Cleveland, Ohio

We stayed 2 nights in a KOA campground outside Cleveland, Ohio.  I don't know much about Cleveland, Ohio, outside of a couple of TV sitcoms.  We decided to be adventurous, and drove into the city to see a few sights.  We first stopped at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens, which I really enjoyed.  It's small, but a gem.  I like small gems, perhaps because the Academy of Natural Sciences is one such gem. The Gardens are composed of several theme gardens, a few of which I snapped photographs, the first few of which are the woodlands walk:

Aren't they magical?  There is a waterfall in the view below:

In the scene below is a sculpture of galloping horses, although hidden by the plethora of flora:

And of course the herb garden:

There were also the following themed gardens: butterfly, sun, shade, Japanese, meditative, children's, hosta and more.  All lovely.

We entered the greenhouse last.  It included a Costa Rican rain forest, filled with birds and butterflies.  It was very large.  If I were a butterfly, I wouldn't mind living here:

We next drove around until we found the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with the help of a GPS that was as confused as we were.  I'm not a rabid rock 'n roll fan.  I'm not a groupie.  But if you go to Cleveland, you might as well go to the Hall of Fame, right?  Even if it's not on your bucket list? It's not on my bucket list, but I'm sure it's on someone's bucket list.

We arrived late in the day, and dashed through it in 45 minutes, even though we were told it should take 3 to 4 hours.  I liked looking at the costumes, and some of the manuscripts - lyrics scribbled on ragged sheets of paper when they first came to life.  There were several items belonging to John Lennon, like his Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band suit, in lime green, and his round glasses that he wore when he lived in NY.  Those were cool.  Elvis had a large section which would please Elvis fans.  Janis Joplin's little car was there, painted psychedelically.

 

 The Hall even included Johnny Cash's touring bus, which he considered his "cocoon", a safe and quiet place:

There were lots of booths were you could listen to the songs of your favorite artists.  Now that could take 3 to 4 hours.

The back side of the building shows off the Hall's interesting architecture:

My thoughts on Cleveland: not such a bad place.  It reminded me of Philadelphia in many ways.  It has a center city similar in size to Philly's, that shuts down after working hours; it has some sections that one would prefer to avoid; some areas are charming; sports arenas figure prominentally; it has a nice cultural area; a separate theater district; and a very large city park.  It's a city that could grow on you, but I would prefer not to be there during the winter months, that's for sure.

Kentuck Knob, con't

The Hagan's let a forest grow around their their home, but before those trees filled in the Hagan's had a magnificent view of the surrounding countryside. We walked to the edge of the forest to see these amazing views:

We also stopped to see what the "Natural Waterslides" were all about.  As Lee said, this must be the last place in Pennsylvania where kids are allowed to hurt themselves!

We also stopped to see the town of Ohiopyle, and what I dubbed "Little Niagara".  These falls, 19 feet high, are on the Youghiogheny River.  It is said that George Washington, as a young man, walked down this river to see if it could serve as a route for his troops.  When he reached the falls, he decided it wouldn't work.

We ended the day by dining at the Summit Inn, which sits on the western-most ridge of the Allegheny Mountains.  The view was amazing.  Unfortunately, it was a hazy day, but to give you an idea the road drops 2000 feet in 3 miles:

I am writing this from just south of Cleveland, our second stop on the road west.

Somerset, Day 2

Guess what Lee and I saw Tuesday?  Something I never thought I would see, not in a million years. 

Wait for it, wait for it…..

A big chunk of the Berlin Wall! 

Can you imagine, in the middle of southwestern Pennsylvania?? 

 

 
So, here’s the story.

Lee and I saw Fallingwaters, the beautiful Frank Lloyd Wright house that is cantilevered over a stream and its falls, perhaps 15 years ago.  There is now a second Frank Lloyd Wright house just a few miles south of Fallingwaters that was not yet open to the public back then, the hexagon house called Kentuck Knob.  So we went to see it.   

This home was designed and built for the Hagan’s in 1953, when Frank Lloyd Wright was 86.  It is a small house, but its craftsmanship, detail, and design are remarkable, as can be expected.  The Hagan’s are a local family that founded an ice cream company, which supposedly makes the best ice cream in the area.  The Hagan’s sold the house in 1986 to a Lord Palumbo of England.  Lord Palumbo has created a sculpture garden in a meadow below the home, and it just happens to include this chunk of the Berlin Wall.  Imagine that. 

As with many historical homes, people are not allowed to take photos inside.  But here are a few of the exterior:  

 

The cutouts in the wood allow light in the living room, and the wall gives privacy from the courtyard and car port.

Below is the deck off the living room on the back side of the house.   The skylights are shaped like hexagons. 

The master bedroom was built in the hillside for natural cooling, and the open windows help with cross ventilation:

Exquisite!

I am going to continue with a second post.  The internet reception here is finicky, and I have already lost this post twice. :(

Westward Bound

As you all know, our trip to the west coast has had a few fits and starts, going south and north first. Today, we are finally heading west, to live in our little home on wheels for the next 10 months. Any wagers as to how far we get??

We think the house is ready. We turned off the water, emptied and unplugged the refrigerator and other appliances, covered furniture with sheets, closed drains, and everything else we could think of.

With all that done, we set off, and what an auspicious start it was. We were on I-76, traveling at 3 miles per hour because a buckle in the road was supposedly being repaired. This backed up the traffic for miles. At nearly 1 p.m., we hadn’t even reached Hershey. Lee asked me to send a message to the Governor, saying he wants a credit on his E-ZPass. I wrote Lee’s message, hit the “Submit” button, and was notified that there had been a disruption of service on the Governor’s contact page and to try again later!! Oh, the irony!

We finally drove through the construction area, where no one was doing any construction – they were just placing cones on the road to close one lane. We then drove into a thunderstorm with torrential downpours.

At about 2 we reached Harrisburg, where we turned off to a truck tire place to have the lugs on the tires tightened. This is because Lee had new tires installed on the RV on Friday, and was told to have the lugs tightened between 100 and 150 miles. I overheard the technician say very loudly, “Nooobody ever stops to have their lugs tightened!”  But we did anyway.  Better safe than sorry, right?

We are now securely ensconced for the evening in a campground just west of the town of Somerset, at the foot of the Laurel Ridge Mountains in southwest Pennsylvania. It is lovely here, and the thunderstorms cleared the humidity from the air, at least for now.

The parakeets (Beanie and Barney) seem happy to be in the motor home again. They are flying back and forth, front to back to front, chatting and singing, stopping occasionally to terrorize Munchkin by sitting on his cage. Munchkin seems happy that the motor home has finally stopped. He's ready for bed - he can hardly keep his eyes open.

We will spend tomorrow here, and then off to Ohio on Wednesday!

Williamsport, PA

We spent the day wandering around the Williamsport area in north central Pennsylvania. I found a campground north of Williamsport in a small valley, with no phone access and very slow internet access. The Lycoming Creek flows nearby.

When we first arrived, I noticed an inordinate number of trucks going by on the two-lane highway, State Route 14. I was curious, so did an Internet search, and discovered that the traffic on this stretch of road increased ten-fold in 2010, due to………freakin’ frackin’!
Can you imagine being the owners of a small, secluded campground in an idyllic Alleghany valley, and all of a sudden there are dozens of trucks driving by every day, day in and day out? We have seen hundreds of natural gas trucks here, transporting constantly. Bradford County, just north of here, currently has the highest rate of natural gas extraction through fracking of any county in Pennsylvania. One would hope they know what they are doing, but I don’t think they do. Engineers know how to frack, but they have no idea, nor do they care, about the ultimate impacts of fracking. ~sigh~

For those of you on the west coast, fracking is a method of extracting natural gas from rock. High pressure is applied to underground rocks in order to break them to bits, and then the gas held within is extracted. It is a controversial process, but lots of money is involved so it happens. Residents are worried about the quality of their groundwater once the process starts, and rightly so.
Off my soap box, and back to our adventures.

We started off in Lock Haven, at the Piper Aviation Museum. The first plane Lee owned was a J-3 Piper Cub, like the bright yellow plane on the far right of the photo below. His was built in 1946. When I first met Lee he had this plane. He sold it shortly after for $3,000, and today he could sell it for 10 times more.

Next we were deluged in a thunderstorm. Then we headed for a small town near Lock Haven called Woolrich. Lee had seen a sign advertising a Woolrich outlet, and we hoped to find it. We did find it, finally, the original store! I love serendipity.

We could easily stay another couple of days. The Lycoming County Fair is going on nearby, there is a steam boat that provides tours of the Susquehanna River in Williamsport, Rose Valley Lake is on the other side of the hill, and there is always canoeing and kayaking around the next bend. So much to do, so little time!

The next installment to the blog will be sometime next week, once we are on the road again, this time for real! No turning back!

Signing off for now,

Eileen

Frank Lloyd Wright

I had a special treat today, special because I wasn't aware of its existence until yesterday.  Lee came across a brochure for the Darwin Martin house complex, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, in Buffalo.

This complex of buildings has not been open to the public for long, so I feel fortunate.  In 1992 the Martin House Restoration Corporation was created to raise funds for its restoration.  Two of the buildings had been demolished by a developer who replaced them with an apartment building.  The apartment building, through funding by the Corporation, was demolished and the original buildings have been reconstructed according to original drawings and specifications.  The main house is currently being restored, but the first portion of the tour goes through the first floor, and one does get an idea of how the space is used.  I would love to return when the project is finished.  The main house includes a fireplace with a glass mosaic of wisteria around it.  It must have been magnificent.

Many Wright scholars believe this to be Wright's finest example of his Prairie House style.  It is identifiable by its strong horizontal lines.    

The back of the main house includes a pergola, or walkway, that connects to a conservatory for plants.  Next to the conservatory is a carriage house, which includes horse stables.  The pergola and carriage house are the two buildings that were rebuilt from scratch.

Below is another view of the carriage house.  Do you see the two small towers on the pergola to the right?  They were meant to be bird houses for purple martins, but birds don't seem to like them.  They have never been occupied!

Below is a view of the back of the main house, with the pergola extension:

There are two other buildings in the compound.  One was a home built for Darwin Martin's sister and her husband and children.  The other is a small home of a simpler design in which the gardener lived.  Although Frank Lloyd Wright designed many homes, only three were complexes like this one. 

Tomorrow we start home.  We will stop, for a day, just outside Williamsport PA.  Lee's dentist appointment is on Wednesday morning.  I am anxious to start west - I feel summer slipping away!

Into the Belly of the Thundering Beast!

On Friday, Lee and I took the Maid of the Mist trip.  I wanted to see the falls from a different vantage point, and I wanted to experience their power.  The Maid of the Mist was the perfect way to do it.  There are at least four boats that go by the name Maid of the Mist - they are constantly coming and going from both sides of the river.  We were on Maid of the Mist IV.  The trip was a thrilling experience, and I loved it.

This first photo was taken from the dock before departure.  You can see two Maids of the Mist on the water, one on the way out and one returning.

Below is a view of the American falls from the boat.  People don't go over these falls in barrels because of the rocks (amongst other reasons!!)

Aren't the falls beautiful?  The white froth of the water sometimes looks like icing on a cake, or maybe whipped cream, or perhaps snow:

Now I have to make an embarrassing confession.  After the American falls, the Maid of the Mist  makes its way to the center of the "horseshoe" of the Canadian falls.  I tried to soak it all in (literally and figuratively - you do get wet!!), and I took lots of pictures of the falls, the rising mist, and the churning, boiling waters under the boat.  When we returned to the dock, I discovered I had not one picture of it all!!  There was so much glare, and my sunglasses were so spotted with water, that I could not see what I was doing.  It turns out my camera (iPhone) was in the wrong mode the whole time, and I got nothing!  Rien! Nada!!  ~sigh~  You will have to take my word for it, the experience was amazing, magical, thrilling, and beautiful, far better than any ride at Disneyland.

After disembarking from the boat, Lee and I went up the stairs that go half way up the cliff to offer a closer view of the American falls.  I was enthralled by the changing patterns of the swirling mist: 

 

We had new views of the falls from those stairs:

The mist in the background is from the Canadian falls:

This photograph gives the best perspective on how the American and Canadian falls are situated in relation to one another.  The two specks in the water are two Maids of the Mist:

It took me awhile to figure this out, but the Niagara River flows from Lake Erie north into Lake Ontario.

Niagara, or "Thundering waters"

On Thursday, Lee and I met my cousin Geof and his wife Jamie in Niagara Falls, on the United States side.  Lee and I don’t have current passports (we are too cheap to pay for them), so are not able to go to the Canadian side.

Jamie says the Canadian side is much more crowded.  I have the impression that the Canadian side has an almost carnival atmosphere, while the American side is very quiet in comparison.  The Canadian side seems to be much more developed, possibly because of the superior vantage points.  But that’s okay, I loved what we saw – the falls are spectacular from any location, especially if you don’t know any better.

I have seen photographs of Niagara Falls all my life, but as with many things, being there is far more fulfilling.  Perhaps this is because it involves all the senses.  The falls are loud, massive, and sometimes wet.  I also now have a better idea of the configuration of the falls, of how the American side relates to the Canadian side, of the parks, the buildings, the crowds, and the river itself.  All the parts contribute to the whole, whereas photographs are piecemeal.

I took a ton of photos, it can’t be helped, the falls are so beautiful.  I will try to include here those views that one is less likely to see, rather than the standard shots.   I have to add that the weather has been fabulous – about 80 degrees, low humidity, and clear skies dotted with a few clouds.  One couldn’t ask for a more.

Here we are looking downstream.  The white just above the treeline is mist from the falls.  The buildings are on the Canadian side of the border.

Slightly closer view of same:

Geof and Jamie stayed in the Embassy Suites on the Canadian side, and had a spectacular view of the falls.  The view from Canada is better in that one can see all of the falls at once.  Here are my "little cousin" Geof and his wife Jamie, celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary!

Looking upstream from an island above the falls:

The falls are shaped like a fish hook.  The American falls are at the top of the straight part of the fish hook; the Canadian falls are the curved portion of the fish hook.  In between is Goat Island.  The photo below was taken standing next to the top of the American falls.
 

Looking over the top of the American falls towards the Canadian falls:

Again, looking over the top of the American falls towards Canada and the Canadian falls.  The mist rises from the Canadian falls:

Same view, although a little to the right, showing more of the Canadian cityscape:

I love this photo, of the "Maid of the Mist" hovering in the churning waters and mist below the Canadian falls:

The next installment of this blog will be from the "Maid of the Mist" itself!