Friday, July 9, 2010. Cathie and I each had the day off from work and Matthew was skipping his last day of basketball camp. We headed west after breakfast, cruising through the light traffic of Interstate 70. Shortly after we had left Maryland, we were near the village of Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania.
Our first stop was Fallingwater, the Kaufman residence that quickly became an icon. Frank Lloyd Wright designed it for the department store family, but it has been a public spectacle almost since it was finished.
The cafe and gift shop area on a hill above the residence is itself an elegant and refreshing spot. When I toured Taliesin, FLW's school in Spring Green, I was struck by how comfortable the light and air felt inside all the rooms. Fallingwater pulls off the same neat trick. But I was mildly annoyed with Wright's attitude towards ceiling height. In the cozy bedrooms, Fallingwater has varied ceiling heights. That itself is good, but the low end of those ceilings is too tight for me- and I am not particularly tall.
Still, Cathie had been wanting to see Fallingwater for a long time and Matthew had wanted to eat the thick chocolate brownies in the cafe within a few minutes of spotting them. And any FLW project is of interest to me. So this stop fulfilled dreams for all of us.
We pushed on to Pittsburgh - until we hit a wall of traffic. Our destination was the Hilton, right near the site of old Fort Pitt. The rivers meet there and the Pirates new(ish) stadium is not far away. As we sat in traffic for more than an hour, trying to get downtown, I concluded that there must be few ways into the core of the city. The hills are steep near the river junction. I suppose that made Fort PItt hard to attack. I know it made the Hilton hard to reach.
We booked a room for the night because the Alliance for Community Media was having its annual meeting there and I was receiving a Hometown Video Festival award in the category of "Government Programs" portrayed by public access television. My series of scripted game shows, using some humor to explain new Arlington County government programs, had been judged the best for 2009 from anywhere in the country.
We got to the awards dinner late, but the speechifying was still going on. They showed a clip of my award-winning program (as they did for the 109 other winners), I was handed my plaque, I walked across the stage to applause, and I shook hands with a strange man. Meaning a stranger.
That was fun, despite not being able to give an acceptance speech. The plaque is on the mantel at home for all to see.
We blew town Saturday morning. Driving east, we got all the way to Canoe Creek Lake, a state park near Altoona. We stopped by the diner for an early lunch. I had to help out the couple who flip the burgers and do everything else. My task was to get the pickle jar open.
So it was an upbeat weekend for me. Lauded for my television production on Friday night and then I assumed the role of Pickle Liberator on Saturday. I could hardly imagine what Sunday held in store.
We got in nine holes of frisbee golf and then lazed in the swimming area. The afternoon was getting deep when we decided to rent kayaks for a hour. Cathie and Matthew took out a two-seater, while I had the single boat. We did not go too far, but did try to explore a small feeder creek. Both of our kayaks were grounded in shallows a few times, but Matthew was gallant and hopped up to pull Cathie off the sandbar.
Next up was minor league baseball, at the home of the Altoona Curve. Great seats, pretty good game, and a constant series of goofy entertainments between innings. The Curve nipped the Flying Squirrels from Richmond, 2-1. Everyone at the park was friendly. After the game, Matthew and about sixty other kids ran the bases along with Steamer, the biggest mascot. I held back by the dugout, but got a warm greeting from Al Tuna, another mascot.
Because I am an insane traveler, we piled into the car and drove south in the dark. Our motel for Saturday night was in Chambersburg. The whole point was to get up early and play nine holes of golf at Caledonia. Which we did, choosing the short front nine. Cathie and Matthew hit great shots at times, and took plenty of shots on each hole to really get acquainted with the course.
On the par 3 seventh hole, my tee shot landed behind the green, off to the left. I chipped on and the ball rolled to the air space above the cup. It was held up by a leaning golf stick. But when I walked on the green towards the cup, my girth turned out to be enough so that I now was Earth Shaker. The ball wriggled free and dropped in for a birdie.
On the eighth hole, Cathie also had an amazing chip shot, but it fell a few inches short of the hole. Even the Earth Shaker could not help her in that situation.
After golf, we found a charming lunch spot - Dodie's. Great sandwiches and ice cream. Then we pressed on to Antietam National Battlefield.
Matthew and I were more interested in this stop, to be sure. Cathie fell asleep watching the short video in the visitors center, but stayed awake for the ranger talk about the battle. Then we started on the auto tour, stopping at the cornfield.
On the Antietam battlefield, the site of the bloodiest day in U.S. military history, the cornfield was a particularly bloody spot. Both the Union and Confederacy moved troops through the cornfield and incurred heavy losses for that tactic.
We headed off on the cornfield walk. It was hot and dusty. And we quickly got lost. And we complained about the heat and the confusion. At that point, the three of us needed only uniforms to become very realistic Civil War reenactors.
After a while, we got our bearings, found the car, and took in more of the auto tour. We walked down to the Burnsides Bridge. Then we drove to a Maryland state park a short distance away. We had just enough time to swim before they closed the beach.
The drive home from that point was short. The three days of fun involved a lot of driving, but we managed to see a lot, too.
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