Iregeo

On an east coast baseball-themed vacation, my husband and son have decided to spend two days in Cooperstown; one to see the town and one, the Fourth of July, to relax. On their "relaxing" day, they will be interested in pool and lake swimming, and maybe a little fishing.

There seem to be few properties with pools (the Otesaga is out at $400/nt) and of the lakefront properties, it is hard to determine whether you can swim there or not. I have seen keymom's suggestion to stay outside of town and wonder if any of you have a specific hotel/motel recommendation.


Thanks in advance for your input.

Iregeo

ttt...anyone?

SusanP

Iregeo, I'm not an expert on accommodations in Cooperstown, as we live only 1 hour away, but I don't think there's anything in town with a pool. Cooperstown is actually not very big (parking there is horrendous, plan to park a ways from where you want to go unless you get lucky).

One interesting thing is, if you go to www.cooperstown.com, a lodging request form pops up, and when you go into it and it asks you to check what you're interested in, pool is not one of the choices. As far as swimming at a lakeside hotel, you would really have to check directly with them. Most of the lakefront property is privately owned and to swim there you would have to have a cottage there (I use the term "cottage," but many of them are huge homes; for instance a good portion of one side of the lake is owned by the Anheiser Busch/Budweiser people). Not sure this helps much. There may be public access to swimming on the lake that I'm not aware of.

There also might be places to fish that I'm not aware of. If you're interested, there is a nice boat ride that goes about half-way up the lake (abut 5 miles) in a vintage mahogany yacht (also owned by Anheiser Busch) that gives a lot of history of the lake and the people who own property there. (Might be boring for a young boy, except for the boat part!) And the Otesaga has a wonderful Sunday brunch.

Hope some of this info is useful to you.

keysmom

Hi! Take a look at Lake and Pines. We haven't stayed there but it is a place I would check out if I were going back. Also go to the Farmers Museum website. They have a 4th of July event that looks fun. Be sure to understand they trolley park and ride system for going to the HOF. You can park just outside of town and trolley in. No hassles!

keysmom

Iregeo - My family took this same trip last August. Here are some thoughts that may be fun for your baseball trip. Buy a park logo baseball at each ballpark. Then, in Cooperstown, buy a display case for them (we got one shaped like homeplate). The Cooperstown stores will ship the case home for you. Before your first game, come up with a simple rating system for the parks (something like 10 points each for hotdogs, other food, beer, bathrooms, seats, fan participation, "wild card") It was a fun way to talk about and compare the parks. I think I mentioned the Fenway tour - be sure to do it!

janesch

Four years ago, we stayed in Cooperstown, specifically to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame. Cooperstown is a lovely, quaint town with a lot of charm. We wished we had stayed longer than two days because they have a folk art museum and farmers museum which we didn't get a chance to visit. We stayed just outside of town at the Lake View Motel (cooperstownvacations.com). It was a nice, clean facility right on the lake. They had paddle boats and a swimming area in the lake, BBQ pits, and complimentary breakfast. We felt it was a good value, and our teenagers really enjoyed it. We ate a buffet lunch at the Ortesaga, which was worth the experience. If I remember correctly, there is a nice bakery (Schneider's) in town close to the Hall of Fame.

Iregeo

Thank you, thank you for your reccomendations. And the winner is... Lake View Motel! Now, where shall I go while they're away?!?!