Tropical Storm Hanna had finally moved on and we were ready for a Sunday full of NASCAR racing at Richmond International Raceway. Except the problem was that we had little information about when the race was actually going to start and once we headed to the track we got the pleasure of waiting in traffic way longer than anticipated. Uh oh…
With a full day to explore Richmond Virginia while we waited for the NASCAR race, Amy, her family and I worked on coming up with a plan to spend our time. Due to the tropical storm weather we were slightly limited to indoor activities. Given our location were were able to take advantage of some Civil War Sites near Richmond Virgina. Richmond after all was the location of the White House of the Confederacy.
Up first was Tredegar Iron Works, a building dedicated to the production of war goods for the Confederacy. Inside the building we found all sorts of artillery ranging from guns to cannons used during the Civil War and other historical artifacts.
Trip Rewinds are stories from my earlier travels prior to the Paws for Beer blog’s creation. The stories may be oldies, but hopefully you find them to be goodies 🙂
Over the next few postings I will tell you about my trip to Virginia in 2008.
It was another trip with another friend to visit who I had once worked with and now lived across the country. As usual I did not mind – I love to travel. In my opinion there is no better way to explore than with a local.
As a child I dreamed of being an architect, often building entire cities out of Legos. I also drew more floor plans of “dream” houses than I could ever live in, in one lifetime.
One day I shared with my mom a house that I had created with a glass floor over a creek. My mom took one look at the drawing and pulled out the encyclopedia (if anyone can remember what those are) and showed me a photo of Fallingwater, a house built over a creek.
Fallingwater is probably one of the most famous houses Frank Lloyd Wright ever designed. Although architectural fame was not in my future I still admire architecture anytime I travel. I also occasionally pull out the Legos as well. One because I need to justify why I still have them and two because I still love building houses.
Pittsburgh is a fun city to visit, and very livable according to a few of my friends who are current residents there! What I like best about Pittsburgh is that it has a town like feel even though it is a city of 306,000+ people. I have visited Pittsburgh a couple of times as a friend of mine lives there and I always have an enjoyable time. Below I have created a list of can’t miss spots!
On our way to visiting some of the Frank Lloyd Wright Houses along the Pennsylvania countryside we made a stop at Laurel Caverns. In addition to being an architecture fan I am also a fan of caves.
Some people collect coins, others baseball cards, but I collect Frank Lloyd Wright House Tours. Sure it’s a little weird. It’s not like I can take the house with me once I finish the tour but when ever I travel if there is a Frank Lloyd Wright structure in the area I try to find a tour.
As of 2013 I have been to and/or on tours of 10 structures. Not all structures allow tours much to my dismay. 10 is a mere blip on the radar but I hope to make it to Chicago on day (hopefully soon), which is an area heavily saturated with FLW structures.
As usual I had befriended someone at work and they had decided to move on and I was being left behind. I am not trying to throw myself a pity party, but I am just bringing up the point why I now say “I don’t bother learning their names, they’ll be gone soon” when referring to a new coworker.