5May2006 - Falling Water

Philadelphia had been the planned next destination, but I decided to skip it so I would not be rushing the remainder of the trip. Cutting Philly, cut 2 days. So, Falling Water was my new next stop and it happened to be just off the historic National Road (Highway 40), which runs along I70, for the much of it. I never thought that Pennsylvania might be one of the most beautiful states. O.K., O.K., all the states are equally beautiful each in their own way. But the piece of Pennsylvania that I saw was so green and the flowers were blooming. I drove along the back roads with the windows down. The birds were singing and the birds were chirping. I might be painting a picture of an advertisement for Pennsylvania scented laundry detergent or something, but it really was beautiful and peaceful. In short, I liked Pennsylvania.

Ohiopyle State Park, PA

Anyway, I stopped at a motel in a tiny town on the outskirts of a small town. It was one of those 60's motels, but it was clean and not creepy at all. The coolest thing was that the bed had one of those Magic Fingers machines attached. This is one of those magical times where I was faced with a once in a lifetime opportunity. I have only seen these on TV, and I didn't know if they really even existed anymore. I dug in my purse for a quarter and tried insert it into the machine. It wouldn't take it. Due to my military training and checklist discipline, I checked my connections and found that it was not plugged in. So I unplugged the alarm clock to make room for the Magic Fingers and tried the quarter again. It still would take the coin. I fiddled with the contraption and found that it had an alarm clock on it. So I guess, if you wanted, you could set the thing to wake up to Magic Fingers. Now, I know the jokes just abound here, but I will go this route... Can you really imagine waking up to this. Does Pennsylvania have earthquakes? I really think that would be shocking enough to give me a heart attack. In the tiny town paper that only about 32 people read the front page would report "29 yr old roadtripper from Texas/New Mexico/Colorado found dead in Magic Fingers bed in local motel. Cause: unknown." Anyway, I continued to try and get the blasted thing to work, my small dream losing excitement. I finally got it to take the quarter and braced myself... nothing. I hit the machine a couple of times because I think that's how you fix things that are only slightly broken. Still , nothing. I debated on whether to ask the front desk about it and decided against it, not wanting to get evicted for mental illness.

The next morning, I started toward one sites that I have always wanted to visit, Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water. The guide said reservations are recommended for this tour, but I hoped I would just get there early enough to avoid lines. At the ticket counter, they wrote my name down, told me it would be about an hour wait and then handed me one of those blinking, vibrating coasters you get at the Macaroni Grill. I said, "No, I'm not eating here, I just want to see the house." The ticket gave me an amused look and told me I could go take pictures while I waited. So I did. I found this charming little walkway next to a "crick." Like a kid, I am still fascinated by water, so I cautiously stepped along the rocks. After slipping on a mossy stone and nearly giving my Canon a bath, I decided to stick to the dry land.

After about an hour, my coaster activated and I reported to the ticket counter for my table, I mean, tour. They did not allow photographs in the house, but it was absolutely amazing. Every detail was designed by Wright, even the furniture, most of which was built in. From the family room, there was a staircase that led down to the creek. The family room is suspended directly over the creek.

In the 30's the average house cost $5,000. The family wanted to spend $30,000. After all said and done, it cost $155,000. It still contains the original furniture, a few Picassos, some Diego Riveras, and original Japanese prints. I won't bore you with all the details, but this was definitely one of my favorite tours of this trip.

After Falling Water, I had to get back to Highway 40. Now, I get lost a lot, usually not for very long. I figure it out, make a U-turn and I'm back on track. I kid you not, I got lost in Normalville, PA and it went downhill from there. It ended up taking me about an hour off track. You can make your jokes at my expense and I will play along, but I was a tad bit frustrated at getting lost and the metaphorical fact that I could not find my way in Normalville.

This is kind of anti-climatic for this post, but I read that this bridge is one of the big things to see on the National Road. I can kind of understand why it is now a road less traveled. It is the "Y Bridge," something about the engineers thought it would be easier to build it like this than do a S-shaped bridge. The pic does not show it well, but there is a third piece of the bridge that meets at the middle and goes towards those 2 round structures in the background.

These are either Ohio or Indiana. I'm starting to lose track.