Road trip! Road trip!

My friend Shelley got an invite to an art auction I guess because she did an Alaskan cruise a couple of years ago and they had a nightly auction and she bought a couple things.  It was for 2 people so she asked if I wanted to go along and, of course, I said sure!  The whole thing was free and was at a very posh golf resort place in Farmington, PA.  The real lure for me was that it was about 20 minutes away from Fallingwater - the Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece of architecture.

We stayed in one of their "townhomes" (they have various lodging options) and it turned out to be a little townhouse with 2 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a washer and dryer, a full kitchen (bigger than mine) and a family room with a little deck out back looking out on a very bucolic scene.  This was free, mind you.  As were 3 breakfasts, 2 dinners and 1 lunch on the last day.  Actually, we arrived late Thursday or there would have been 3 free dinners.  And, of course, that included free mimosas with breakfast and free wine, beer or cocktails with dinner!!!  I told Shelley that I wouldn't be buying anything so if she wanted to change her mind she could.  But she said most people would be couples and so essentially, they'd just have one person buying so she had no problem with it.

The main "chateau" is humungous and there are lots of places like this where you can sit if you're tired of auctioning or whatever else you've been doing.  I came here after breakfast on our second morning and not long after I sat down, a man came by and got the fire going beautifully.

So here are some pics of our "home" - they also have shuttle service that is constantly traveling the grounds (2200 acres all told) so you can park your car and let them do the driving.

The townhome

The kitchen

And, the family room...

and the stairs up to the bedrooms

This is the view out the deck window.  There were at least two zebras and an emu behind the fencing on this side of the lake but I couldn't get them to show up.  They have a lot of animals scattered around - we saw a couple of lions, a white tiger, the zebras and I don't know what all else there might be.  There were a lot of guests with children and the children all seemed to be happy to be there.

And here are my pictures from Fallingwater - you're not allowed to take any inside the home so I'll just tell you it was beautiful - very peaceful, very simple in appearance but so infinitesimally planned.  Wright designed almost all the furniture.  We found it interesting that there was no great show of wealth - I mean aside from the fact that the whole structure, the various art works, the custom designed furniture had to cost an enormous amount but it didn't look that way.  It just looked very comfortable and like a place that would be a wonderful place to live.

This was taken on the way to the house.  When I saw it come into view, I was actually a little disappointed because it didn't look as fantastic as the photos I had seen of it. But a couple of people said that after the tour we could walk to "the spot" where all the photos are taken, so on we went.

 In the first picture you can see people standing outside on one of the terraces.  This is the water running below that terrace.  I finally managed to find out that this is the Bear Run River and just like our Ohio River, it was much fuller than in the photos I've always seen.

 Just a bit of statuary - art works are scattered very casually all through the inside and outsi
de.

 Now the tour is over and we've walked down to "the spot" and it was glorious.  That huge waterfall under the first terrace wasn't visible from where I took my first picture with the little statue so I was truly stunned when I walked out on to the terrace and over to the edge.  It really took my breath away.  I've never been a swimmer and when young was scared of the water but I do love rivers, lakes, oceans - the bigger the better and this was a stunner.

And it just continues on down.  The woods all around the whole area were full of what we call rhodendron here but it's also called mountain laurel and that's what they called it on this mountain.  Can't imagine what it must be like when it all blooms.

So, that's all there is to report really.  If you're interested in Fallingwater I'll tell you up front both Shelley and I thought the entrance fee was a bit steep for a 1-hour tour but I'll also tell you I bet you'll never see another house like it. :)