Not Lebanon, NH by Will

Not Actually Lebanon, NH – The sabbatical itinerary says “Lebanon, NH” for these dates but… We had a considerable amount of trouble getting into our site in Lebanon, and it was much too small for our RV, so we ended up at Quechee/Pine Valley RV park. We only stayed one night so we could go to Joseph Smith’s Birthplace. After seeing the birthplace we headed to our campground in NY.  Crazy Acres RV Park. As we arrived, it started dumping sheets of rain on us, so we got stuck in the mud and didn’t get into the site until 6. After we got in, we didn’t do much of anything besides eating and sleeping. On Thursday, we did nothing besides look at the jack and try to find a replacement. It was another unproductive day. On Friday, we toured the state capitol building of NY and picked up a replacement jack for the trailer. The capitol building had a storied history, and showed it through many enormous art pieces, mainly paintings and carvings. After looking at some political sites in the building, we headed out to pick up the jack, and went home. We then ate dinner, and went to bed. On Saturday, we went to the Rhinebeck Airplane Museum/Demonstration. We learned all about planes from different eras, who built them, what they were known for, and who flew them. After finishing the museum portion of our visit, Dad, Zina and I went on a 15 min sightseeing flight that should be renamed the 15min anxiety inducing flight, as my resting heart rate during it was 135 BPM. After this, we ate a late lunch at the Phoenicia Diner. IT WAS AMAZING. The onions rings were ENORMOUS, and my nova lox bagel was the best I’ve ever had in NY (take that NYC). Well, after we ate and paid, we went home, and Myra and I played waffle ball for 4.5 hrs before going to bed. On Sunday, we left for church very late, but still managed to get the sacrament. My main method of making new friends at foreign LDS meetings is to help clean up the sacrament with the rest of the ward young men. In this ward, only one young man who was a member of the ward was there, due to the flood warnings. There was another visitor, Knox, from Delta, UT. His team was playing in the Cooperstown Dreams Park American Youth Baseball Hall of Fame Invitational Tournament, and it was actually a blessing in disguise for him that there were flood warnings, because if there weren’t, he wouldn’t have been able to come to church because of the tournament schedule. Our quorum meeting was very productive; we discussed how allowing ourselves to be served is just as important as serving others. The young men’s leader had been to Pullman and said it was the most beautiful place that he had ever been. After we finished our discussion, we went to the Birthplace of the Priesthood, and the Josiah Stowell and Joseph Knight homes to learn more about the early church. There were docents caring for the homes that signed up for duty and lived there for 2 weeks until the next docents came. It was a very immersing and spiritual experience. By this point, I was exhausted. I almost fell asleep on the drive back and immediately ate and went to bed when we got home. 

MONDAY: THE HALL OF FAME. If you know me, you know why this gets its own section. We arrived at the Baseball Hall of Fame at about 10:30, and I immediately went to the information desk to see what I should do first. The man said to go to the 2nd floor first, then the 3rd floor, and then finally the first floor. The second floor featured exhibits on Women in Baseball,  the Class of 2025 Hall of Famers, (Billy Wagner, Dick Allen, Dave Parker, Ichiro, and CC Sabathia) different races and ethnicities’ history in baseball, including players like Edgar Martinez, Juan Marichal, Jackie Robinson, and Ichiro, as well as how PEDs tainted many records such as the single-season and all-time Home Run records. It also had an exhibit dedicated entirely to Babe Ruth and the Yankees teams of the 20s and 30s. After finishing the second floor, we ate lunch, and then went back to do baseball jeopardy. Our team (the family) won, and we received a fat pack of baseball cards, an ideal prize. After jeopardy, we went up to the third floor. The third floor featured recent meaningful artifacts from each team, a bobblehead gallery with a bobblehead taller than me, 10 CRAZY rare baseball cards including the legendary, 4.1 million dollar T-206 1909 Honus Wagner, an exhibit dedicated entirely to Hank Aaron, and all the records you could ever think of. The 1st floor featured only two exhibits, but they did not disappoint, being Baseball Art and the Plaque Gallery. I got to read each individual plaque of the members of the Hall, and took pictures with Junior, Edgar, and Ichiro’s plaque. (Ichiro’s plaque is not installed yet, but he signed where it will be in the future) We finished in the gift shop, where we purchased this AMAZING T-shirt of the classic Ichiro shirt pull. That sums up our entire day (and stay) near Cooperstown, NY.

Overall Rating: 8.6/10. Next: Geneva, NY.