Monday was a wonderful day to head north and check out the sights. A bit overcast (it is New York, after all) and warm. Almost what anyone else would call hot.
We stopped in Watkins Glen for some breakfast first thing. A small restaurant called Savard's which has been there forever. As we were leaving the parking lot, I came mere inches from getting t-boned (my fault). Needless to say, that got both of our hearts racing.
Two hours and 2 bathroom stops later we were at Sonnenberg. There were very few other visitors that day so we pretty much had the gardens and house to ourselves. The house is a mansion that was built in the late 1800's, early 1900's as a summer home for the founder of Chase bank. He died not too long after the house was finished. His wife decided to add the gardens (7 of them) to memorialze him after his death. Both the house and garden are furnished in period style. A lovely step back in time.
After 2 hours of walking in the sun, Stacy and I were a bit tired. We decided to forego the racetrack and go directly to the outlet mall in Waterloo (home of the first Memorial Day celebration). It was her first time up there. Since neither of us are in the competitive shopping league, we hit only a few stores. Great deals but we had to be back in Corning for dinner.
To get back to Chemung County, we had to pass the old Seneca Army Depot. That site is famous for its herd of white deer. The Indians refer to them as ghost deer. There is a fence that surrounds the Depot which causes the herd to continue to pass on their white coloring. National Geographic did an article about them a few years ago.
We looked and looked but no deer were visible to us. Perhaps next time.
The route we were on meanders alongside Seneca Lake on the east side. That translates into a ton of wineries and a few produce vendors. Father had requested more sweet cherries so Stacy and I stopped at one of the vendors. We decided to get 2 bags, one for Father and one for us to munch on.
Cherries being a biodegradable food we agreed that it would be okay to toss the pits and stems out the car windows as we were driving. We laughed about all the possible cherry trees we would be responsible for in the future.
By the time we got to Montour, we hit heavier traffic. The smell in the town was unbearable. We thought we were going to be doing a Jack Nicholson Witches of Eastwick scene from all the cherries! The car windows went up as we passed the swamp but when we got to the other side, we put them down again. Same horrid smell.
This continued all the way through town. Just a nauseating odor. I was beginning to feel sorry for all the locals when I noticed a rather large truck in front of us. I told Stacy, "I think we are following a rendering truck."
We took the next road we came to and as soon as we headed away from the truck, the smell disappeared. It didn't matter to either of us that we added another 20 minutes to our trip back. It was worth every minute. And we added more potential cheery trees to another part of the county!
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