Road trip report - DC, NY (Cooperstown, Corning, NF) & PA (Flight 93 Memorial, etc.)

In late May the wife and I and another couple took about a 2,500 mile road trip from NC to DC, NY and PA. We were gone 9 nights and 10 days. The first map is the complete trip, more or less, and the 2nd one is Ithaca to Watkins Glen to Courning, NY.
[/url][/img];

DC - we had business there and most everything was closed anyway but we did go to Arlington National Cemetery, Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (largest Catholic church in N. America) and the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America. They are about a mile apart.

NY - after 3 nights in DC we headed to Cooperstown, primarily to go to the Baseball Hall of Fame. On the way we stopped by Gettysburg which was worth the stop. We had all been there before but they have built a new visitor center and the Cyclorama was working this time. The last time I was there it was out for a 5 year restoration. It is a circular painting of the last day of the battle.

Cooperstown - 2 nights here. It is a very nice, walkable place that sits on the south end of Otsego Lake. We stayed at an Inn about a 1/2 mile from the HoF, we probably would have stayed in a large hotel on the lake but could not get rooms for two nights there. We had the best meal of the trip here IMO, it was fried Haddock at the Doubleday Cafe, the next night we ate at Nicoletta's Italian Cafe and our traveling companion raved about his Bisteca Bianco. They have some good food there. We also road out to Ommegang Brewery, they have several in the area, but this one was recommended. Had beer & lunch, it was all good.

Obviously, a lot of baseball memorabilia in the HoF but a feature I liked were the TV screens with selectable plays that you could watch. Not as big deal now as in the past perhaps but it was fun to select a play and watch it again.

Corning - next stop was Corning, NY to see the Glass Museum and on the way we went through Ithaca (Cornell is here), Watkins Glen, and Montour Falls. Ithaca and WG are on a couple of the finger lakes. Ithaca was a mess; the downtown was congested due to road work and college students. We did have a picnic lunch on Cayuga Lake which was a good stop. We wanted to stop at Watkins Glen State Park but they were not fully open yet and it began to rain while we we there. Hope to go back and see it at some point as it looks like a very cool place.
[/url][/img]

We spent about 1/2 day at the Glass Museum and we could have stayed all day. There is a lot of information about glass and one of the best was the technology section; exhibits about innovations such as fiber optics.

We had lunch there; just sandwiches but they were very good with fresh ingredients. The worse meal of the trip was at Burgers & Beer; fried haddock again but it was like fish sticks. Corning has a lot of restaurants on Market St. but most were closed as it was Sunday. There is also a Norman Rockwell museum in Corning but we did not get there.

Niagara Falls - we headed to NF because the other lady had never been. The falls are great but the town is depressing; they have lost 1/2 of their population since 1960 and there are a lot of abandoned buildings. We could not go to Canada which would have been a big plus. It was not crowded but we were there before Memorial Day and the Canadian side looked to be shut down as very few people were visible across the river.

PA - left NF and headed to PA south of Pittsburg to the Flight 93 Memorial and a home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright called Fallingwater. We took the scenic route down Hwy 219 through the Allegheny mountains. It was a great drive as was all of rural southwest PA; had no idea it was so pretty.

Flight 93 - the site is large but the memorial building is not. It is moving and hard to believe it has been 20 years. One of the exhibits are the recordings of the phone calls to family members from some of the passengers; I did not listen to any of those.

The next day we stopped by Fallingwater for an hour tour, then a brief stop at Fort Necessity and then home.

Rather than post a lot of pictures that take up space I'll use these Google Albums.

Basilica and Franciscan Monastery Album

Cooperstown, NY Google Photo Album

Niagara Falls Google Photo Album

PA G'burg, Flight 93, Fallingwater Photo Album

But here a a few pictures.
[/url][/img]

[/url][/img]

[/url][/img]

[/url][/img]

[/url][/img]