Beautiful day here in Florida. Temperature somewhere around 70 degrees with lot's of wonderful sunshine. I unfortunately wasted some of it this morning by sleeping in way to late, but then staying up until 2:30 in the morning will do that to you.

     Finally made it up, had some breakfast/lunch, read the funnies, did the crossword, goofed off, etc. Once the shower was out of the way, and I made a couple phone calls, it was time to get outside and wander around. One of the best, and closest, for me is right next door at Wekiva State Park. A wonderful little place that I have camped at several times. It is always fun to wander around over there looking for deer, turkeys and armadillos, all of which I had a chance to see. Thought about renting a canoe and paddling around for an hour or so, but for some reason that concession wasn't open today. Something that seemed strange on a big holiday weekend. Oh well!

     Needed to go do some grocery shopping afterwards. There wasn't a lot that I needed, mostly just some fresh fruit and veggies, but I also ended up with a couple more cans of refried beans. I have found that I am very fond of my own version of nachos. Actually more of a tostada, but you get the idea of what goes into one. They make a good, quick and easy snack late at night. Might not be the healthiest thing at that time of night, but sometimes I just get tired of bananas or a pear or something.

    Right now I'm sitting at a Micky D's using their WiFi to load up a bunch of pictures, some of which I'll post tonight, and check on email and other stuff. Will head back to the trailer in a little bit and probably spool up another movie. Not sure what yet as there are plenty to choose from. Will let you know tomorrow. For now though enjoy some photo's I took a couple weeks ago while in Morgantown WV. My friend Rima and I took a couple of hours off from dancing to drive over to Pennsylvania and visit what is probably Frank Lloyd Wright's most famous structure, 'Fallingwater'.

A visit to Frank Lloyd Wright's home, Fallingwater - Dec 2013

The 'water' that flows under the house that is 'Fallingwater', Bear Run. This was a beautiful little stream that I heard actually has some pretty nice trout in it. As you can see, it was snowing the day we visited, so some of the photo's will be a bit foggy looking.

The entrance bridge into the home crosses over Bear Run Creek. Around the base of the house are some small areas that were landscaped to form still pools to contrast with the running water of the stream.

Getting close to the front entry of the house. The guides will point out how there will be little sight lines built into the structure to draw your eye outdoors and to distant views. Unfortunately there was a 'No Photo's' inside policy, so I can't actually show you some of the really neat design features FLW came up with. He really was pretty good at this stuff.

Looking down the driveway at the back of the house. You will note how the house was sited so that it felt like it was nestled in amongst the trees and rocks on the mountain side. 

Looking at the west terraces from the rear side of the house. FLW built the house so that the outside area's would be as important, if not more so, than the inside living space. In every room he provided views, and often access, to an outside area with fabulous views. The top terrace, or third floor, was originally a library with visitors bedrooms, but later became the private space of the owners son. The room you can see with all the windows is the main living area.

You can see how the house is tucked in among all the trees and rocks. 

Many of the outdoor terraces are cantilevered out over the water of Bear Run to allow for unobstructed views. I asked the guide about them because I had seen a show on PBS that detailed all the structural rehab that had to happen because Frank didn't listen to his engineers and install enough steel support members. The guides take on it was that it was a minor inconvenience, but I remember it taking nearly a year and over 10 million dollars to fix everything. Sometimes it pays to listen to the boring people I guess.

I liked this view because it makes me wonder how they actually did it. I'm assuming that there are large steel beams and columns securely attached into that rock outcropping that then cantilever out and hold up that terrace. However it was done, it turned out really well and blends in perfectly with the landscape. 

You can start to see how the house sits out over the creek. This east terrace is outside the main living area. The semicircular concrete wall extends inside the house and on the interior opens up onto a set of steps that go down to a platform located right above the water surface. 

Another view of the east terrace where you can see that the interior living area is covered with windows and doors that could be opened up to the outdoors as well as providing easy access to the decks on either side. 

In this view you can see the little concrete platform that sits just above the top of the stream. Access to it was from a glass enclosed door system located in the main living area. I have to admit that this is pretty cool. 

Rima enjoying the snow and the view. 

Looking up the hill at what is the area where the servants lived and the cars were parked. It was really snowing at this point. 

The owners of the home, the Kaufmann's, had wanted FLW to include garage space for several vehicles, but he didn't really want too so they compromised by installing what are considered the first 4 'carport's' in the country. They have, for the most part, been enclosed now to be used as a place for showing movies to tour groups. 

The view most often seen of the house. Even with all the snow you can see what the name 'Fallingwater' is a perfect description.

The next few photo's are just different takes from the same vantage point. 

 

 

I like this one just because of the lighting on the tree. 

Two last pictures showing a view looking down on the house a little bit. You can see that the house is actually pretty big for it's time. Built between 1936 and 1939. I can't remember the price that was thrown out there, somewhere around $150,000, which doesn't sound all that much. But it was more than 10 (?) times more than the estimate and was thought to be a huge amount of money in a time where a nice standard house could be built for about $3,000.

Last one.