Fallingwater

Fallingwater has long been high on our list of American architectural sites to visit, not least because of its fame but also because of our liking for the effective integration of the natural and the built. Frank Lloyd Wright designed the house in 1935, a summer get-away, for the Kaufmann family, owners of Pittsburgh's largest department store (remember those?). FLW over his long career designed hundreds of structures, many of them individual homes, and they are all over the globe. But Fallingwater is relatively unique: not only does it most superbly express his "organic" philosophy of integrating the natural and the built, but it is also the only instance where the interiors, furniture, etc., that he designed for the house remain and are on view in their intended setting. Alas, 2020 was not the best year to visit Fallingwater. Because of the plague, only outside tours and viewing were permitted. But one could look in through the windows and get a sense of the thing. And the outside, over-all view, especially in this year's extraordinary fall color, is certainly the best for appreciating the house in its setting. Although located in Mill Run, PA, it is anything but run of the mill. Much of Vicki's childhood was spent in western Pennsylvania.

Entry to the reception/visitor center

The glorious autumn color continues

Initial view of Fallingwater

The creek

Peering into the main living area

The FLW-designed garage and servants' quarters (up the hill)

One of America's relatively few World Heritage sites

Ablution pool; the extensive stone work is all
from a local quarry and done by local workers

Another view

Fallingplaster: like any great historical building, Fallingwater
requires continuing upkeep

Guest quarters

Swimming pool

Iconic view

There are many wonderful websites on Fallingwater: begin 
with https://fallingwater.org; if you visit, we'd certainly
recommend going on one of the guided tours

Big Mackinac Attack

No tour of the UP is complete without a visit to Mackinac Island, formerly a fort and fur trade center, and, from the 19th century on, a resort of some note. Its main distinguishing feature, apart from the fudge factories, is its lack of trucks and autos, which were banned some time in the late Holocene Epoch. (Bicycles, not much older than cars, are permitted; as are (!) snowmobiles.) We overnighted in one of the ferry parking lots in St. Ignace and then embarked early the next morning for the voyage out to the island. 

We arrived in St. Ignace early in the afternoon and enjoyed a
brief walking tour of the port area; above is Mackinac or possibly
some other island

A Huron long house (reconstructed on its original site); I
theorize that Quonset huts may have descended from this
idea; seriously: the precursor to the Quonset hut was the
Nissen hut, invented by Peter Norman Nissen, an American-
born Canadian engineer serving in Britland in WWI

Next morning, we are on board, en route, seated in alternating
rows, masked, etc.; I am wearing my sea captain's cap, of
course; just in case

The one mile voyage out to the island includes a detour to see
the underside of the Mackinac Bridge, 8th wonder of the UP

And now we are on the island, walking around, gawking at
more lighthouses

More architecture

The bridge

Excellent historical signage

The fort; after this, we uncharacteristically rented bicycles to
explore the more distant bits; actually, tricycles, since neither
of us is steady enough to manage two-wheelers

The cathedral

More shoreline erosion; the island stands between lakes
Superior and Michigan

Natural Bridge (Romanesque)

Tricycliste

Traffic sign

Except in winter (which was fast approaching)

Where miscreant tourists are sent for punishment

Ibsen stayed here in 1856

More architecture

Ditto

A WWII landing craft, similar presumably to the one on which
Vicki's father served and was wounded at Guadalcanal

Evergreen tunnel

Street scene

Our ship comes in

Adieu, Mackinac

Next time: the Grand Hotel (we didn't fancy riding trikes uphill)

Significant Highway Interlude

The first highway name I can remember was US route 41, which my parents referred to as the Tamiami Trail (Tampa/Miami). We traveled it many times in the 50s and 60s, visiting my father's relatives in Fort Myers. Along the way were air-boat rides in the Everglades, Seminole Indian villages, and...alligators (!). As a child it never occurred to me that route 41 continued on past the Caloosahatchee River. And I haven't given the matter much further thought as an adult. Most of the cross-country travels Vicki and I have done have been on the east/west axis. Imagine our surprise--we are both Miami natives--driving to the end of the road in Copper Harbor, Upper Peninsula, Michigan, to explore the Fort Wilkins State Historical Park, and finding an historical marker designating the beginning of US route 41. It ends at Brickell Avenue, downtown Miami, almost 2000 miles away.

Oops, missed Tennessee; understandable

Among The Yoopies, 2

 Continuing our visit to Michigan's Upper Peninsula...

The great up/down bridge at Houghton/Hancock

Headframes everywhere in this great mining area...
which fed America's industrial growth through
much of the 19th and 20th centuries

Great jams and pastries, run by eastern orthodox monks, the
Society of St. John, recommended by Jodie

Vicki had read that a great boondocking site was atop Brockway
Mountain, overlooking the Lake on one side and the interior
of Keweenaw County on the other; people drive up to watch the
sunset; then leave

Boondocking, as nearly always; we were joined by a couple
other campers later than evening

Anticipating the sunset

Thus; the weather forecast did not so much as hint at the gale
that came up about 2AM, violently rocking Le Sport the rest 
of the night; we drove the 7 miles back down to the coast as
soon as the sun came up, vowing to avoid mountain-top 
boondocking in the future

Keweenaw County snow guage (20 feet average)

Plenty to snowmobile on...

On the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore...picturesque
Miner's Castle

And on to Whitefish Point, its lighthouse and the Shipwreck
Museum (some 10,000 ships wrecked on the Great Lakes over
the years, many just off this point)

We skipped the interior of the Museum...too many
people...all masked...nevertheless...

Lake Superior, still gusty

The lighthouse

No flamingoes?

More gorgeous color on the Byway

Same day, different lighthouse (Point Iroquois)