My girls decided to treat me to a day trip to celebrate my birthday. We visited Falling Water in Pennsylvania, which is only a 3 hour drive from our house (and I had never been before).
The trip started with beautiful views of clean energy production along the mountains in both West Virginia and Maryland. These structures are so large they make the trees look tiny.
There were also incredible mountain and farmland views along the way.
When we arrived at Fallingwater, we walked down the same driveway that once brought Frank Lloyd Wright (and of course the Kaufmann Family) to the property. The structure that Wright created is an incredible work of art. More on the house in a later blog post.
After many pictures of architectural details (of which Hannah said: “Dad takes some pictures of really weird things”) we traveled back to Ohiopyle just a few minutes up the road. There we walked along the river to see a few waterfalls, across two former railroad bridges that now create a wonderful hiking trail network, and of course visited one of the local ice cream shops.
This cool rainwater collection system had a rain garden right along the roadway. The curb cuts allowed stormwater to enter the rain garden. This reduces storm water runoff down the road and filters pollutants before reaching the river.
The day would not be complete without finding cool buildings (outside of the destination Fallingwater)! This is the old train station and new visitors center in Ohiopyle. The visitors center had rainwater collection, vegetated roof, and exposed ductwork.
What a fun day (of looking at buildings and spending time with my girls)!
