A dream come true! Just that... Falling Water was another hour or so drive away from where we are staying, not good when our tour began at 8:45am. Mark valiantly rose to the challenge and got us there at 8:46am, not bad work! We booked the 'in-depth tour' which goes for two hours, and it really flew by, visiting Falling Water is a wonderful experience.
Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water.
Our tour guide Cara (also the education officer) took a small group of us around, and covered what I am sure is every aspect of the house; ranging from the history, to the artwork (Picassos, Rembrandts, Klees... and so much more) to the more structural architectural stuff. Falling Water really has been one of the highlights of our trip. I'm thinking that not many Aussies pass through either because they were pretty curious to see us there!
We were allowed inside the house as well as outside, which was a real treat as the interiors were awesome, and still relevant today! (If you just drop by and purchase regular admission, they will not let you in the house itself.) The visit really was comprehensive without becoming overbearing, by informed and passionate staff who were obviously motivated by so many aspects of the property overall. I cannot recommend a visit highly enough. Oh, how I'd love a job there!
So, moving on. What is it like being in small town America? Well, it's sort of like what you see on TV! After Falling Water Mark and I decided to visit a Diner for breakfast, when we walked in there were three guys in full hunting regalia sitting there... and behind us were a couple talking to some sort of broker about the possibility of having their farmland drilled for gas! There was a jukebox on every table, country music played, and the food was horrible and greasy.
When you ask for a cup of tea a hot cup of water comes out and you have to put the bag in yourself. All of the milk is that long-life stuff in tiny containers, and the cheese is a funny colour (sort of orange and plastic.) Besides diners, there isn't really many family run businesses in towns like these, no Thai or Indian places, everything is part of a chain or a big brand. It is true that people are generally 'bigger' out this way, but it really isn't too different to looking at suburban Australians.
At the moment everyone is getting ready for Halloween. We have passed lots of Pumpkin shops and stands by the road and lots of houses are getting decorated, they look really cool! I'm just amazed that people wouldn't come by and trash the decorations, or steal the pumpkins, but this doesn't seem to be the case. I'm pretty sure we'd have lots of problems with this in Oz.
There are only white people here, which seems odd. People say hi to you on the street, or in the supermarket. Everyone is very helpful and 'you're welcome' about everything, and people will strike up random conversations with you as you stare at a stand of postcards or select which ice cream you want.
I'm not really sure what people do here. There are lots of churches and apparently the town was founded upon coal and then continued to grow with the railroads. There is no more coal so it appears many people work in the service industry for mostly minimum wages. I think they are trying to encourage tourism, you can ski near here in winter and 'outdoor activities' like mountain biking are encouraged. Yes there are trailers here! On top of the hill there are wind farms, but if anything it contributes to the eerie tranquility of this place. Yeah, that's it! Eerie tranquility!
Well, I might go off for a walk soon to take it all in one more time before leaving tomorrow - Philadelphia tomorrow!
xxox