Thursday April 18 2024

 Thursday we rose early so we could make our way to Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece, “Fallingwater”, a world UNESCO heritage site. Our guided house tour started at 10am and were surprised at how many people were there for the tour. We were in group 11 with groups of 12 leaving the Visitor Centre every 15 minutes. The grounds of the property are very natural and Fallingwater is nestled among the trees and rocks and suspended out over a fast-flowing stream. Quite stunning. The house was built in the 30s from mostly concrete and stone with wood accents. Even the floors are stone which surprised me. I found the house quite chilly, kind of like being in an old castle. I think in its time, it was very avant-garde and even now is still very striking, but to me, not very functional or cozy.

After Fallingwater we head south for 10k to Ohiopyle State Park which occupies a large area around the Youghiogheny River Gorge. We hiked a very nice loop called the Ferncliff trail, where I almost stepped on a 4 foot long Indigo snake! Not venomous!