All American Day!

We had an All-American day today!  Here is a retro McDonald restaurant right next to our hotel.

We left Utica and we found lots of old barns!  Barns...they are Americana, aren't they?

Here are some we saw this morning.

This is the first round barn I have sighted.

Cooperstown is a beautiful town by a beautiful lake.  It also hosts the National Baseball Hall of Fame....a place my baseball-loving hubby has wanted to see for a long time.

Too bad that we are not going to be there in two weeks as three of our favorite Atlanta Braves players and coach will be inducted then...Bobby Cox, Tom Glavine, and Greg Maddox.

This museum was huge and had so much on display that you could spend hours there.  They have expanded several times since their 1939 opening....75 years ago!

The sport of baseball has evolved many times and so have the baseball gloves/mitts.  **Hubby was impressed that I knew the difference between a mitt (for the catcher) and gloves for the other players.  **

Here's hubby by a display of his favorite team

I was surprised to read that Hank Aaron's first team was in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.  

There were so many displays on baseball.... black leagues, integration of teams, female teams & individual players.  It was a great museum!  For my blog followers that are Minnesota Twins fans, here the Hall of Fame plaque for Bert Blyleven.

Cooperstown is by Otwego Lake, another beautiful sight,

To continue my "Americana day," I had a hot dog and apple pie for lunch.  

Then we drove east towards Stockbridge, Massachusetts.  Found some more barns.  To find a stone barn and round barn in same day...wow!

Stockbridge was the last home of illustrator, Norman Rockwell. I remember his idyllic drawings on the cover of Saturday Evening Post, McCall magazine and calendars. Many of his drawings depicted an all-American way of life....meals, trips, family and friends.  In this town, Stockbridge, is a museum dedicated to his work and with lots of drawings on display.  

One drawing I have remembered for years and I took a photo today.  Of course this drawing caused a lot of controversy when it was published.

Here is his famous self portrait.

The above painting is of his hometown (of 25 years), Stockbridge.  We drove through after the tour and it was the perfect spot to walk the streets with an ice cream cone.  

Tonight we are spending the night in Pittsfield, MA, in the Berkshire Hills.  More exploring of Massachusetts tomorrow, can't wait!