Winter Carnival
Nothing says ‘small town’ more than a Winter Carnival. For over 50 years, Cooperstown has hosted a variety of activities mid winter, this year in early February. Three days of activities all over town, both indoor and outdoor, offer something for everyone. We participated in the Lion’s pancake breakfast, the quilt show, and played with puppies and kitties at the local animal shelter open house. We also scoped out Otsego lake which is beautiful in the winter and will be incredible in summer time. It was a great way to see life as a local here even though – a lot of life even in this small village. We also visited the local Farmer’s Market for the first time where we discovered a drop off spot for our compost and a great offering of local fare, our favorite being the strawberry jam from Middlefield Orchard.
Utica day trip
While winter is in full swing, we haven’t been able to start any DIY projects around the house so on the weekends we often find ourselves exploring. As we were driving into town during our move, we drove through Utica and added it to the list of cities we wanted to spend a little time! We had hoped to find a quaint downtown area but that didn’t quite materialize. We did, however, discover The Stanley Theatre and I was on the verge of buying Riverdance tickets until I saw the show was canceled. It may seem cheesy but I can only imagine how exciting it would be to see that in person! They offer a variety of musicals, concerts, and more so hopefully something good will come up that we can go see. We ended up stumbling upon an Irish pub that looked enticing but unfortunately they weren’t gonna be open until later that day. Instead, we grabbed a bite at the 1888 Tavern inside the Saranac Brewery. In all honesty the food wasn’t anything fantastic but the drafts were great. Chris had a beer and I enjoyed their root beer on tap, that definitely made up for the food. We also hit up a mall nearby and found a well stocked retro game store. Pretty soon it started snowing so we decided to beeline home just so we wouldn’t get stuck. Sure enough, the snow cleared just a few minutes after we left but that made for a smooth and easier drive home.
