I can't believe how far behind I am in posts. I just finished the brief, second half of Day 6 of the road trip up to PEI (the entry below this one) and so this post is kind of a compilation of stuff that's happened this week.

It was hot, hot, hot and so we took a leisurely bike ride to an amusement park and met some ducks along the way





and wandered through a historic carousel animal museum, which was really cool







Found a little chocolate shop and had a delightful and refreshing chocolate/peanut butter coolatta (or ice smoothie, whichever you prefer) and went on some rides. This was the one that reminded me how I'm so not a thrill seeker.




Fun summer day, and then we finished the week by heading up to the 2010 Induction Ceremonies (Andre Dawson, Whitey Herzog and more) at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown because this year they were including John Fogerty's 'Centerfield' and we wanted to see it happen.



It was really great to see John Fogerty in person, hear him sing and be in the same place as 50 Hall of Fame members, including Tom Seaver, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Ozzie Smith, Gary Carter, Pete Rose and (obviously) way more names than I can remember.



The crowd puzzled me though, big time. I mean, if this was a dream-come-true moment for kids and baseball fans alike, if this was the ultimate of the ultimate, then why in the world were 99% of the people there in the wide open field sitting down the whole time? It's like they were glued to their camp chairs, or they were watching it from their living rooms in their Barcaloungers. I don't get it. It was televised on MLB and what were the cameras going to show, a bunch of people sitting there eating and that's it? We were standing at the fenceline and caught crap for it, which I thought was really weird because it was an exciting EVENT, and at exciting EVENTS it would seem like standing up and clapping and taking pictures would be a good thing.

Ah well, what do I know, anyway.  But it was really astonishing that some lady sitting back on the grass actually got up to tell two short, little kids standing next to us to sit down so she could see. Uh...this might have been those kids' dream...and she did manage to hoist herself up to tell them to sit down -- so of course then they couldn't see at all -- but now she could, so that was all right. Really bizarre.

This world is getting funky on me. Concerts have gone from really cool, anything goes music affairs to rock to, to some kind of strange, sanitized stuff yourself with nachos and giant cheeseburgers and bring all the kiddies and stay seated like it's a family picnic thing, instead of a CONCERT. Why are you complaining that people are standing up and dancing in front of you? It's a CONCERT. The main event is not to settle in and EAT, it's the music.  I wouldn't care if the courtesy was extended in both directions -- I stand up and dance, you stay seated and eat, and we both enjoy the show our own way -- but it isn't, and that's just not right.

Maybe I'll start a revolution.

Ahhhh. Anyway.



John Fogerty did great.



Recognize anyone?

We headed into the Hall of Fame and it's amazing, full to the brim of memorabilia.



And a cow. Is this my new lot in life? Cows? All of a sudden they seem to be cropping up everywhere. (Ha, get it?)







John F's bat guitar and notes on Centerfield.







How bout them Mets?





I was a big fan in the Keith Hernandez, Daryl Strawberry, Mookie Wilson, Dwight Gooden, Lenny Dykstra, Gary Carter, etc days and now I'm thinking about coming back. Seriously.

When we left the HOF we strolled around, got a watermelon ice and giant pretzels, and enjoyed. On the way home we passed this glorious field of sunflowers



Great day.