Mikey D

Did you know that Mill Run, PA is just a few hours away from where we live? The thought never occurred to me either! Mill Run is home of Frank Lloyd Wright's most famous architectural design, Fallingwater. Ever since 9th grade drafting class with Mr. Ross, I've been semi-obsessed with it. And by semi-obsessed I mean I've scoured the internet looking at pictures of it (Fallingwater was my desktop screensaver for an extended period of time in college), reading about it, and going, "man, that's a sweet house".

But not once have I thought about actually visiting the darn place! Probably because I lived in Michigan and it'd be about an 8 hour drive to do so, but now that I live in Maryland, it's an easy weekend getaway. So Grace and I went.

We went on about an hour and a half tour, and I loved it. Everything in the house is preserved the best it can be. Most of the original furniture, paintings, etc. are still there. It was like walking back in time, and then through someones house. There was an original Picasso painting in a bedroom. A fifteenth century wood carving. A portrait of the original owner, Edward Kaufman. Real neat stuff.

You had to be very careful inside the house as everything was original. We weren't allowed to touch anything- and I mean anything. We had to watch where we stepped on the floors so we wouldn't step on rugs. We couldn't touch books on bookshelves, much less the walls. While it kind of sucked you couldn't get more up close and "personal" with everything, they have done just a fantastic job preserving everything that it makes you see why they are so strict. They wouldn't even let you take pictures inside! I guess that's their way of getting people to come visit. If you already know what the inside looks like, why bother...

Anyway, here are some pictures. It was really a good time; I'm glad we went.

After our tour Grace and I went for lunch in some small cafe in Confluence, PA. I think all you need to know about this place was that there big town event was called the "Gun and Cash Bash". Yikes. What is it? Basically a four hour raffle, with a prize given out every fifteen minutes. You pay twenty bucks to get in, then there is a drawing, first for a $200 cash prize, and then fifteen minutes later a drawing for a gun. And so on and so on, every fifteen minutes, for four hours. Hence the clever naming of the event, "Gun and Cash Bash".

We left as soon as we ate.

Good trip; I highly recommend going if you're ever in Mill Run, PA.

~Mikey D