Travels with Dad:The Cooperstown summer

I have some odd vacation memories—funny little snippets that come back to me at the strangest times. I remember staying outside of Cooperstown, New York in an old house that was part of a campground (where we had the scalding accident, and Dad’s healing blessing). It seems like Dad had taken the boys to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and we girls had taken in some other diversion. Several of us went to the camp store for goodies and were surprised to learn from the clerk that “Elvis” had died. At the time I wasn’t sure who Elvis was and wasn’t sure why a lady camper was crying. It may have been on that same trip that we stayed in a small town with a little theater that was playing “Benji” I believe. Thinking that would be pretty tame family entertainment, Dad and Mom insisted a dubious Doug and Brad join the family inside. We found that the “theater” was a wood-floored room with a screen on one wall—like an old town hall. We sat on metal folding chairs, bought popcorn from a popping machine on cart in the foyer, and our family watched the movie as the majority of the audience that night. Where else would that happen? It was absolute Americana at its best.