I went to a few years ago.
After stopping at both stores and buying more than advisable, I wandered around Main Street for a while, hitting the bookstore and buying a book on NJ before yielding to good sense and heading back out to my car for the rest of the drive home at around 2:30 PM.
Android again took me on weird back roads, getting me stuck behind slow cars, but making good enough time once I was blessedly back on the main roads again. I stopped off at the last rest stop on the NY Throughway. Something called "GreenApple" had taken over all of the concessions, but I had lunch/dinner at Panera. There was a worker there named "Adrian" (based on his nametag) that was having his break, and I made up a sad, lonely little story about his life in my head that I strongly suspected and feared was close to the truth.
I grabbed some gas at the rest stop (having to back in because everyone was just sitting in their cars, blocking the pumps), but I somehow managed to not fill it all the way up. I couldn't be bothered to go back and fix it, so I just drove the rest of the way home with little incident, for an evening of doing laundry, unpacking, and organizing.
The Accommodations:
Clifton, sweet, Clifton
