10-16-24 Mystery Tour

So I do love a good Mystery Tour! You know what I mean – a day trip where you pay a fee for the privilege of getting on a motor coach early in the morning to go on a day trip that you have ZERO clue as to what you’ll be doing! All you know is that you won’t be more than four hours away and you’ll get a good lunch! That’s it…..no other details are divulged….it’s a leap of faith, but you’re sure to have fun and do some cool stuff!

On October 16th, I did my fourth Mystery Tour with First Choice Travel and I had a BLAST!

I started my morning at 5:00 am and headed to Batavia about 5:45 to have a relaxing breakfast at Settler’s before meeting up with the group.

This is our motor coach in a photo taken at the last stop of the day (no spoilers — you’ll have to wait to read where this actually is)!

Fifty-something (if I remember correctly, it was 55 mystery lovers plus our tour manager, Kathy, and our driver, John) loaded up in Batavia and headed out for the day about 7:45 am. I failed to snatch a photo of our fearless leader, Kathy, but this is our driver, John:

My assigned seat was in the first row directly behind the driver! YAY! Can you say “bird’s eye view, boys and girls”? My seat-mate was Linda – someone I have known through past mystery tours and the last Lancaster trip, so that was cool!

We were concerned about the weather — it was quite brisk, cloudy, and rainy…..but, we didn’t need to be concerned after all…..the rain stopped and the sun came out….it was still cold – mid-40s – but we were mostly inside and with the sun out, it didn’t seem too bad! It turned out to be a very nice day for an adventure!

We headed EAST on the Thruway and then, after a quick rest stop about an hour and a half into the drive, the “guessing frenzy” began…..Kathy got us all riled up trying to guess where the first stop was going to be.

I commented that it would be really funny if we ended up at the brewery in Utica because I have mentioned it to friends several times over the past few weeks – I used to enjoy doing their tour and having an ice cold beer in the old fashioned saloon at the end of the tour and that I would love to plan a trip to do it again, if they are still doing tours – I know they are under new owners……maybe there is a reason I’ve thought about it so often recently!

Finally, we took the Utica exit….and I got excited and some of the other mystery lovers were guessing the brewery! As we drove through Utica, I noticed several statues all along the center median of the street we were on. One, in particular, I tried so hard to get a photo of, but there were trees in the way and I couldn’t get a clear shot of it…..but, it is a Statue of Liberty replica….look close, you’ll see it!!!

The Utica related guesses continued, but…..nope…..no one guessed correctly…..I had the “Utica” part right, but it wasn’t the brewery! Then, we turned onto Utica Zoo Way and the guesses were related to the zoo…..but, nope….not the zoo!

STOP # 1:

The John S. Dyson New York Energy Zone located next to the Utica Zoo in Utica! The Energy Zone is a really cool interactive museum – from their brochure: “Powerful journey through the Past, Present, and Future of Electricity! A fully immersive, hand-on science center with more than 40 interactive exhibits, and eye-popping 3D movie, and Free admission!” It’s a part of the NY Power Authority and very enjoyable!

We split into two groups — 1/2 of us went through the interactive exhibits and the other 1/2 watched the 12 minute 3D movie and then we switched…..more on the movie in a bit!

One of the interactive exhibits was a room called “Future of Energy” or something like that…..you walk inside and it has a show on the walls — lightening bolts and an eclectically charged figure that danced and flashes of views and backgrounds related to electricity…..it BEGGED me to make some selfies!!! LOL The blue lighting wasn’t ideal for great photos, but here are a few…..

After my selfie fun, I went in to watch the 3D movie…..that was great! I love 3D anyway and this was fun! It was about some students learning about the history of energy and the professor was telling them about Edison and Tesla and their inventions…..one of the students put her hands on an energy source and finds herself back in time and face to face with Tesla himself! She manages to bring him back to the present to show him all the amazing things that his genius resulted in…..she takes him to Niagara Falls and to see the lights in New York City and so much more – all in an electric vehicle! He was mesmerized by it all…..and then he decided it was time to go back to his own time and the movie was over!

On the way out, I took some photos of the view overlooking Utica:

Also – while driving through Utica, we saw some of the biggest, most beautiful mansions…..just gorgeous!!! And, the drive to stop # 2 was met with a detour that took us down some winding, steep roads that had incredible views and parts of our drive was along the edge of stunning lakes! If nothing else happened that day, the views as we drove were worth every penny and minute of the trip!!!

STOP # 2:

Cooperstown – the Otesaga Resort Hotel for lunch and then time to shop and wander around downtown Cooperstown! Otesaga Resort is a stunning hotel overlooking Otsego Lake minutes from downtown Cooperstown, NY. They put us in a beautiful banquet room with an incredible buffet lunch….including garden salad, shrimp and crab salad, a pasta dish, fish, roast pork, potatoes, vegetables, fruit, and more…..my favorite was the potato leek soup — OMG —- so good!!! Then, there was an assorted dessert table that was a pleasure to view and sample!!!

When we arrived, John maneuvered the motor coach up a long, narrow entrance to the front entrance…..we were greeted by someone who told John he came to the wrong entrance and directed him around to the back, which was an even more majestic entrance facing the lake — breathtaking!

After we ate, we drove a couple blocks to Main Street to walk off our lunch……I love Cooperstown! I was there in September 2013 and have often thought of going back, so I really enjoyed the walk along Main St. The motor coach was parked at one end of the historic downtown area so we could walk down one side a few blocks to the Baseball Hall of Fame and then back up the opposite side back to the bus. It was a joy to see all the sights again…..we only had about an hour to wander around and shop, so there wasn’t time to go in any of the museums or the Hall of Fame, but seeing them all brought back such fond memories of my visit in 2013.

Cooperstown is such a quaint, lovely town…..very baseball themed because of the National Baseball Hall of Fame located there. It is nicknamed “America’s Hometown” and it boasts having “America’s Perfect Main Street”…..it is quite picturesque and feels very “All American” and welcoming. There is so much to do in Cooperstown, too…..in addition to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, there is also a Farmer’s Museum and the Fenimore Art Museum, festivals, breweries, restaurants, and more. Makes me definitely want to put a return visit on my “to do” list to spend more time revisiting all the fun things I did in 2013 and things I didn’t get to on either visit!

We often find that our drivers enjoy our mystery adventures as much or more than we do…..when we got back to the bus after our stroll around town, we found this on the dashboard of the bus:

STOP # 3:

Fly Creek Cider Mill near Cooperstown. This was a wonderful stop…..cidery, bakery, snack bar, tasting room, fudge, shopping…..and lots of cool stuff to look at in and around the property! We were greeted by one of the owners of this multi-generational family business and he told us all about the history and the operation of their orchards and mill.

We were each given a $5 voucher to use as we pleased. After tasting the fresh cider they made from a blend of five different apples, I used my voucher to purchase some to take home, as well as a block of homemade fudge. And, then, as if I needed more to eat after that incredible lunch….I had a fresh warm cider donut and a cup of fresh pressed hot sweet cider!!! So good – the hot cider really hit the spot on the chilly day!!!

In the back, there was a little pond with ducks and awesome views:

The autumn colors were out in force…..and we saw a spectacular sunset on the drive back…..these photos were taken through the window of the motor coach while driving along – often with glare and resulting in muting the vibrancy of the images, so they aren’t very good pictures, but I couldn’t NOT share them to give you an idea of how lovely everything we saw all day was!!!

Like I said earlier…..if none of the other fun and interesting things happened, the stunning views we got to see on the drive to and from made the whole trip worth every minute and penny spent!

We arrived back in Batavia about 9:00 pm and I got home about 9:30…..totally exhausted and satisfied from another grand adventure with all the mysteries of the day!!! The next Mystery Tour is scheduled in December and I’m booked and looking forward to it!!!