Pennsylvania 2016

June 6, 2016

This is our last day in SW Pennsylvania so we went to see Fort Ligonier.  It

June 5, 2016

Fallingwater

Busy, busy day today.   Started off by driving to Fallingwater but it didn't take us long to arrive, so we continued onto Ohioplye State park and found a Farm Market, place to have breakfast.

Back of Fallingwater

We then toured Fallingwater, the infamous home that Frank Lloyd Wright built over a waterfall.   I saw it back around 2005 when I came to Pittsburgh for an NAIW conference.   The entrance and visitors center has been updated, but otherwise it's still the same amazing home it was plus they don't let you take pics of the inside as that's a separate tour.

It's amazing that Mr. Wright had the vision in 1935 to build the home over the waterfall vs. overlooking it.  The owners, Mr. & Mrs. Kaufmann (owners of a department store in Pittsburgh) had him build this for their weekend home (they used it from 1937 thru 1963).   All of the family members including their son Edgar are buried on the grounds. 

Patio at Kentuck Know

Cucumber Falls

Mr. Wright had many ingenious ideas, some of which included the furniture being built into the walls, windows that had no supports, very few internal walls and loved to use natural items (boulders, etc) as part of the homes.   When the son gave the home to the Pennsylvania Conservancy, it included the home, original furnishings (many created by Mr. Wright) and the artwork.  I loved it, Bobby was not as enthralled.  Ceilings are low: 6'4" and floor are stone.  This house cost $150,000 (2.5 million in todays dollars) to build.  The owners thought it would cost around $10,000....way over budget!!!!

Next we toured another home Mr. Wright built, called Kentuck Knob.  It is totally different than Fallingwater and Bobby loved this one.   It gave you a warm fuzzy feeling.   It was built in 1953 and cost $90,000, it's considered a Usonian house (it's Mr. Wright's invision to control costs by having no attics, basements and little to none ornamentation).  It does have an attic, but was added after Mr. Wright had designed it.

Fort Necessity

Braddock's Grave

If I owned it, the only thing I'd change was the kitchen.   Very small and no stove, Mrs. Hagan (original owners) used hot plates, which are still in the house.  The deck off the main room has skylights without covers, so that light can shine into the house.   Very unique and beautiful home set in a rustic location (it's inside Ohioplye State Park).  Also they have a huge collection of outside artwork, so we took the 1/2 mile walk from house back down to the visitors center.

Artwork at Kentuck Knob

We then drove to Cucumber Falls, it was specular, as they've had so much rain this spring.

Next stop was Fort Necessity, stopping first for a late lunch/early dinner at Pizza Hut.   Fort Necessity is where the shot heard around the world occurred.   Here George Washington lead a group of British soldiers to confront the French soldiers, a confrontation occurred and their Commander Mr. Jumonville was killed, which started the American Revolutionary War of 1775.  

Mr. Washington was a 21 year old and later promoted to Colonel, knew the French would retaliate and built Fort Necessity. The Indians knew it would not support an attack and abandoned the British.  Eventually the British surrendered but Mr. Washington had to sign a letter saying he was at fault for killing Mr. Jumonville.

Mt Washington Tavern

During the film you watch at the Visitors Center, you learn about the National Road (now hwy 40) and how it came about.  It was original called Braddocks Road, named after Mr. Washington's general who was killed and they buried him in the road, then walked over his grave to hide it from the Indians, so we would dig it up.  Along this original route, Mt. Washington Tavern was built, which was built as a stagecoach stop.   You can see the rooms, etc.

Our last stop of the day was General Braddocks grave site. 

June 4, 2016

The park that we are staying is allowing everyone to wash their rigs if the so desire, so we took advantage of this opportunity to give her a bath.   She was extremely dirty and certainly need sprucing up.   We also gave the truck a bath.  

Next we caught up on some much need house work, has we had done any deep cleaning since we left plus I worked on my Classie Ladies tournament stuff, so it can be mailed on Monday.

The park has breakfast on Sat & Sundays, so we took advantage of that.   Visited with the General Manager, great crew they have here.   They were testing cookies that they'll sell, so they let us try them...yum.

We thought about going to Fallingwater, but all the tickets were sold out, so we made a reservation for 10 AM tomorrow.

Got finished with our chores and my tournament stuff around 3, so we decided to play36 holes of putt putt golf, wouldn't you know it, Bobby won!!!  They have a nice little 18 hole course here.   Thought about going to the Olympic size pool, but decided nay!


June 3, 2016

Memorial Wall at crash site

 Laundry need to be done, so we headed to Someset to the closest laundromat.  Then we drove to the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, PA.  This is a brand new facility created by the National Park System.  It's very impressive and displays that events that lead up to that horrible tragedy that occurred on Sept. 11, 2001.  

They've done an incredible job of showing the timeline, along with the individuals that were killed and how they tried to overtake the hijackers.  It's very difficult to listen to the recordings that some of the passengers left for their loved ones via cell phones. 

Once you visit the visitors center, you can walk out on the platform that allows you to view the crash site.  They've created this memorial down by the site, that lists they passengers/crew that lost their lives that horrible day.   This memorial is in the direct path that the plane took just before it struck the ground.

If you're ever in this part of PA, I highly recommend visiting this facility.

Looking at Visitor Center from crash site

We then drove back to Somerset, had lunch at a great little restaurant called Summit Diner.   We tried their specialty dessert, burnt sugar cake with maple cream filling.  I liked it, Bobby didn't.

On the way home, we stopped at Hidden Springs Golf Course, might play it on Monday.