Canandaigua, NY is everything the guide books say it is. The town is quaint, and historic. The Main Street, although interrupted by a four lane highway boasts long green lawns reaching out from the most elegant homes set back with front porches reminiscent of time gone by where front porches were key in the architecture of the time. One can imagine the family sitting there in the summer evening as neighbors stroll by. The street to the Sonneberg gardens, although not as broad, continues the same architecture, with turrets, upstairs porches, and a particular house with a clock placed in the center of a turret above the portico to the house. I can only imagine a young girl sneaking into the house past a curfew. But this is a story in my imagination because what young girl would be out without a chaperone in those days.

This street leads to the Sonneberg Gardens and Estate. We stopped there on our way out of town and I am glad we did not miss this opportunity. The estate was the summer home of Ferris and Mary Thompson. It was purchased in 1863 and the farmhouse was replaced with a Queen Anne Style brick home in 1865 completed in 1867. Just a modest little 44 room cottage.

The specimen of trees and the flower gardens are interspersed with statuary which for my taste does nothing for me. But this period in history many sculptures were coming from Europe and it was in vogue to place these statues throughout the gardens. Imagine running into this scary fellow when meeting you lover in the garden at night.

I started with the beginning of day three instead of day two. but then my life has always been willy nilly. Our first morning in Canandaigua, which I will neither learn to say or spell correctly, we headed for downtown which was far from impressive with closed stores, and buildings that looked abandoned. Definitely a contrast to the beautiful homes we had just passed. We ate breakfast in a restaurant that looked mostly closed, with an imposing brick building of the most horrendous style. However, the waitresses were friendly and we were in and out quickly.

The waterfront on Lake Canandaigua seems to have bloomed algae so all of the beaches were closed. There were an array of boats and some kayak but generally there was little activity. This area redeemed the downtown with a beautiful walkway around the park. Wanting to see what the area was all about we drove out into the country side following the lake in some areas and losing it in others. The rolling hills of corn and soybeans between newly cut hayfields proved to be a treasure trove of photographic opportunities. Sheep grazing in the meadow, miles and miles of fields, beautiful old barns and farmhouses. A day of sightseeing turned into a day of photography.

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We left for Sandusky, Ohio choosing to follow Route 20 along country roads and through some quaint towns and others not so much. The highlight for Shap was stopping for lunch at Tom Wahl’s a true hamburger joint with root beer in iced mugs and bacon and cheese to top off the burger.

,So we are now in Sandusky where there seem to be quite a few waterparks and roller coasters. This area does not look as nice as I thought it would, but tomorrow is another day and another surprise I am sure is in store. We finally got on Route 90 to get here at a reasonable hour and listened to “Greenlight” by Matthew McConaughey, also read by him. He reads well, and kept our attention. One thing I took away from the book was his phrase: “Turn the Page.” When you don’t like it , when things aren’t going well, “turn the page.” A philosophy I learned from a friend ages ago, only she told me, nothing material is that precious so if you lose it, let it go. Well, I finally let go of finding my contacts and last night where do you think I discovered them? In the frying pan tucked in a corner of a shelf. Logical don;t you think? Where else would you find a bag of contacts. Turn the page… more tomorrow.