Day Five

Day Five

Early start to the day, up before 6am to pick up the rental car.  Schlepped all our luggage (and it seems to have increased 20kg even though we haven’t bought anything much) via the Metro to Union Station where the rental car company was located.  Schlepped ourselves and said luggage a block and a half looking for the Avis place, and wouldn’t you know it, it was located inside the train station, up on the second floor in the middle of a bunch of shops.  Just as well J thought to ask one of the local cops or we would never have found it but ourselves.  Car was duly collected, though the pre-drive “check for damage” was farcical on a black car in a dark parking garage.  Then began the “tight right, wiiiiide left” mantra as we headed out into the city, driving in what we hoped was the right direction until Dora caught up with our movements.  (Btw Dora the Explorer is what we called the Navman last trip and it’stuck).  It took us about an hour and a half to make our way out of the city, even though we left the rental car place about 7.30 we seemed to hit peak rush hour traffic.  That combined with our tight-wad choice to avoid toll roads meant it was a long trip.  Still the Steven Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum didn’t open until 10am so we had plenty of time.  And it was worth the wait, a GREAT museum, even if it was full of planes.  It also had some really cool space stuff, including the Space Shuttle Discovery.  The museum is really big but well laid out with elevated walk ways so you can view the planes from above as well as below.  Saw the Enola Gay that dropped the H Bomb on Hiroshima, which ties in nicely with our last trip when we went to the West Wendover airfield where the crews trained to do the drop.

After lunch and a return visit by J to re0visit favourite sites, we headed off towards Fallingwater where we had a tour  booked for 8.30am the next morning.  Fallingwater is a Frank Lloyd Wright designed house and you will probably recognise it when you see the photos, it’s iconic.  It is built in the West Pennsylvania countryside, and while I was expecting green rolling hills, we were treated to mile upon mile of spectacular autumn foliage in every shade of green, yellow orange and red you can imagine.  Dora directed us through miles of narrow winding lanes that were totally lines each side and above by this riot of colour, it was stunning.  We eventually found the place, the gates had just closed for the night, but target acquired for the early start next morning, we headed off to find somewhere to stay.  We eventually found a tired but clean place in Connellsville, that had stepped out of a Jack Reacher novel.  Décor from the 70’s, even the handbasin toilet and shower were yellow.  Yes you read that right, yellow.  Hard to tell whether you had flushed or not.  But we slept reasonably well and were up in plenty of time for the drive back to Fallingwater.