The Traveling 3some - Day 11 - From Uniontown, Pennsylvania to Kentuck Knob to Fallingwater to Gettysburg

October 17 - 194 miles - 35.8mpg

Everything fits handily in the Fit. It's engine contains technology DNA from the new Acura NSX supercar and loves to rev. Flick those steering wheel paddle shifters and hold on to your latte.

We booked a 10am tour of Kentucky Knob then a noon tour of Fallingwater just a few miles apart. Driving to and later away from the houses took us through the scenic Laurel Highlands, with its rolling fields and rounded mountains. 

This is the visitor center & cafe where we met a shuttle to take us up to the house.

Norm enjoyed a morning dish of ice cream before the start of the tour. 

Situated on a bluff above the Youghiogheny River Gorge, Kentuck Knob is a mountain home built in the 1950’s - one of the last completed by Wright. When the house was built the surrounding area was treeless because a blight that killed them all. Great for views in all directions, but the Hagans went and planted 8,000 trees and lived in the house for 30 years while the trees grew and grew and grew...

This fountain was added by Mrs. Hagen when Wright wasn't looking. Actually, he only visited the site once because he was spending all his time on the Guggenheim Museum in New York. An assistant was assigned to oversee construction.

Looking in at the dining room. Wright did not design any free standing furniture for this house except that the dining room table is, in fact, his own modular design.

Wright used to tell people that he invented the carport. No, but he did popularize it. The Hagen request  was for enclosed garages. Wright said "no" - he believed they promoted clutter. He despised clutter. He typically got his way.

Fine detailing.

Waiting for the bus to take us back to the visitor center. A day that began cloudy and misting when we awoke turned out just fine and quite warm Off went the sweatshirt.

Without trees, whatta view!

Next to the visitor center, an apple core that is one of many avant-garde garde sculptures spotted around the property by the second owners of the house.

Finally the one we've been waiting for. We were here for three hours, so long that Harper's Ferry was no longer in the cards. John Brown would just have to continue moldering in his grave without us. Anyway, the trade off was way well worth it.

While waiting for our tour to begin, Pam visited the visitor center. It was designed by a Wright acolyte years after Fallingwater was built.

Ready to leave the house and make the long climb back to the visitor center. No bus here.

The cost of restoration and ongoing maintenance of Fallingwater since it was completed in 1936 has far, FAR exceeded the original cost, even adjusted for inflation. The original concrete mix was not up to standards and all of those flat roof and deck areas have a tendency to leak.

Lots of glass, lots of light, lots of ambience.

Just a few of the steps awaiting the departee. They were designed by the Marquis de Sade.

Yet another scenic byway, this one all of 6.5 miles long .....  but overall, our journey from the land of Wright to Gettysburg was over much of the very scenic, 170 mile long Maryland Panhandle Scenic Byway.

Color, color, color and fun driving.

We arrived at our hotel at 6:45pm in muggy 75 degrees. With clear weather, why so muggy. Norm hosed down the Fit at a self-serve car wash near the hotel, so maybe it will RAIN?!