A long drive and Fallingwater

It's a long drive from Winston-Salem, NC to Pittsburgh, PA via Fallingwater. Fortunately, it was a beautiful day, clear and bright, and the drive was very nice. Ian and I took turns driving and navigating so that we could each have a rest. We drove through the mountains and they were gorgeous and breathtaking. We couldn't take any pictures of those, though, because there was nowhere to stop on the highway. It's not like way up north where you can stop in the middle of the road and take photos without having to worry about any traffic in either direction :)

Fallingwater is gorgeous. The tour was well worth the $18 each. It lasted about an hour and it took us through most of the house. We couldn't take photos in the house but we took a lot outside. When we get back we'll post them and you'll see :) They do strongly recommend reservations (purchasing tickets in advance), and I totally agree with that approach. People who just showed up hoping to get in waited for hours for a tour and some were turned away. Our tour was scheduled for 4pm which was a perfect time of day to go. When the tour was done we could take photos of the house without any people in it.

Did I mention that the house is gorgeous? It's not totally my style but I do respect and admire Frank Lloyd Wright's (FLW's) architectural and engineering capabilities. The house was a cottage for the Kaufman's who owned it. A cottage!!!!!! It has a fair bit of room in it and lots of meandering pathways. When standing in a room looking out you really do feel like part of the nature outside. The windows don't have frames in the corners or where they attach to the wall which helps create this illusion.

The house is made mostly of concrete that has been texturized and painted. Ian thought it looks like an adobe house, which I guess it sort of does. The ceilings can be quite low and the bedrooms felt very dark and close because of the lack of lighting and all of the wood in the rooms. I love the stone walls, myself :) All the floors (except in the bathrooms) are stone as well. The one thing that FLW got wrong was that apparently he didn't think much about the practicalities of the house - ie women's work. So the kitchen was apparently quite awful with metal cupboard doors and no space and there was no room for the washer and dryer apparatus. Had he been a woman he wouldn't have gotten those wrong! He also designed a lot of the furnishings which are very masculine.

All that aside, we do recommend that you try to see this place if you're in the area. It's well worth the trip to see this amazing and beautiful work of art/architecture.

Tomorrow: home!