Day 2 Donegal, Pennsylvania

Wow!! I packed in a lot today. Started with an 8:30 tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright Fallingwater House.


Fallingwater is a house built between 1936 and 1939 over a waterfall in southwest Pennsylvania.  Frank Lloyd Wright, America’s most famous architect, designed the house for his clients, the Kaufmann family.  It instantly became famous, and today it is a National Historic Landmark. (copied from fallingwater.org) My 2 hour tour, included walking through the main house, the servants quarters, and enjoying the views from the cantilevered patios.

I took approximately 95 photos of the house and the surrounding area. Since my data plan will not facilitate downloading all 95, I would like to focus on the "focal point" of the house.  That is one gigantic rock on which the entire house is anchored.

 This is the anchor rock in the basement.

 





 This is the same rock from the outside.

This is our guide Ken standing on THE rock supporting the living area specifically the fireplace.  The red kettle is on a cantilever and swings into the indentation to the left for storage.  Pretty cool.

Note the flooring. It is polished and waxed stone from the area.  

My campground host suggested that since I was in the area, I should go to Cucumber Falls in Ohioypyle.  It was only four miles further down the road.  Two ladies from Chicago I met at Fallingwater said they went yesterday and I shouldn't bother.  Well, we had some rain last night and I was hoping it might be a bit more exciting than their assessment.  It wasn't the Passaic Falls after a hurricane, but I enjoyed watching the water fall.







From Cucumber Falls I had time to go back to the motor home walk the dogs and eat some lunch.  I had plenty of time to drive to Shanksville and visit the Flight 93 National Memorial.  I don't mean to be crass, but I figured I'd drive out there, get my National Park Passport Book stamped, walk around a bit, and head back to the campground.  Was I wrong.  I arrived at the park, walked to the visitor center, stamped my passport and decided to take a walk around.  The display was so moving that by the time I got through it all, I had tears rolling down my cheeks.  It was sobering to remember that day, where I was and the feelings this country experienced.  If you have an opportunity to visit this memorial, I would highly recommend it.

Okay, that's it for today.  I'll leave you with the iconic picture of Fallingwater House.  I did not photoshop this shot.  The person who took the picture, somehow was able to get my phone in HD mode. I'm not complaining.