July 16th marked the day that my family and I would begin out trip out west. It all began last fall when, as a family, we sat around and watched Ken Burns’ documentary on America’s national parks. My mom was reminded about how growing up her and her family would go on trips out west for a week or so during the summer. They went to the beach, but mostly traveled to Colorado and Wyoming for camping and fly-fishing.Even before we had seen the documentary, my mom and my step dad knew that they wanted to go on some sort of trip with me since I would be going to college, this fall, about 7 hours away from home. So, when the idea came up to go out west we all agreed that it sounded like a plan. Our first destination was Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.
Day One: After five hours of driving we made it into a more rural area outside of Pittsburgh. Having read about and seen many pictures of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, I guess this wasn’t quite the area that I was expecting. But, then again, it was built as a vacation home. Once we made our way into the entrance of the park, where the house is located, that’s when the reality of the home being a national monument became a reality: lots of cars, tons of people. However, according to one of the staff members, the volume of people really wasn’t that bad (it being a pretty undesirable day what with the high humidity). Apparently they get several thousands of visitors a day during the fall and today it may have only been several hundred.
Anyway, after walking around the grounds a bit and checking out the gift shop, we were finally called to begin our tour. We walked maybe four minutes from the visitors center until we saw the house. It was absolutely stunning, truly a dream home. The interior of the home was beautiful as well. The use of natural materials that were found on site with the continuation of glass and metal that wrapped around the building could have only come from a designer with a beautiful mind. If you ever get the chance to see this beautiful home you really must. It is just amazing to witness first hand.
Once I picked up a shirt and a few postcards from the gift shop we were on our way to down town Pittsburgh to spend the night.
Pittsburgh at dusk
Day Two: At 7am we were up and getting ready for the day. We packed up our things and set them on the bed, caught some of the Today Show, and walked a couple of blocks to the closest starbucks where we downed a few drinks and grabbed a couple of bagels and a blueberry muffin. By 9:45 we were on the road and heading to the Mattress Factory.
I had heard about the Mattress Factory through my art history teacher who, although only shared a few details about the museum, had enticed me enough to want to check it out on my own. Essentially, it’s an old warehouse that is now filled with large installation pieces of art. Their catch phrase “art you can get into” really sets the tone for the place. Each room was a piece of artwork, all of which you walk right into. For instance, one room was covered in mirrors while the floor was all white with coral polka dots and several mannequins placed in the center. However, unlike most museums, you took off your shoes, walked right into the room, and were not warned not to touch anything. It was art you could interact with…which was totally awesome.
Other pieces included a giant canvas mouse head that was strung up around the room with ropes, a room that was designed to look like a gaudy trailer home and a room in which two subwoofers were hung from the ceiling that were covered in sand that would play a pitch so low that you could see the sand vibrate from the sound waves. Very interesting.
After the Mattress Factory we drove to South Bend Indiana and spent the night. That area was not as exciting, but I did have a very good burrito for dinner with some fried ice cream for dessert.
Day Three: We woke up around 7 and grabbed breakfast at some pancake house near by. As we headed out of town we passed a restaurant called J Willy’s. If any of you watch the show Kitchen Nightmares, led by the English chef Gordon Ramsay, then you may find the name of the restaurant familiar. Basically, there were three owners and 2 of them were a couple that lived across the state while the one in charge was not very clued in, buy the looks of things. In the end, Gordon made the restaurant throw out all of their pre-processed food and work with strictly fresh ingredients. They became a BBQ place and looked like the change could be promising. However, as we passed the restaurant, it looked like it had been shut down for quite some time. It struck us funny that we had actually stayed down the street from
the J Willys.
After our stay, we drove eight hours and reached Nebraska, but I’ll talk about that later.
~Sarah
