50th HS Reunion - Epilogue

Here is an outline and a map of the entire trip:

1. 50th HS Reunion - Part 1 - Reno to Pittsburgh
2. Yellowstone National Park, Part 2
3. Devils Tower National Monument
4. Badlands National Park
5. 50th HS Reunion - Part 2 - Pittsburgh to Reno
6. Shenandoah National Park
7. Blue Ridge Parkway
8. Great Smoky Mountains National Park
9. Great Sand Dunes National Park
10. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
11. Arches National Park Encore
12. Natural Bridges and Cedar Breaks National Monuments
13. 50th HS Reunion - Epilogue





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If you came here first, you are at the end of this particular journey. You can click HERE to go to the beginning. Or you can use the sidebar or the outline above to select the part you want to see. 


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We were very fortunate on this trip and things went exceptionally well. We quickly handled the few problems we encountered and we kept to our planned schedule almost without any difficulties. We even had some pleasant surprises.

Our trip lasted 27 days and 26 nights and, according to the odometer, we drove just slightly over 8,000 miles.

We were in 23 different states and slept in 12 of them. Well, to be completely honest about it, we were in Maryland for less than 5 minutes as we crossed from Pennsylvania into West Virginia. We were in Arizona for 30 minutes as we crossed from Utah to Nevada, and we were in Kentucky for 90 minutes as we crossed from Tennessee into Illinois. Of course, we also spent six weeks crossing Kansas so it sort of balances out.

The car computer determined that we averaged 50 mph over the course of this trip (so much for 80 mph speed limits), and that works out to 160 hours in the car (while it was moving--construction delays in Illinois probably added a few more hours).

We visited 7 National Parks, 4 National Monuments, and one National Parkway as well as Interstate 70 in Utah which should at least be a National Parkway.  We also visited two historic houses and, of course, we went to our 50th High School Reunion.

I kept a daily analog journal of this trip (pen and paper) and I'm going to continue this practice. I found a number of times where my certain memory didn't quite match what I wrote at the time (maybe Kansas didn't take six weeks after all).
 
I bought a quality dash cam but it's still only a dash cam. You can judge for yourself if the posted recordings were worth saving.

The recordings of most animals were a particular disappointment. We passed roadside pronghorn and turkeys and birds swooping in front of us, as well as cattle crossing the road ahead, but none of that recorded well enough to even recognize.

Even the bison recording wasn't what I had hoped for. We were a lot closer to the action than the wide-angle lens shows. 

(Also, the time stamp, after it was set, gives the time as PDT no matter which of the four time zones we were in.)


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An interesting aspect of our travels is that we are almost always going to places for the first time. Later, we always talk about what we would do it differently if we could do it all over again and we have missed things that we would have included had we only known. 

Virginia is a good example. With its historical spots from both the Revolution and the Civil War, we could have easily spent a month just there and I would have been happy to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway for several months. I didn't realize how close Monticello and Poplar Forest were to Shenandoah and that hurts.  

Of course, on this trip we returned to Arches and the second visit wasn't exactly an improvement over the first one, so, there's that. But, still, you just can't make your first visit twice.

Our original travel plans had us returning through the south but the hurricanes convinced us to change plans and we ended up returning through the mid-west. So, we are seriously considering another cross-country trip, this time across the southern United States and up through Virginia. But, maybe we'll come to our senses first.


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To see some additional photos from this trip, go to: Pictures from a Journey

Natural Bridges NM and Cedar Breaks NM

There are two National Monuments in southern Utah  that for one reason or another we hadn't visited, so we took this opportunity to see them.

Natural Bridges National Monument

This was designated as Utah's first National Monument in 1908 by President T. Roosevelt. To put this into perspective, Arches wasn't designated until 1929.

It was nearly inaccessible for many years and it is still quite remote. It's 3-1/2 hours from Page, AZ, 2-1/2 hours from Mesa Verde National Park, and 2 hours from Moab, UT. In fact, it's so remote that dark skies for astronomical viewing started here. The Monument was designated by the International Dark-Sky Association as the first dark-sky park and it still has the darkest sky ever measured.

The Monument is best known for its three natural bridges. They were given Hopi names in 1909:  Owachomo, Kachina, and Sipapu and they almost as remote in the valley.  Significant hiking is required to really appreciate them though.

Sipapu

Kachina

Owachomo

 The Monument is also the location of a small Ancient Puebloan ruins that have some rather interesting structures.

Cedar Breaks National Monument

Amphitheater

This Monument is off I-15 just beyond the Brian Head Ski area. It sometimes compared to  Bryce Canyon National Park because of its three-mile wide amphitheater and hoodoos. The view down the valley extends all the way to Cedar City.

View to Cedar City

We exited the monument heading toward Cedar City and a return to I-15 to begin the final leg of our return home.

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Arches National Park Encore

Our return to Arches wasn't exactly a mistake, but it wasn't the experience we expected.

The park is repairing all of its roads. The campgrounds are closed and during the week visitors must exit by 7 p.m. so construction can take over. What this means is that lines begin forming early for the 7 a.m. re-opening and it took us a full 30 minutes to get into the park on a Thursday morning.

The long lines slowed the entry for everyone so that meant that the park didn't have its usual crowds until later in the day, but this was offset by the construction equipment parked in all of the turnouts creating a parking problem.

Nevertheless, this wasn't going to stop us from enjoying one of our favorite National Parks.

However.

Delicate Arch is the very symbol of Arches National Park but it also one of the least accessible arches there. On our first visit, we hiked the trail to the viewing area across a chasm from the Arch, but with temperatures close to 90 degrees and humidity at 5 or 6%, we said we would hike the trail to the arch itself on another visit. So we did.

Note Viewing Area Just Across Chasm

The temperatures were moderate and the humidity was actually high for Moab following a period of fairly heavy rains. We even saw frogs in the pond under the bridge near the parking lot.

As we made our way toward the Arch, people returning all said that it was well worth the effort, but they were lying. Knowing what I know now, I would never have made this hike.

The trail is deceptive and not really a trail and the final approach actually presents an actual danger, especially when you are surrounded by stupid people acting stupidly. But I made it to the Arch and got my pictures.

The Arch really is a massive thing and while you can walk right up to it, you really need a bit of distance to see it properly. Pictures of people standing under the arch either show the faces and miss the context or show the Arch with tiny figures standing under it.

You can see photos from the hike here:  Hiking to Delicate Arch

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Great Sand Dunes National Park

We've seen sand dunes in Death Valley so I wasn't entirely sure about this National Park. It's in a somewhat remote area Colorado Rockies southwest of Pueblo. The long drive to the park did take us through some beautiful country over North La Veta Pass down to Fort Garland near the entrance to the park.

It's a remote area but it is still a fairly popular place. These are the tallest sand dunes in North American and sit between tundra and the Sangra de Cristo Range. The land in front of the dunes has stabilized with grasses and the dunes are at their greatest height.

 

Medano Creek flows between the Visitor Center and the dunes and especially in the spring, the flow can be fairly heavy. The sand bottom forms into temporary dams that then collapse and create wave-like water surges. A this time of year the stream is wide but not deep and many crossed it to climb the dunes.
 

The park has become a sort of playground. Sandboarding is popular year-round and, in the springtime, wading in the rapid surges is even more popular.

Sangra de Cristo Range Going from Fall to Winter

Blue Ridge Parkway

We knew nothing about this National Parkway and had no plans to visit it at all, but morning commute traffic on the Interstate was ridiculous, so we decided to take our time on a more leisurely route and discovered the best part of the Appalachian Mountains.

Construction of the parkway began in 1935 and continued for 52 years until final completion in 1987. It connects Shenandoah NP to Great Smoky Mountains NP with 469 miles of two-lane blacktop with speeds never exceeding 45 mph.

We stopped at the James River Visitor Center where a canal lock from the James River and Kanawha Canal, designed by George Washington, has been reconstructed. Canals flourished in the period following the War of 1812 into the 1840s with the high point being the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825. But the first commercial railroad service began in 1827 and quickly replaced the canals. Railroad companies took over many of the rights-of-way and the tracks of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway can be seen not 20 yards away.

James River from Visitor Center

James River

Lock Mechanism

We continued south to the Peaks of Otter Lodge where we stopped for lunch (excellent, fresh apple pie from local orchards). The area surrounding the three peaks of Otter get their name from the Ewings, early residents whose Scottish name was "Clan Ewing of Otter." This area was a resting place for Native Americans long before the settlers arrived but the lake was man-made in 1964.

Peaks of Otter Lodge on Abbott Lake

Abbott Lake

At this point, road construction reduced traffic to one lane, so we reluctantly returned to the Interstate to complete our journey to Asheville, NC.

The following day we drove the final 72 mile leg of the Parkway between Great Smoky Mountains NP and Asheville and this was the highlight of the Parkway for us.

The Parkway is not noted for its great vistas, but it was on this section of the Parkway that we had the view into the valley from above the clouds that I remember from the Skyline Drive.

Blue Ridge Parkway Above the Clouds

And finally, at the Devils Courtyard Overlook we saw the best fall color of the Appalachians.

50th HS Reunion - Part 2 - Pittsburgh to Reno

From Pittsburgh we continued east on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. I don't have fond memories of this toll road but this trip was a pleasant surprise. We left on a Tuesday morning but the it was a Sunday drive all the way to the Breezewood exit, then south through Maryland and West Virginia to Front Royal, VA where we entered Shenandoah National Park.

And from Shenandoah we continued south to Asheville, NC, a town that is proud of its fine collection of Art Deco and Arts and Craft architecture and has something of an identity crisis--locals root for the Tennessee Vol's and watch South Carolina television. But for most of us, Asheville is a simply a gateway to Great Smoky Mountains National Park and home to the Biltmore Estate.

BILTMORE ESTATE

Official Photograph of Biltmore house.

Thanks to shuttle buses, this is the view tourists always get.

The house at the heart of the estate would never be confused with Taliesin. Completed in 1895, Biltmore was designed by Richard Morris Hunt for George Washington Vanderbilt who was the youngest grandchild of the Commodore and a great uncle of Gloria. It remains the largest private residence in the United States, exceeded in the world only by Antilia in South Mumbai, India, which is considered a bit of a joke. 

Tourist Entrance

Tours have been given since 1930 and it has grown into a major operation today. Besides the regular tour of 40 of the 200+ rooms there are others available, including guided tours, the grounds, the rooftop, and even one from the servants' perspective.

Biltmore is a re-creation of a French chateau, or an English country house, modernized with indoor plumbing, electric lighting, central heat, refrigerators, and elevators. So, if you've seen any of Downton Abbey, you already have a very good idea of what it looks like and how it works.

There is nothing quite like a fine Library

Unless it's a Billiard Room (Billiards on left, Pool on right)

There is also the winery, the village, and the farms, but what made this a must-see for me is Frederick Law Olmsted's incredible landscape design. Olmsted is famous for his parks: Central, Golden Gate, and Niagara Falls, as well as his master plan for Yosemite, and he considered the Biltmore park to be his last great project.

There is nothing that is natural on this site. Contemporary photographs show the bare, worn ground on which a million trees and several million plants would be placed. Hunt designed the house, but the site was selected and designed by Olmsted as were the farm and the forest (which he kept intact and simply improved).

It's actually walking distance from the Entry Gate to the house but Olmsted designed a winding entrance road that is three miles long. This is the final section exiting the estate. Everything here is from original plantings.

Formal gardens and a conservatory (designed by Hunt) with a four acre walled garden were built next to the house. (Out of view of the house and its visitors is the working nursery that is needed to maintain it all.)

View of Conservatory in Walled Garden

Olmsted's original plan called for the gardens to include fruits and vegetable but Vanderbilt wanted only ornamentals--what a loss. Today bananas grow in the conservatory giving a slight glimpse of what might have been.

Likewise, vineyards were planted in the 1970s, and a winery was started in the 1980s, and today grapes are grown and fermented for the estate bottled wines sold there. Vanderbilt, himself, collected and drank fine wines, but it is clear he was not really interested in being any sort of gentleman farmer.

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Giving credit where it's due, I am quite happy to report that the meal we had at the Village was the best food I had on this entire trip.

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When we left Asheville heading west, the Great Smokys were really smoking, but the fog lifted as we entered Tennessee driving toward a Tennessee Vol's football Saturday. We were slightly ahead of the fans coming into Knoxville from the east but we did see bumper-to-bumper fans coming in from the west. We continued through Nashville, St. Louis, and Kansas City. After Chicago, we were glad we planned St. Louis for a Sunday morning and we made good time.

Near Junction City, KS we saw signs for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense facility now under construction. This will replace New York's Plum Island Animal Disease Center and will store dangerous biologicals and conduct studies on some of the most vicious diseases known. I'm sure a lot of factors entered into the decision to build in that location, but it's going to be right where it belongs, out in the middle of nowhere.

On this leg we also passed Independence, MO and drove through Abilene, KS, each home to a Presidential Library. People travel for all sorts of reasons--one couple is supposedly attempting to eat at every Cracker Barrel in America--but visiting Presidential Libraries, birth places, and homes is perhaps slightly more interesting. It's certainly something I would seriously consider.

From Abilene we continued west on I-70 to US40 and then south to Eads, CO. . . . This route is mile after mile of lonely cornfields but it is also a trail of ghosts.

Hays, KS on I-70 is the former Fort Hays featured in Dances with Wolves and US40 in Kansas is the Western Vistas Historic Byway passing through territory where great bison herds were once hunted by the Plains Indians and other hunters like Buffalo Bill. And then we turned south and passed the site of the Sand Creek massacre.

The great herds are now gone, the tribes have long been on reservations, and even Fort Hays is simply a ghost: the Fort Hays of the movie was re-created in Rapid City and that is where the tourists go.

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We visited two National Parks in the Rockies (and have now visited all four) and continued west on US50. In late September, this is an incredibly beautiful drive with great fall color. And this is despite the fact that the route goes straight through Cañon City, CO which calls itself the "Corrections Capital of the World." There are 13 or so prisons there including the Federal ADX Florence where people the likes of Ted Kaczinski and Robert Hanssen currently reside. Two of the other facilities, with the barbed wire and observation towers, were right next to the road. Not your typical scenic sight.

We climbed to Monarch Pass which sits on the Continental Divide and we drove through a cloud at 11,312 feet and saw the temperature drop from 72 degrees to 43 degrees. But we quickly descended to blue skies and vibrant fall color. We passed Mesa Reservoir, the largest body of water in Colorado, and finished crossing the Rockies as we entered Grand Junction, CO.

From Grand Junction we continued west on I-70 with a short stop in Moab, UT where we had some unfinished business. I-70 from Grand Junction, CO into Utah is the Dinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Highway, a National Scenic Byway, and the route from the Moab entrance to I-15 where the route ends should be a national park.

San Rafael Reef in rainy morning light

The road cuts through the heart of San Rafael Reef

The formations extend north and south but the road keeps going west

We stayed on I-15 into Nevada and then headed northwest for home. Our route took us over the Extraterrestrial Highway once again and we did have just a touch of concern when we saw three dead steer on the side of the road. There was a mundane explanation though. We began to see signs warning of Open Range and they proved necessary as several steer crossed the road in front of us single file. We slowed down; trucks don't.

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For a tour of Biltmore, go to: Biltmore Nickel Tour 

Devils Tower National Monument

I had intended to start this by lamenting Spielberg's use of this monument for his science fiction. There is even an annoying statue of a little alien in the visitors' center. But it turns out that I wasn't quite as knowledgeable about this place as I thought, so it's hard to be snippy.

Let's start with what I did know. I am familiar with the Native American origin myth about the bear chasing the seven sisters who were saved by the Great Spirit who raised the rock high into the sky to protect them. The bear attempted to reach the girls as the rock climbed, leaving his claw marks in the rock that can be seen today and when the sisters reached the sky they became the Pleiades star cluster.

Devils Tower National Monument, Wyoming

Now then.

I thought this was a noted landmark for pioneers heading west and I even recorded a video to show how it would suddenly appear in the distance.

But it seems Devils Tower is well away from any of the western trails and it was actually unknown to western travelers until the 1859 expedition to Yellowstone passed through the area. I was confusing it with Chimney Rock on the Oregon Trail in Nebraska, a state I have yet to visit.

Chimney Rock (NPS Photo)

Devils Tower rises an impressive 1267 feet but I have been to Devil's Postpile National Monument in eastern California so I thought I would be seeing another, if more impressive, formation of basaltic lava columns.
 

Devil's Postpile National Monument, California

But while there remain questions about the formation of both of these National Monuments, one thing that is known is that Devils Tower is not basalt but a different type of igneous lava. So while both have the same distinctive hexagonal shape, they are actually quite different.

Finally, just to add a further grating twist, the name, by common usage, is properly Devils Tower without an apostrophe.

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While we were visiting, a young couple returned from a climb of the rock face. They wouldn't say if they had actually reached the top (I didn't press it) but they both agreed that it was a technical climb, different from what they were used to.

There were signs asking visitors to respect any Prayer Bundles left by Native Americans but we didn't actually see any.

We also saw half a dozen turkey vultures circling the top of the tower but the rangers had no idea what they might be after. Vegetation can be seen at the top from some viewing angles but it is hard to imagine any wildlife up there other than birds.

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The name itself resulted from a misinterpretation that called it "Bad God's Tower," but most names actually referred to the bear of myth and a name change to the more appropriate "Bear Lodge National Monument" was considered recently but rejected. No matter the name, the tower really is an amazing sight and well worth the visit.

Badlands National Park

There are portions of Death Valley and the Petrified Forest that are very much like the Badlands but those two are part of desert landscapes. The Badlands exist in the midst of a great mixed-grass prairie, part of the Great Plains. This "transition" grass is protected here as one of the largest and last examples of this type of prairie.

The city of Wall, SD gets its name from the fact that it sits on top of the north "wall" that defines this heavily eroded area.

Roadway at Top of "Wall"

Erosion here is swift and scientists estimate that it will all be gone in about 500,000 short geologic years. In the meantime, despite its formidable appearance, this land is no problem for some animals.

Roadway Through the Depths of the Badlands

The Big Horn sheep is Nevada's state animal but I have yet to see one in the 12 years I've lived here. So it was a great and powerful surprise to see a male and two females making there way calmly near the road on the precipice of the "wall."

The southern unit of Badlands National Park is mainly on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the site of the last of the Ghost Dances and the Sand Creek Massacre in 1890 that marked the end of the Indian Wars.

Yellowstone Part 2

Summer 2017

There was no doubt that we would return to Yellowstone on our trip to Pittsburgh. There is no doubt we will do it again. This visit focused on the Mammoth Hot Springs area like we planned, but we first had to have lunch at Old Faithful Inn and see Old Faithful erupt on schedule. We spent extra time fully exploring the Upper Geyser Basin and saw some unique and fascinating activity.

Sound and fury ... and then ...
This made me laugh

We stayed in Gardiner MT which sits right on Yellowstone's border. The Roosevelt Arch on the historic Yellowstone Trail appears to be in town but is actually the original north entrance to the park. Now the road bypasses the arch and quickly climbs to the Mammoth Springs area.

During our first visit we explored the upper portion of the Hot Springs so this time we concentrated on the lower portion. One section appeared to be a slightly darker color than the rest but as we walked in front of it we could hear water flowing and only when we passed and looked back could we see there was actually a sheet of water flowing down, nearly invisible from most angles.

Brown ground in left picture is covered with flowing water as seen in the right picture

FORT YELLOWSTONE  
Yellowstone was established as the world's first National Park after the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871 warned of possible vandals and poachers ruining the natural wonders. The law was signed by President Grant in 1872 but the National Park Service wasn't established until 1916 and there was no way to properly protect the park until the Army arrived in 1886.

Fort Sheridan was renamed Fort Yellowstone when construction began on permanent structures in 1891. Today, 35 of the original 60 buildings still exist and are still being used.

Original and Current Housing - Note the Number of Chimneys

We toured the Fort Yellowstone area and attempted to follow the self-guided route. It begins with the Albright Visitor Center which was the Bachelor Officers' Quarters in 1909 and you can still see the fireplace in what was the common room.

One building, sitting alone, is the U.S. Corps of Engineer's office and residence which attracted Nancy's immediate attention. Built in 1903, it has a distinctly Chinese appearance and was nicknamed "The Pagoda" almost as soon as it was completed. The U.S. Army Engineer was responsible for designing most of the roads still being used in the park today as well as most of the infrastructure of the Hot Springs area.

We had to take a slight detour at one point in our tour. A herd of elk pretty much lives in town and a group of females decided that the shadow of one of the buildings was a good resting spot (later we saw the bull elk returning up the hill to rejoin them). These buildings are used as housing today and you have to wonder at the reaction of the residents as they start to leave their home and find the way blocked like this:

This really looks familiar, but I just can't put my finger on it.

Oh, yeah: 

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LAMAR VALLEY
You really can't expect to see dramatic things in the wild at noon on a beautiful day, so I'll have to come back at a more appropriate moment if I expect to see wolves. But we did have an unexpected and surprising encounter with a herd of bison.

A small group were grazing just next to the roadway and an even smaller group were up the hill. We watched them for a while and as we were leaving the two groups were beginning to join together by crossing the road. Our dash cam caught some of the action.

If you look to the left side you can see a female bison calmly walk to the road and, without pausing, cross it to get to the other side. I know it was a female because her "calf" (he is a pretty big calf!) comes racing down the hill to catch up with her.

This has disaster written all over it: a charging bison and oblivious tourists meeting on the road.

And then, surprise. He stops dead to wait for an opportunity to safely cross.

I wanted to get out of the car and be his crossing guard but park rangers frown on that sort of stupidity.

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50th HS Reunion - Part 1 - Reno to Pittsburgh

When we decided to drive from Reno to Pittsburgh for our 50th High School Reunion we blue-skied the planning and came up with a trip that would take 6 to 8 months.

While we do enjoy our trips, this would be a little too much for us so we had to make some tough choices. And then Hurricanes Harvey and Irma came along forcing us to make last minute changes.

Since this blog is supposed to be about National Parks, I'll cover those separately and the rest of the journey will be divided between coming to and going from Pittsburgh.

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States west of the Mississippi are vast and the driving distances are huge. We thought that New Mexico would never end when we first drove west in 1971. Today, however, 80 mph speed limits and air-conditioned cars ease the pain considerably if you stay on the Interstates.

We raced across Nevada on I-80 and left the Interstate to Yellowstone NP where we spent several days before driving on to Rapid City SD on I-90 stopping at Devil's Tower on the way.

SOUTH DAKOTA
Rapid City is central to several National Parks and National Monuments and it will take us at least a week to fully explore it all, just not on this trip. Instead we continued on to South Dakota's two most famous tourist traps: Wall Drug Store and the Corn Palace.

Wall Drug Store in Wall, SD is a warren of souvenir shops, famous for its ubiquitous billboards and the free ice-water it has provided since 1931. We even saw a train of sorts.

Wall SD "Train Stop"

The Corn Palace is an entertainment venue in Mitchell, SD whose exterior honors, and is decorated with, all things corn.

Between these two we crossed the Missouri River where Lewis & Clark camped going in both directions.

MINNESOTA TO IOWA
After driving Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota, we drove through southern Minnesota, exiting I-90 at Austin, MN heading south-east toward Decorah, IA. We drove through rural Iowa, a place of cornfields and American flags and only fried-food to eat and apparently no use for premium gasoline. The Amish buggy we saw did tell part of the story.

Decorah's bald eagle nest is famous from PBS specials and its popular web cam that we have been following for years now.

We knew our timing was poor for visiting. Mid-September is down-time at the nest. The latest brood has fledged and the parents won't be really active at the nest until mid-February. But we did get to see the nest in its setting, a narrow strip of woods between Trout Run Road and the bike path that goes to town where bicycles can be rented. Luckily, while we were there exploring we did get to see two juveniles soaring high in the sky above us.

Decorah Eagle Nest - Note Cam on Upper Right Limb

The fish hatchery turns out not to be the feast for the eagles that I imagined it to be. The creek itself has plenty of fish but the hatchery consists of long concrete tanks covered with protective netting making fine dining quite impossible.

WISCONSIN
We crossed the Mississippi into Wisconsin at Prairie du Chien, WI and I'll merely point out that "chien" is French for dog.

TALIESIN
Frank Lloyd Wright built his famous studio just south of Spring Green, WI where he had spent youthful summers at the family farm. Taliesin had a troubled history from its first inception in 1911 and it wasn't until its third rendition in 1928 that it became Wright's permanent home, and even then, beginning in 1937, he wintered at Taliesin West in Scottsdale, AZ.

Taliesin served as a home, a workshop, and a showcase and it excels at all three. The main living area is quite extraordinary. At first sight it appears to be an intimate space, but then one notices the large fireplace and a full size grand piano in the corner and seating designed for other musicians. There were 21 people on our tour and we were invited to take seats around the room. Arm chairs, couches, benches and stools strategically placed around the room easily absorbed all of us without any feeling of crowding. The room wasn't just designed to impress, it was also designed to function well. An interesting result is that it can't be photographed as a whole.

Photographing a Wright-designed home is usually difficult. He often hides the main entrance and many photographs are simply of distinctive features like Fallingwater's water fall. At Taliesin, the most photographed exterior view is the short tower that is now apartments for students but was originally grain storage and chicken coops.

ILLINOIS - INDIANA - OHIO
This part of our trip was just a total slog. In hindsight it is clear that I-90, even with bypasses, is not a route for vacation travelers through the Chicago area. We entered Illinois at Rockford on a heavily-traveled toll road and seven toll stops later we finally reached Indiana. There were only three rest area on this entire route, one when we entered, one as we were leaving, and one in the middle. And the intermediate exits didn't take cash.

Indiana on I-65 was two solid lanes of semi's trying to pass each other in some sort of tag game. Since trucks were limited to 65 mph no one could possibly go the 70 mph that cars were permitted. Nevertheless, two highway patrol vehicles sat at every other crossing to make sure no one exceeded that limit in either direction.

We traveled southeast and took I-70 through Ohio which was much better with fewer trucks but we had to deal with the remnants of Hurricane Irma all the way across the state. It was dark and rainy the whole way.

PITTSBURGH
As always, friends and family are the focus of any trip to Pittsburgh, but we again found time for a few other things.

In a first for us, we spotted wild turkeys in Pennsylvania--we did grow up in the DDT era after all. We spent a morning in the Strip District where we saw our first driverless car and where they still sell "Isaly's Chipped Ham," and we saw more Steeler gear than I knew existed. We made a special trip out to the Oakmont Bakery but we didn't get a chance to revisit DiSalla's Pizza (we always called it Munhall Pizza even though it was in Homestead and it was always a special treat).

We made the drive out to southwest Pennsylvania on US 30, the old Lincoln Highway, to visit the Flight 93 Memorial. It's a respectful site and a sobering experience.

We returned through Ligonier. I last visited Fort Ligonier in 1958 with the Cub Scouts as part of a project for Pittsburgh's original bicentennial celebration (apparently they celebrated another and different bicentennial in 2016).

I continue my interest in the French & Indian War and have followed the ongoing reconstruction of the fort so I was quite interested in seeing the changes for myself. When we visited back then, we were told that no shots were ever fired in anger at the fort but subsequent research has shown that there were actually two fairly significant encounters during Pontiac's Rebellion leading up to the defeat of the Indian forces at Bushy Run that marked a major turning point of the war.

One new thing I learned was that George Washington was posted here a few years after he started the French & Indian War at Fort Necessity. As they say, "George Washington Slept Here."

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For a few more photos from Taliesin, go to: Additional Taliesin.
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