Our Last Great Auto Trip . . . Maybe

We spent our summer vacation of 2011 circling our old station wagon through the eastern half of our huge wonderful country: north to Canada, west to the Dakotas, south to New Orleans and home along the Gulf.

 

Some vital statistics: We left July 13 and returned August 20, visiting 24 states and one Canadian province in those 39 days.  Old Paint, our 1998 Volvo wagon (pretty old in car years), carried us over 6,000 miles without so much as a hiccup.  Carol drove, Bruce navigated and we still love each other. Now that’s vital.

 

 It was fun but grueling and we may never do it again! We had several goals beyond travel for its own sake.

  

First: To beat the Florida summer heat.  We failed miserably.  It was hot and humid everywhere.

 

Second: To get Bruce officially into his 50^th and final state.  Crossing the Red River North from Minnesota to Fargo, North Dakota, did the trick. We kept an eye out for lethal wood chippers.

 

Third: To visit family and friends along the way, including the graves of some ancestral family members that we hoped to discover more about.  We found the quick, but the dead were quietly elusive.

 

Fourth: To visit and photograph as many state capitol buildings as possible along the way in pursuit of Carol’s goal to record them all.  We zigzagged our way to 15, mostly in the Midwest..  Carol’s favorite?  “I haven’t seen them all yet.  Nineteen more to go!” 

 

 High Points

 

Niagara Falls.  Enchanting, but tourist ridden.  Our Canada hotel looked down on the falls so we stayed there and looked for two days, nourished by the view and an excellent restaurant..

 

Fallingwater. Frank Lloyd Wright’s residential masterpiece in western Pennsylvania, recently restored, has never looked better.  Built over a rapids ending in a waterfall, it flows down the hill in concert with the stream.  Many a building improves its site; few complete a setting so well that one cannot be imagined without the other.

 

Taliesen.  FLW’s ancestral farm home is an hour from Madison, Wisconsin.  It became his studio, architectural school (where apprentices labored for a pittance at the feet of the Master), summer residence and experimental design laboratory.  The school remains in operation amid other historic structures. Taliesen is Welsh for “brow of the hill.”  Wright held that building on a hilltop destroyed the hill, so whenever possible he built into the brow.  A delightful restaurant overlooks Taliesen, a verdant river valley and – of course -- another FLW signature  waterfall.

 

Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, Indiana. This impressive institution would grace a city ten times its size.  It’s genealogical resources are second only to Salt Lake City’s massive repository.  However, two days of diligent research yielded only tantalizing ancestral tidbits.  We hope to return for better results.

 

The Nation’s Breadbasket.  Lush and ripe in August, those endless miles of alternating fields of corn, soybeans, wheat and sunflowers in the heartland states (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, etc.) are both mesmerizing and monotonous.

 

New Orleans. The Big Easy is back, though the region has a ways to go.  There’s no town like it, especially for food.  Dinners at Commander’s Palace and Arnauds, Sunday brunch at The Court of the Two Sisters and lunch at the Oak Alley plantation: need we say more?  The French quarter, as exuberant as ever, was celebrating “Red Dress Day” that weekend.  Men and women alike were parading the streets dressed as painted scarlet ladies, a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other.  We abstained on all counts.  Neither of us walks well in high heels.  

 

Cedar Key.  Once the largest settlement and busiest port in the state, thanks to a rail connection to Jacksonville,  this now tiny resort community is a bit of Old Florida on the Gulf where we unwound for two days before the final dash home.  Visit their historical society museum.

 

A Note on Navigation

 

Bruce planned the trip with Map Quest and prepared a printed set of its turn-by-turn directions.  We also brought a complete set of AAA maps and tour guides.  Finally there was George P Schultz, our ”new” GPS.  After getting used to him we mostly let George do it, even if he does say "recalculate" a lot.  But at times, usually when we impulsively deviated from plan, any one – or all -- of our aids would be crucial to guiding us. Occasionally we were desperate enough to ask someone for directions. 

 

Hotel Recommendations 

 

Most nights we settled for Interstate America with the usual modest prices and results.  Some notable exceptions (prices from AAA guidebooks):

 

Island Hotel, Cedar Key: A bed and breakfast housed in an ancient building on the historic register.  Its restaurant is first class for all three meals and there is a lively little bar where Singer/song writer Jimmy Buffet and Actor Richard Boone used to hang out and you can meet the locals.  Rooms are upstairs, air conditioned and comfortable, but no elevator. 2^nd & B St. 800-432-4640. $80 - 150.

 

The Capital Hotel, Little Rock.  Yes, that spelling is right.  Little Rock is the capitol of

Arkansas, but “capital” is an adjective deserved by this AAA 4-diamond hostelry.  Close to our twin tour objectives, the State Capitol Building and the Clinton Presidential library, this Historic Hotels of America (HHA) venue is back to its 1870 elegance with period furnishings throughout and fine dining at Ashley’s.  111 W Markham St. 501-374-4774. From $179.

 

Graves 601 Hotel, Minneapolis.  Hip, modern and downtown.  Being re-christened as Wyndham Grand.  Across from the Twins/Timberwolves arena.  Another AAA 4-diamond, plus Cosmos, an equally rated restaurant. 601 1^st Ave N. 612-677-1100.  From $149.

 

Marriott Fallsview, Niagara, Ontario. Just your standard AAA 4 diamond modern hotel with unbeatable views of one of nature’s great sights. The Terrapin Grille (3 diamonds) lets you view the night time fall lights while dining. Perfect for when its time to splurge.  6740 Fallsview Blvd. 905-357-7300. $169 - 329.

 

The Blennerhassett, Parkersburg, WV.  Another restored HHA hotel circa 1889,  built by an entrepreneur of our first oil boom on the adjacent banks of the Ohio River.  It was named after an erratic Irishman who built an extravagant  mansion on a large river island opposite the colonial beginnings of Parkersburg and became the area’s social big frog.  But he also became entangled in the treasonable schemes of Aaron Burr to carve an empire of his own out of the western states and ultimately lost everything.  The restored mansion is open to the public via a pleasant boat ride from near the hotel.  320 Market St. 800-262-2536.  From $109.

 

Summit Inn Resort, Farmington, PA.  This family owned property was started  in 1907, but has roots as a tavern stop on the National Pike dating back nearly another century, and is on the national register of historic places.  Nestled in the Laurel Highlands of western Pennsylvania, it sports expansive views from broad verandas and period  rooms up a grand central staircase (no elevator), a testy 9-hole golf course, indoor and outdoor pools.  Mae’s Restaurant also serves on the verandas. We chose a package that included a Fallingwater extended tour and a visit to Kentuck Knob, another FLW residential design, only occasionally frequented by it English owner.  101 Skyline Dr. 800-433-8594. $120 - 185.