Three females and three males will be spending a long weekend in Cooperstown, NY in late August. We will of course visit the Baseball Hall of Fame. What else is there to do in that area, particularly to interest the females in our party? Are there any water parks (slides) in the area?

Ladies, you may be out of luck. Theres a few restaurants and shops, but not much else. Its a beautiful part of the world, so maybe you could take a liesurely drive with a picinic or something.

Cooperstown is a pretty village, w/ a little lakeside park. Besides the Baseball Hall of Fame, there is The Farmer's Museum. It's quite good - basically a little colonial village (incl. a small farm) with original buildings (printers' shop, tavern, farmhouse, apothecary, church, doctor's office, schoolhouse, etc.) that have been re-erected at the museum. For lunch or dinner, you may want to eat at the Otesaga Hotel - it fronts the lake, with a lovely view. If you like antiques, there are several nearby shops. There is also an opera company just north of town. (The nearest water slide park is about 2 hours north of Cooperstown, in Old Forge - Water Safari.)

Does anyone have suggestions for Hotels/motor inns/motels.
want to make a weekend trip - probably do Howes Cavern as well. Any thoughts on the latter/

Go to this address. You should find links to lodging information there. http://www.cooperstown.com/cgi-bin1/home.stm

You could try either the Otesaga or the Cooper Inn in Cooperstown. Re: Howe Caverns - I went there a few times as a kid w/ my parents because we lived reasonably close. Now, I teach elem. school in a different part of the state, but close enough to go for a field trip. A couple of parents always come along and both the children & the adults enjoy it.