A positively perfect day

My friend Melissa recently fulfilled her dream of moving to Arizona. Before she left, she tried to fit in all the things in Pennsylvania that she had never gotten around to doing. This made me think of the times I was working in New York City and all the New York natives told me that I had seen more of their city than they had in all the years they lived there. Unfortunately, we rarely spend much time exploring our own hometowns. This inspired me to have a Pennsylvania Renaissance. I’m going to act like a tourist in my own hometown. I already watched someone eat three pounds of beef in Clearfield, so a visit to Frank Lloyd Wright’s world-famous masterpiece seemed in order. On Friday I went to Fallingwater.


The BBC’s Elizabeth Bennet may have said of Pemberley, “I have never seen a place so happily situated,” but had she lived long enough (or at all) to see Fallingwater, Mr. Darcy’s home would have fallen in her estimation.


Fallingwater is cantilevered over a waterfall, which runs underneath the house, its boulders being worked into the home’s design, forming a hearth in the living room, a shelf in the kitchen, and the foundation upon which the building rests. The house is not my style at all; it’s all low ceilings and straight lines and steel and concrete. But the way in which it’s put together, the genius of its design, the loving care taken to incorporate it into its surroundings, almost made me cry. Its beauty defies description. In the words of little Miss Maggie, “Oh, I could live here.”


All that touring made me hungry. My perfect lunch consisted of the most delicious tuna salad I’ve ever tasted, served on mushroom bread, with a side of cole slaw, a frosty fountain soda, and a gob (which was wrapped up and eaten later – that sandwich was huge!) I love museum café food. It’s almost always great.


I ate this on the café deck, listening to BeeGees music on my iPod, and enjoying this view:


On the way home, I listened to the Cousin Road Trip CD, and relished the natural beauty surrouding me. The road between my house and Fallingwater is all gentle curves and hills winding through sun dappled meadows and fiery autumn trees and sparkling streams. It made me so thankful for a western PA autumn.




Inspired by Liz and Zack, I stopped at a pumpkin stand:




A perfect Pennsylvania day.