On the Road with SueBob, Day 3: Indulgences

Monday brought a beautiful sunny day that definitely felt like Fall. We began our day by walking through a tree-lined street of breathtaking homes, older homes that have been coddled into this century. The road ends at Sonnennberg Gardens and Mansion State Park, where you can meander through 52 acres of property once owned by William Ferris and Mary Clark Thompson. We had no idea who this New York-famous couple was, but one of the many doycens explained that Mary was the daughter of a Governor, and grew up in Canandaigua. William Ferris founded First Bank....aka Citibank. The couple's primary residence is the 1100 block on Park Avenue in Manhattan. Sonnennberg was their summer farmhouse....I'm sure you're getting the picture here. The home and the gardens illuminate a life of grandeur, in a place where this famous couple indulged their love of family, travel, and flowers.

Looking at other people's lives is exhausting, so we returned to the cocoon of our bed and breakfast. We set up camp on the front porch with cheese, crackers, olives, apples, cashews, and most importantly wine. And cards, of course, cards. As the official recorder of our trip, I feel my responsibility to the rest of my relatives to report that I won our first round of 99; Bob won the second. 

Despite the fact that the Inn has an enticing hammock on the back lawn, we decided to head into downtown Canandaigua and find a place with a lakeside view to have a drink. Why did we need to have drinks at 2:30 in the afternoon? Because we can. And so we did....drink, walk a bit, drink, window shop, drink, concert in the park, drink, dinner. You get the general idea. (Note: I stopped drinking about the time my husband handed me his car keys.)

It was, at its most basic, an indulgent day. We had the time to just do whatever, go wherever, just be. While we certainly can't understand what life was like for Mary Clark Thompson in the heighday of Sonnenberg Mansion, we can take a vacation that allows us to indulge ourselves. She used her time at her summer farmhouse to host local children; she did not have children of her own, and was a great patron of two orphanages. By taking the time to indulge her own interests, she found the room in her life to improve her corner of the  world. In today's society, we take vacations as a way to escape the small worlds we get caught up in, for a few moments off the treadmill of our regular days. By indulging ourselves for a few days, we hope we can return to our real lives as better people. 

But right now, I have to get ready to leave for today's brewery tour.