Taliesin West, Scottsdale, AZ

By Claire

Taliesin means "shining brow" in Welsh, which is Frank Lloyd Wright's ancestry.  He believed a building should be in the brow of a hill, not the crown.

We made our last FLW pilgrimage today, another exciting, interesting journey into this man's life and work.  Taliesin West was built from 1937 onward.  He was in need of a winter abode, fell in love with Scottsdale, Arizona, while designing a home for a client, and decided to build a western location.

Entrance--note the twirling square--a Frank Lloyd Wright logo

 

This rock with petroglyphs was found in the hills behind the property during ground preparation.  Frank had the builders place it near the entrance in the same relative position they found it, and adopted the twirling square as a logo that represents the linked hands of fellowship.
 

 

The entire estate living area is a sprawling 33,000 square feet.  There are patio areas everywhere, giving it a roomy, open feel.
 

 

This structure is an archive that stores all documents and plans to protect them from fire.  Our guide, Jim, was talkative and full of information, quotes and jokes.  One client, Mr. Johnson, of Johnson Wax, called Frank in a fury because he was holding a party to showcase his new home, when it began to rain.  The roof started leaking over Mr. Johnson's chair.  Frank's response?  Move the chair.

 

We went into the office where the archives are located and sat and listened to some history of the place.

This is a photo of FLW taken 3 months before his death.  He died in a Phoenix hospital at 92.  He was in great shape; he ate mostly organic vegetables from his own garden, took a nap everyday and walked all over his properties, except when he was driving one of his 25 Cherokee Red cars.  Every Frank Lloyd Wright home incorporates Cherokee Red paint.

This is the Kiva, designed after the Indian style.  It had one window and stayed cool, wonderful for the parties held in here. The interior is surrounded by beautiful drawings.

 

Chuck heading into the Kiva--that red tile has FLW's signature carved into it as a building with his personal seal of approval

This drawing is a design he did for a proposed new City Hall building in Scottsdale.  The Mayor wanted something special and different.  Unfortunately, the City Council rejected it except for the spire, which was built and placed somewhere in Scottsdale. 

We were startled to find it as we drove by, later in the day, on our way to get gas.  If his design had been built, it would have become world famous, I'm sure.

  

Frank loved triangles and this house has them everywhere.

 

Looking towards the mountains

 

 

Frank loved Japanese art and placed one of these at all entrances.  These were purchased at Gumps in San Francisco.

 

Lots of sculpture placed all around the property

 

Frank found some pots he wanted to place in the living room.  His wife told him he would have to build wider shelves.  His solution was to cut a hole in the glass.

 

  

These small squares are ventilation windows for the bathroom on the other side of the wall.

 

Water tower on the right

 

Dragon with the ability to shoot a flame 4-5 feet

 

Breezeway--the Venturi effect--designed to increase natural air flow

 

View through Venturi onto Olgivanna's patio where she enjoyed tea every morning

 

 

Bell tower--the bell was used to call the architectural students to meals

 

This walkway had the beams at 6 feet--remember, he felt that anything over 6 feet was wasted space.  After his death, the beams were raised 8 inches.

 

Double doors leading into the theatre where plays took place and architectural presentations were made

 

Music room--each row had bench seats facing chairs and tables

 

Frank brought in a grand piano but it took up too much room.  He told his students to get their hammers and make a hole for the piano.  One of them had the bright idea of using dynamite rather than trying to chisel it out.  It worked but it took out all the windows too.

 

No house should ever be on a hill or on anything.  It should be of the hill.  Belonging to it.  Hill and house should live together each the happier for the other. ~ Frank Lloyd Wright

Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico

By Chuck

The highlight of Carlsbad Caverns is the Big Room, estimated at 600,000 square feet--seven football fields--it is the largest natural limestone chamber in the Western Hemisphere.  In here, you can view the entire range of speleothems--from stalactites to stalagmites to columns.  The ranger gave us a handy mnemonic for distinguishing the two:  the 'c' is for ceiling and the 'g' is for ground.

An inscription reading "J White 1898" was discovered deep within Carlsbad Caverns in the 1980s.  It provides witness to the presence of a 16 year old Jim White, the first documented discoverer of the caves.

While riding his horse through the Chihuahuan Desert looking for stray cattle with a fence mending crew for the Lucas brothers, Jim saw a plume of bats rising from the desert hills.  It appeared to be a volcano, or a whirlwind but did not behave quite like either.  He tied his horse to a nearby tree and worked his way through the brush to the edge of a large opening in the ground.  Jim described the moment by saying, "I found myself gazing into the biggest and blackest hole I had ever seen, out of which the bats seemed literally to boil."  He thought that any hole in the ground which could house such a gigantic army of bats must be a whale of a big cave.

A few days later, he returned to the cave with some rope, fence wire and a hatchet.  He cut wood from some nearby shrubs and assembled a makeshift ladder.  He lowered the ladder into the opening and using a homemade kerosene lantern, descended approximately 50 feet to the first serviceable ledge.  He climbed down an additional 20 feet to a floor.  Using the "sickly glow" of his lantern, he made his way into the cave. He felt as if he "... was wandering into the very core of the Guadalupe Mountains."

After reaching a chamber, he noted two tunnels leading off in opposite directions, one downward and to the right and one, more level, to the left.  He decided to go left first and discovered the Bat Cave. He explored it for a while then proceeded down the other tunnel.  “I followed on until I found myself in a wilderness of mighty stalagmites. It was the first cave I was ever in, and the first stalagmites I had ever seen, but instinctively I knew, for some intuitive reason, that there was no other scene in the world which could be justly compared with my surroundings."

By the time he reached the first formations, he had "... crept cat-like across a dozen dangerous ledges and past many tremendous openings."   He saw more stalagmites, "... each seemingly larger and more beautifully formed than the ones I'd passed."   He encountered chandeliers, stalactites, soda straws, flowstone, pools of water, rimstone dams and other formations.  He dropped rocks into pits to determine their depth.  He rolled one boulder into a pit and it fell for a couple of seconds and then "... kept rolling and rolling until its sound became an echo."

Then the light from his homemade kerosene lantern went out.  The darkness seemed to smother him.  Jim described the incident by saying, "It seemed as though a million tons of black wool descended upon me."   We knew exactly how he felt when the ranger turned off the lights at one point during our tour.

The first thing that struck me was the awesome size of the open spaces.  The second thing was how dry most of the cavern seemed to be.  In between, the white calcite always had a liquid appearance, regardless of the wet/dry reality.

They have carefully implemented the lighting to great effect, in my opinion.  But, it left us in dim lighting the entire time, playing havoc with our poor little camera, trying so hard to produce acceptable results.  They are currently in the process of converting to all LED lighting, to save on their electrical bill.

 
A couple of pillars (columns) alongside stalagmites

These draperies were unique and interesting.  Sometimes they were translucent, with the artificial light shining through.

The Hidden Elephant--Does this cave make my butt look big?

Unbelievably clear water--they try hard to keep it this way.  People keep dropping coins and food.

No Comment...

"History was made on August 19, 1952, 750 feet below the surface of the earth, at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Tex Helm fired off 2,400 number 2 Super Flashbulbs, lighting 55 million square feet of surface in the Big Room, to capture the beauty of this view. Never attempted again, this magnificant 'Big Shot' is a result of Mr Helm's technical know-how gained through 30 years of photographic experience throughout the world."  I hope you enjoy this vintage photo.

Detail

Rock of Ages

As we exited from the elevator, we noticed a group with protective headgear and headlamps emerging from one of the longer, 5 hour tours of the caves.  I envied them, but felt we had done enough for one day: a formal tour of  the King's Chamber and a self-guided tour of the Big Room.  Time to relax.

Once again we were grateful for our choice of timing in taking this Road Trip--almost no crowding at tourist sites.

At the end of the tour and our self-guided tour of the Big Room, we had the senior special lunch: half a turkey and cheese sandwich, pickle and green chili with pork soup--spicy, but delicious.

Lunch with the Jetsons 800 feet underground

We are in the only motel in the area.  Its great virtue is that you turn right, drive down Carlsbad Caverns Road for 5 miles and you are there.  We should have been suspicious when we discovered only one bar of soap.  The only restaurant here gets mostly very bad reviews but we decided to give it a try anyway rather than drive 20 miles to the next town.  The reviews were correct.  We shared a Mexican combo plate and Claire gave me most of it and then after trying it, pushed more onto my plate.  The Continental Breakfast at the motel consists of bad coffee, packaged muffins and a carton of low quality OJ.  The "town" is about as dead as any we've seen and consists of about 8 buildings.  The woman in the grocery store, if you can call it that, said she can't wait to get out of here and is just waiting for her son to graduate from high school.  The only activity is the guy doing construction work on our motel.  We're getting used to the hammering, sawing and dumpster dumping. Well, they never promised us a rose garden.  However, there is a lovely pool with a tempting water slide, outside; but it is too cool to try.  We are anxious to move on, edging ever closer to California, Yosemite and then home.

The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land. ~ G.K. Chesterson

Dinner and a Movie - Austin, TX

By Claire

Yesterday was a 7 hour drive and tomorrow is 8, so we decided to completely blow off today and just relax.  We slept in, had breakfast then mostly lounged in our huge, one bedroom suite with kitchen ($84).  We are hooked on these kinds of places.

After a while, we decided we probably needed to head out for supplies:  chocolate covered coffee beans for Chuck, yogurt for me.  A latte sounded good, too, so we scoped out a Starbucks using our iPhone map and took off.

While we were enjoying our coffees, we spotted something called Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.  I thought, hmm, maybe a movie would be good.  And then I remembered something David had said--we had dinner last night with friends who live here--he told us about a theatre that serves food while you watch.  Turns out, that's exactly what this place was.  So we went for it.  Looper was due to start in 15 minutes and the man behind the counter very kindly explained that we had to choose our seats.  He showed us a touch screen and made recommendations about where to sit.  We made our choice, took our tickets and found our seats.  That's when we saw how it works.  Amazing clips from old Sci-Fi movies and TV were being shown as we walked in.  Sitting down we saw the menu and the order sheet.  We decided on Grilled 3 cheese and roasted tomato sandwiches; our order was picked up by a guy who walked in front of the tables picking them up, explaining how it works (extra lemon for your coke?) while swiping our card. 

 

It was all very efficient and fun.  We settled in watching the clips and previews, all done in a very fifties style--with the sound in a normal range, while various waitstaff took orders.  We noticed that the couple next to us was served a bowl of popcorn and a pitcher of beer.  The woman at the end of our row had a glass of wine.  The theatre was small and intimate and the screen size was just right.  It wasn't stadium seating but somehow no one blocked our view.  Taking out a row of seats every other row and adding a long table probably accomplished that.  One of the best features, and we noticed this at the last movie house we went to in Biloxi, is that talking and texting is absolutely NOT tolerated.  You will be removed from the theatre and there are no refunds.  I like that.  And best of all, there is an Alamo Drafthouse Cinema coming to San Francisco in 2013!

Another great, spontaneous day.  Oh, and the movie?  Fantastic!  See it.  We're off to the hot tub, now.

Our happiest moments as tourists always seem to come when we stumble upon one thing while in pursuit of something else.  ~ Lawrence Block

The Big Easy

By Claire

We did some quick research on New Orleans last night and discovered a free walking tour through the National Park Service (The French Quarter is a National Park) at 9:30 am.  So, we were up at 5:30 and on the road by 7:00 after one of our better free hotel breakfasts.  They actually had cut-up fresh fruit!  And this was in Mississippi!

Arriving in New Orleans at 7:50 am, we were parked in a garage and sitting down to Beignets and Café au Laits at Café du Monde.  It was eerily quiet and everywhere the streets were being hosed down and street cleaners were making their way getting ready for a new day.  The temperature was a lovely 64º and warming up nicely and we were ready for our day.

 

Waitresses gossiping while waiting for customers to show up

 

Beignets and Café au Laits--a must have

 

Creating the dough

 

Classic New Orleans

 

Jackson Square

 

We wandered over to the Jean Laffite Visitor Center connected with the Park Service and joined 8 other people for our free guided walk.  The ranger spent 20 minutes filling us in on the history of New Orleans.  From there we wandered the area, up on a levy and over near the French Market.  He spent almost 90 minutes with us.  Worth every penny!

We decided to check out the French Market.

 

 

 

 

Since we'd eaten at 6:30, we decided to get lunch while it wasn't crowded, at 11:30.  A good choice.

 

Red Beans and Rice for two.  I eschewed the sausage.

 

Our guide had mentioned free concerts at the Old Mint building, now housing the Louisiana State Museum, another Park Service.  We found it, walked in and talked briefly with the ranger, who told us there was in fact a free jazz piano concert beginning in 10 minutes.  We scored.  Ronald Markham was a virtuoso, performing works honoring James Booker but in his own style.  I swear I saw him placing one hand inside the other while playing at a speed that was simply breathtaking.  Not only that, we had front row seats!  He played 7 numbers in just over an hour.  It was wonderful.

We walked around the various streets, taking in the architecture and the sights.

 

 

 

Courtyards are very common in New Orleans and afford a sense of privacy away from the noise and hustle bustle of the city.

 

 

Musicians setting up on Royal Street

 

 

Preservation Hall, where music happens; the building dates back to 1816, the music to the 1960's--when we came back that night, there was a long line

Time for a free ferry ride to the other side of the Mississippi and back

 

And a walk along the levy

 

Soon it was time to contact Chuck's son, Todd, whom we planned to meet this afternoon.  While we waited for him to arrive on his bike, we just sat on a bench enjoying the flow of people going by.  I really liked this "Gypsy Reader's" table with the Red Bull can.

 

Todd found us and we headed for coffee.  It was great to see him.  It's been since last Christmas since he lives here now.

 

He thought we ought to see Louis Armstrong Park, so we walked there and we are so glad we did.  It is enormous and beautiful and there was a free concert going on!  We sat on the grass and listened for awhile.

 

 

 

The Man himself

 

 

We left after the lights came on so we could see this.

 

Time for dinner and Margaritas all around

  

Todd recommended fried pickles for an appetizer. Turns out, they were fantastic!

 

Chuck had Gumbo, I had a Caribbean salad and Todd had a taco salad.  But the main event, besides the drinks, was the praline bread pudding. It was warm on the bottom, full of pralines and topped with whipped cream.  The waitress brought 3 spoons.

 

 We were lucky to sit up on one of the balconies--aka galleries in The Big Easy.  It was such a gorgeous day today and it was still 72º.

 

By now it was getting on towards 9 pm; so Todd rode home on his bike and we picked our car up from the garage and drove to his place, where he lives with 2 roommates.

 

We had a spectacular day--it was easy and relaxed and everything fell into place.  We saw so much and enjoyed every second.  Spending time with Todd was a huge bonus.

What we play is life. ~ Louis Armstrong