We once again had the threat of rain when we went to bed last night, but happily it rained about 4 a.m. and the sun was shining by the time we were ready to start out for the day. One quick wipe-down of the bike, a cup of coffee, and off we went to the H-D dealership in Rockford. Lo and behold there was a great diner attached to the dealership, so we had a good breakfast there and some chit-chat with local riders.
After collecting a poker chip at the H-D, we headed up the road toward a major item on our bucket list--visiting Talesin, Frank Lloyd Wright's home. But, before we arrived, we stopped in at Janesville, WI, at their dealership and found our souvenir to add to the collection. Our third dealership of the day was Madison where there were no poker chips, but we scored their last dip dot...whew! With that part of our challenge of the day handled, off we headed to Spring Green, the home of Talesin. (I will warn you the photo stream today will be FLLW, ad nauseum...just the way we like it) :).
We started out at the visitors' center, which orginally was build by Wright to serve as a restaurant to entertain clients and associates. It now serves as a restaurant, gift shop, and gathering spot for tours. We were ready for a break and some dessert, so we went in the restaurant and enjoyed ice cream, a cookie, and strawberry/rhubarb pie. Tom also had some great carmel tea. (We may have to look into some of the good loose-leaf stuff out there these days. We'll add that to the "research" list. Love the research...LOL)
After looking around the gift shop and avoiding the temptation to start buying cool FLLW things with no place to carry them, we decided to instead hop on the bike and go over to the family church that was just up the road. We looked around and discovered Wright's gravesite along with several other members of his family. I took some pictures, and we went back up the road to wait our turn for the tour.
A little bus took us to Talesin where we had a really good tour guide. We started the tour outside the home and learned quite a bit about this brilliant albeit irrascible architect. It was amazing to finally be standing the the yard of this guy that Tom and I have read about for years. The home, although it is falling into disprepair that seems to have no end, is still a wonderous place. The gardens were in full bloom, and the surrouding country side added to the masterpiece Wright created as a part of the monstrous hill that serves as the backdrop.
As our tour progressed, we were able to enter and view the interior of the home, room by room...WOW. If you're a fan of Wright, just being in the sitting room and being invited to have a seat on those uniquely designed pieces of furniture that we've looked at time and again in various books of the man and the home is enough to make you pinch yourself. And THAT is why it is bucket list quality. Highly recommended you go and see it before it becomes another lost treasure.
After our tour and a few more pictures, we journeyed to our motel that I had reserved for the evening. The GPS took us on a bit of a wild goose chase, but we found our destination. Some of the funkier pictures of the day came from the Skyview Motel. We were amused that outside our room was a little sitting area that had various old chairs and a little exercise bike that look like it was about circa 1973. We lovingly referred to this area as the spa. Little did we know that our room would be a sauna. As we were checking in, the innkeeper mentioned casually that there was no electricity to any of the rooms...yikes!! Seems their guests over-did it with the a/c and burnt up a transformer. It would be about an hour and a half before it would be fixed. We decided to head down the road and have some supper and a much needed cold beer, so we said we'd be back later. We found some great food at the Blackhawk Family restaurant, but HOLY COW the amount of the food was nuts! And, of course, we had no where to put it since our room was without electricity at the time. So, we reluctantly left enough food for two more people behind.
When we arrived back at the motel about 1 1/2 hours later, we were told in about 1 1/2 more hours the electricity should be fixed...hhhmmm...something odd here. We walked across the yard and talked to the guys working on the pole...at least 1 1/2 hours and maybe a bunch more...that pretty well did it. We told the guy at the desk we were going to head down the road and look elsewhere. By now we were really wanting to get settled in and get that shower from the grimy day. We pulled our stuff out of the room, packed it back, and headed down the road to Sauk City. We found a motel on the main drag and it turned out great...huge pool, great wifi, and electricity!! Hot dog!! Another cold one and a shower after a swim and we were back in business. (Did I mention the motel is right across the street from an H-D dealership? LOL)
Tomorrow we head into Madison and meet up with the family at the reunion. Hoping for sunny skies to get us there. Enjoy the overdose of FLLW pictures!
Photostream: http://picasaweb.google.com/weisman.asai/WisconsinTripDayTwo?feat=directlink
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