Road Trip!

We are back from our road trip to Pittsburgh and other points in Pennsylvania. We had planned a longer voyage, but meetings in N.J. summoned us back. On our way out, we stopped at Valley Forge, Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater and Fort Necessity. In Pittsburgh, Janet did three intensive days of the LEAD conference (Leadership Exchange In Arts And Disabilities) while I did two days of fishing and ran errands. We then spent two days in Erie before heading home. Highlights and lowlights:

- This trip corresponded with very contentious days on the electoral front. Lots of conversations at the conference and meals. I truly wonder how this will turn out and how history will view it. It's not likely to be a high point in the nation's history.
                   
- Pittsburgh has made a pretty good recovery from the loss of its status as a leading steelmaking and coal mining center. We had LEAD functions in the Andy Warhol Museum and the Children's Museum. Andrew Warhola was a very successful commercial artist in New York City before he became the Andy Warhol we all know today. And he was a very gifted artist well beyond soup cans.

- The Children's Museum has mementos of Fred Rogers, a Pittsburgh native. The Heinz Center, a collection of museums in a re-purposed warehouse, has the original set for the show.

- Fallingwater is literally built on top of a stream and small waterfall, as the summer home of the Kaufmans, owners of Pittsburgh's largest department stores, now part of Macy's. It's spectacularly beautiful. Edgar Kaufman joked about the problems created by the moisture by saying the house should instead be called "Mold Rising." It costs over $4 million today just to maintain. But hats off to a very nice visitor experience: nice visitor center, low key and knowledgeable tours.

- Valley Forge was not quite the everybody froze to death experience we commonly think of. It was a turning point in the war, because the German Baron Steuben drilled the eager Continentals and militias into a formidable disciplined fighting force. Also a well maintained visitor experience. Lots of information about the many petty jealousies of officers who thought they should have commanded the Continentals, and the lack of cooperation by the Continental Congress. No wonder a new Constitution was written.

- Fort Necessity was built by Colonel George Washington of the British Army in what we call the French and Indian War (the Seven Years War in Europe), in the middle of a meadow surrounded by woods. The French and Indians did not deign to come out of the woods and shot Washington's detachments to shreds. It's the only time Washington ever surrendered.

- We spent a day in Erie, on Lake Erie, enjoying the magnificent Presque Isle State Park, surprisingly no charge for admission, and the Maritime museum, well telling the story of Commodore Perry's successful defeat of the small British Navy (he borrowed the famous "Don't Give Up The Ship" slogan.)

- Lots and lots and lots of trucks on the Pa. Turnpike and I-80. Lots.

- As I've noted before, it is hard to find good nutritious food on the road.

- There is nothing in north central Pennsylvania. However, there is a town called Jersey Shore.

- The LEAD is sponsored by the Kennedy Center, and features lots of good stories about advocates like Janet all over the country. Next year's conference will be in Austin.

- On our way back, we went by the exit for Tannersville, Pa. Lots of good memories.

- Once again, I was reminded that we live in a beautiful country.