May 23-24 Fallingwater and the Enchanted Forest.

(_{All the pictures are clickable should you wish for a clearer view. Clickable links for more information are underlined.} )

From the Wooly Pig ( growlers freshly filled with some lovely beers..😄) the road east took us across the very top edge of West Virginia (🎵 Country road, Take me home…..🎵)…we chose to go a little further south to avoid driving the trailer through Pittsburgh…….and on into Pennsylvania….

It was a most interesting road across to the Laurel Highlands. The green of Pennsylvania almost fools you into not noticing the mountainous terrain…..up…up ..up…down.. down… down…….rinse and repeat..!! The road up into Mount Pleasant PA has a traffic light at the top of the infinite hill..(hilarious…😳)….and we did pass a transport truck with a steaming smoking blown engine on the way up. The lady at the campground aptly described it as ‘three mile hill’

Our first foray out for groceries ( there’s not much of anything in rural Pennsylvania…..!!) Took us to Sarnelli’s Italian market…closest place for milk. Another great discovery it turns out. Sarnelli’s is an emporium of wondrous Italian groceries, beer, wine, and liquor. (Liquor store part was local distilleries only)

The reason for stopping here was for our second visit to Fallingwater, one could never be enough. Frank Lloyd Wrights’ Fallingwater is arguably his crowning glory, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an incredible place to visit. Our last visit was 4 years ago in March when there was still snow on the ground and ice on the river.

We were not smart enough to get our tickets booked ahead….(yes I know..!!)

We emailed them to ask about cancellations…or the possibility thereof…the advice was to buy grounds tickets…and if someone showed up late…they might be able to upgrade us into their slot.

We scored..(Thanks again Megan at the information centre..!!)..and managed to get on one of the tours of the house too. It was a beautiful day…..last time we visited it was in March so the grounds were still in their winter slumber but this time with spring in full swing the grounds were green and fluffy… in and around the house was green and lush too… Another big change on this visit was that they allowed photography on the first floor……

The house is such a calm, peaceful place……With the sound of water over the falls below permeating the living space.

So…if you want to see the rest of the house……you have to go there….and I would highly recommend that visit….

The tour finishes with the guest house…..(but no pictures inside ..!!)

It is an incredible place. I know we will be back again for sure…!!!

The advantage of being camped in the area was we were able to plan a hike at Bear Run, which is part of the conservation area around Fallingwater. The Conservancy has extended their ownership to over 5000 acres in order to protect the headlands. The trails are very well laid out, it’s the perfect ‘forest bathing’ place.

We followed the ‘Red” loop.

It was not a challenging hike compared to some of the crazieness we have tackled……but it was very pleasant with that fresh spring green-ness.

Look Bill…I didn’t fall in this time…!!! 😂

There were some funky fungi like we had never seen before..!!

There were crazy trees trying their hardest to grip the rocks…..

……….and some alien looking plants……

…..some alien bugs……..

……and some just plain pretty pictures.

It was such a beautiful day, and a very lovely walk. The creek is the same water that runs down under Fallingwater which made it a bit more special to follow it a little of the way.

Extra pix