As my staycation draws to a close, I realized I have done very few things on my never ending to-do list around the house. What I did do was visit new coffee shops, cook, bake, spend A LOT of time at the ice rink, and visit my very best friend in Cleveland! I only had a few days to plan my time off, so I couldn’t go anywhere far, but I had somewhere in mind en route to Ohio. For years, I have been wanting to visit Fallingwater, the iconic Frank Lloyd Wright designed property in Mill Run, Pennsylvania. I mean, Smithsonian named it on their “Life List of 28 places to visit before you die”. Check! Now I am up to six. I have my work cut out for me!
I have visited some of Wright’s other projects, including the Pope Leighey House in Alexandria, Virginia as well as the Martin House in Buffalo, New York, but those don’t hold a candle to Fallingwater!
The house is in the middle of nowhere, about 3.5 hours from D.C. For the directionally challenged, please note cell service is slim to non-existent, so plan out your directions before you go into the dead zone. I arrived with a few minutes to spare before my 10am tour, so I strolled the grounds and found the scenic photo opp of the house. The tour actually ends near this lookout, so if you don’t have time beforehand, know that you’ll get a chance at the end to see this view.
I joined 4 other retired couples on the hour long guided tour. Do I ever have to go back to work? I’m really good at living that retired life already…
The house was built for the Kaufmann family, who founded Kaufmann’s department store in 1871 in Pittsburgh. I totally forgot about that store, but apparently it was acquired by Macy’s in 2006 and subsequently closed. Anywho, Edgar and Liliane Kaufmann had a son, Edgar Jr. who studied as an apprentice under Frank Lloyd Wright. When Edgar and Liliane came to visit Edgar Jr. during the apprenticeship, they commissioned Wright to create a summer retreat home outside of Pittsburgh. It took less than 2 years to create, and was completed in 1938. The total expenditure was $155,000, which in modern day currency would be roughly $2.7 million. Maybe I’m jaded by D.C. prices, but that seems like a pretty good deal for a main house, guest house, servant house, garage, and all furnishings.
The house is built around nature, boulders included. Needless to say, this building style was way ahead of the times. Fallingwater was, by far, the coolest architectual feat I have seen. Kaufmann’s vision was to have the home looking out at the falls, but Wright had other plans. He thought the house should be one with nature, and drew up plans to build on top of a waterfall. The house was built using a cantilever system, meaning the house actually extends over the water without any external supports.
Above, you will see a set of floating stairs. Just past the stairs is the waterfall. Hidden from view is a second staircase on the right, with access to the water behind the retaining wall. It is said that the Kaufmann’s would plunge into that frigid water as a way to wake up in the morning. Brr!
The interior is very mid-century modern, again before its time! Every bedroom has a private terrace, fireplace, and bathroom. Notable guests of the Kaufmann’s included artist Diego Rivera and his wife Frida Kahlo, as well as Albert Einstein. Original works from Rivera and other prominent artists of the time are found throughout the property.
The guest house also has an outdoor pool that uses fresh water from nature. It cycles in and out of the pool, so it does not need to be chemically treated. No pictures are permitted inside the house with the standard tours, so you’ll just need to go see for yourself.
Fallingwater remained in the family until 1963, when Edgar Jr. donated it and the 1500 acres known as Bear Run to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy with the promise that it would be maintained and open as a museum. There is so much more to say about the property, but you must take a tour to get the full experience.
TIPS:
I suggest buying tickets online, since they do sell out. The tour groups don’t necessarily leave on time, so plan accordingly and allow an extra hour. If you time it right, they have some really cool events like tours followed by a terrace brunch or happy hour.
Download your maps before heading out to the deep unknown of Western Pennsylvania.
If you want lunch, stop through Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania, less than 10 minutes from Fallingwater. It is a small town right on the water with a cute general store and a few little restaurants. It was pretty dead when I was there, but I think it is more of a summer spot with whitewater rafting and other watersports.
Ohiopyle Bakery and Sandwich Shop
Until the next adventure!
After stopping through 
Fueled and ready to start our wine country fun, we walked over to the rental car office. I was slightly nervous that they would be out of automatics, despite our request. Steve did assure me he could learn how to drive stick while on the trip, since it wasn’t our car to ruin. He must’ve forgotten about the safety of everyone else on the roads, not to mention some of the literal cliff hangers we were about to drive on. I think we both breathed a deep sigh of relief when the car came out of the garage and was a nice little automatic. Ok, food, coffee, and car accomplished. On to the hotel! We stayed at 
After settling into the hotel, it was almost time to being our wine-soaked adventures! There are so.many.wineries to choose from. I highly suggest you do your research before you arrive, since most places require reservations to do a tasting. We decided to start at 
All the food was amazing, and they kept topping off our glasses. Whoa! The tour was very informative, too.
After our first winery in Mendoza, we realized we needed to get a better game plan, and perhaps more elasticized waistbands. We skipped dinner after our epic lunch, which was a very smart choice. The following day we hiked 
Now that we conquered a mountain, we could justify another indulgent day. It started with the hamam spa at 
At some point on this beautiful morning, I decided to get a pic of the beautiful Andes mountain range at our hotel. I took a stroll down the dirt road next to the hotel’s pool, just like Steve and I did the night before, so I could get the best view. Around the time I framed the mountains, a pack of angry dogs stormed me. I turned away from them, but didn’t want to startle them by bolting. The littlest dog had, quite literally, the biggest bite. He nipped my leg in the frenzy. Then they all calmed down and strolled off. Well, dogs in Argentina aren’t the pampered pooches you find back home. It was unclear whose dogs they were, and if they were vaccinated. Never google ‘rabies vaccine window of time’ when in a foreign country. NEVER! Spoiler: I survived. After a stressful few days, I was able to start the post exposure protocol after landing back in the U.S. I also learned insurance is pretty much the worst system ever.
The dessert was a very weird texture, but tasted delightful. After a translation fail, we finally figured out we were eating spaghetti squash. Who knew you could make it into a sweet?
After indulgent lunch #2, we headed back to the hotel for pool time. We had reservations at 
The winery itself is on the edge of 
The Argentine adventure started off on the wrong foot. Our fridge died the morning we were scheduled to leave, and then the flight from DC to Toronto was so delayed by snow that we would likely have missed our connecting flights to Buenos Aires (who books a flight through Canada in the dead of winter? lesson learned). So, we went back home and spent Christmas morning back home with no food and no stores open. In retrospect, it may have been good to have almost no food since the following week was so indulgent…but I digress.
Once we finally made it in the apartment, it was super cute with a little patio.
Thankfully it was conveniently located in 
I spotted this wine bottle displayed in the restaurant and it explained a curiosity I saw in the park on our walk to the restaurant.
I saw something that looked like a pack of scrawny dogs crossed with a kangaroo. Very strange. They resemble the critter shown on these wine bottles, called a 
We stumbled upon this young lady in her wedding dress and her cute dog. Turns out, she died on her honeymoon and her parents reconstructed her bedroom inside her tomb.
If this hasn’t creeped you, out go visit any day between 8am-6pm, with free English tours at 11am on Tues/Thurs.
Some other spots to see: 
