Falling Water

Everyone in my family likes to make fun of tour guides. On Sunday, we were all at Falling Water (the Frank Lloyd Wright one!) in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania. We arrived at the visitor center, checked in for our party of nine, and then walked down the path to the actual house. We were all so excited---my parents were holding hands, we admired the blooming mountain laurel (it's like rhodendendrums, but they're wild and grow on the hillsides) and arrived at the actual house.

Unfortunately, we were greeted by a lady who was I'm sure well-informed, but a bit of a drip. Around us were other groups who seemed to have more fun, brighter and lighter guides and people were laughing and skipping their way through the most significant home of American Architecture while we were with a dour, sour, lady with a dripping nose and who seemed put out by our group.

Included in our group was my mom, dad, sister-in-law Amy, sister Beth, nephews: Casey, Ben and Tad, niece Jayna and me. A jolly multi-generational family lot!

During the actual tour, each member of my family shrugged at each other behind Ms. Drip's back as if to say "Ay yah yii!". Amy came up, elbowed me, rolled her eyes at me. I nodded agreement as subtly as I could, and then shifted to listen more closely to how the Kauffman family would expand the dining room out into the main living area via leaves, accomodating up to 18 diners.

Recently, my parents were in town and we went on the Culture and Commerce tour with the Chicago Architecture Foundation, and our guide was a drip, too. We had receivers that had a few channels. My dad, after shuffling and purposely ignoring the guide and falling behind the main group, figured out that he could change channels to hear another guide he deemed better. So, while we were facing the Carson-Pirie Scott building, hearing about the unique exterior ornamentation on the main entrance, my dad was facing the other direction, in direct defiance of our guide's guidance, listening to another guide's guidance on the Reliance Building.

Back at Falling Water, my dad asked a question of the guide and was clearly disappointed by the answer, and mumbled "Well, okay, oh, never mind" and put his hands into his khakis and looked away from the features the guide was pointing out.

Even the kids got into the act, making faces at me with their eyes rolling and tongue lolling.

I mean, I agreed, but I don't think we just indicate privately in a public area our displeasure with someone we've been assigned to show us Falling Water for the next hour. But, they did, and so I stuck to the front of the back, and when I was cornered by each kid mumbling "She's kind of weird looking" I'd encourage them to notice the flagstone floors or Wright's use of his trademark Cherokee red to distract them from the drip.

I didn't want to be accused of being a snobby stick-in-the-mud who won't join in on the anti-tour guide antics, but I was worried we'd get caught. Subtlety is not really in the Eldridge blood-line. We are vocal people who like to indicate their pleasure or displeasure in a clear and boisterous manner. It made me nervous that we'd get in trouble and I got stressed out a little bit.

Outside of the snarky comments and gestures from my family, we really all enjoyed the house and the wonderful grounds so much. The coolest thing to me was the guest pool---fed by the natural spring waters. Also, I always thought the waterfall flowed directly through the house--not true! It's built right next to the house---but you can access the stream via a clever set of stairs that lead down to the water. Can you imagine? "Honey, it sure is hot today in our architecturally significant home, with our floors quarried from our own property." "Yes honey, let's take go down these stairs, not to the basement, but to our abundantly flowing and cooling natural spring." "Don't forget to grab your towels, that are available at all Kaufmann's in the greater Pittsburg area."

They actually left the artifacts of the Kaufmann family, so it would seem as though they had just stepped out to lunch. So the above dialogue is not completely unrealistic.

And you can see the waterfall from the cantilevered balconies. And the flagstones are waxxed with Johnson's wax to a bright sheen so one gets the ALLUSION of water flowing out from the main fireplace.

Anyway, it was really wonderful and we had such a fun time.

We also went whitewater rafting on the "Yough" river in the Ohio-Pyle state park. The younger kids and moms went to Storybook Forest, but we hit the rapids. Yeah, I'm pretty bad-ass.

This week, I finally got my taxxes done and turned in, I took the train out to Hainseville to visit a friend and her family (2 hours each way--YIKES), went for a long long bike ride along the river, worked downtown for a bit, saw "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" (my favorite part was the Dracula musical---so funny and wonderful) and went for a long long walk along the lake.

Today is laundry and clean-up day, then meeting friends downtown for a cocktail and then heading back up here for a BBQ.

Enjoy your weekend!