June 3, Day 5: Pittsburgh – Ohiopyle - DC

June 2, Day 5: Pittsburgh – Ohiopyle - DC

In the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.

I'm a lucky guy and I'm happy to be with the Yankees. And I want to thank everyone for making this night necessary.

Pics: Fallingwater (and upper guest residence) and Kentuck Knob, sculpture from around Kentuck Knob including a piece of the Berlin wall, various road work


Take a tip from Mort and head towards Fallingwater on the way from PNC Park to Nationals Park. Because we put it off too long, we can’t make a tour of the house fit, so we buy a “stroll the grounds” ticket and take pictures. The house was commissioned by the Kaufmanns, who owned a major department store chain in this area (note quote above), when Frank was in his late 60s to early 70s (or so).

Heading south, we go through Ohiopyle, a mecca for kayakers and bikers; even in mid-week, there are a lot of cars parked here. There is a bike trail that runs for 17 miles one way and 11 the other, and lots of people must hop on here.

A very short ride to Kentuck Knob, interrupted by road repair (see pic), reminding us of home. This house is also a FLW design, commissioned when Frank was in his mid-80s and built in the 1950s for the Hagans, owners of a local ice cream company. Mrs. Hagan sold the house to Lord Palumbo, a British Baron, 15 years ago (or so), and he has created a sculpture garden in the meadow below the house.

We tour the house, which is built into the side of a hill just below the “knob” of the hill. The house radiates around a rather small hexagon housing the kitchen area: there is a giant living room, smallish dining area, and three small bedrooms on the east side of the house (to catch the morning light, a FLW trademark we’re told), and a great veranda facing south. The original design was for 1200sq ft, the Hagans negotiated an additional 1000 sq ft, most of which must have ended up in the living room.

We meander around the house and down to the meadow. Much of the sculpture are made by British artists we don’t recognize. However, there is a small Serra (must be a maquette; nothing special) and two Goldsworthy’s, both in his typical style (and made from local stone, as was the house).

Back to Ohiopyle for lunch: chicken sandwich, veggie gyro, lemonades, $20. Of note: the town is undergoing major road work, including right in front of the grill we’re eating at (see pic), another reminder of home.

We drive to Bethesda, just outside of DC, to spend two nights with Bev and Mack, a couple we became friends with when we spent three days together hiking in Patagonia (with Sharry and Alec), staying at the Remota Hotel in Puerto Natales. This is the second time we've stayed with them, the first was 2.5 years ago in January, a very cold January!

Well, what do you know; a thunderstorm arrives in the early evening. Fortunately, it clears up, the skewers go on the grill, and we have a great evening dining on the deck, complete with fire flies (a first for me, at least in my recorded memory).

Friday night is projected to be clear, hot (very hot for us), and the game is followed by fireworks, a bonus!