Ohiopyle

Since coming to Pennsylvania, we have been hearing about Ohiopyle.  The place to go.  Ohiopyle is a town and state park that is in the Laurel Mountains southeast of Pittsburgh.  It is about a 2 hour drive from Cranberry TWP.  There is a lot of stuff down there.  Fallingwater, the Frank Lloyd Wright house with a waterfall running through it, river rafting, skiing, lots of hiking trails.  Today we decided to check it out.

We must have gotten started on a wrong foot.  First, there was a traffic jam going through Pittsburgh.  And we never should have gone through Pittsburgh anyway, since there is a more direct route taking the PA turnpike from Cranberry.  Why do we always think that our GPS gadget knows best?  But, anyway.

This is Pittsburgh from a traffic jam ...

Then we missed our turnoff from the turnpike.  John says it was my fault because I was talking and he was so absorbed in what I was saying.  Yeah, right.  Anyway, we had to go about 50 miles out of our way to get back on track.  We did see some beautiful parts of the Laurel Highlands, and finally made it to Ohiopyle.

A really cute little town, right on the Youghiogheny River.  Lots of waterfalls, biking and hiking trails, fishing, you name it.  We hiked down a rocky trail to the falls.   Being out on the rocks made me nervous.  I'm not sure if I was afraid Jubilee was going to fall over or if I was afraid that I was!

We had lunch at the Firefly Grille in Ohiopyle and then headed over the Kentuck Knob.

The reason why I am so interested in Kentuck Knob, is not only because it is a Frank Lloyd Wright house, but also because it was built by Mr. and Mrs. I. N. (Isaac Newton) Hagan, and I am a Hagan, and from Kentucky, no less!  And Mr. I. N. Hagan made his fortune selling Hagan's Ice Cream.  Well, my father, Tucker (Edwin) Hagan, was making his fortune in KY selling his own Hagan's Ice Cream about the same time as Mr. I. N. Hagan was doing so in PA.  Anyway ...

We drove over to Kentuck Knob and got there about 3:20.  Unfortunately, since a private tour had been scheduled, the last public tour was at 3PM.  So we couldn't even get a ticket to tour (or see) the house.  We ignored a sign that said "no one without a ticket can go here" and walked down a path to the sculpture meadow.

It was very quiet, no one else was around, and we saw some weird stuff (including a gaggle of wild turkeys).

This is the "red army" ...

And this is part of the Berlin wall ...

These are just some birdhouses, I guess.

We came back to the gift shop and I had some Hagan's Ice Cream.

It wasn't as good as my Dad's Hagan's Ice Cream.

Anyway, we're going to have to come back to Ohiopyle.  I have a Palm Beach connection that should get us into Fallingwater for free, and we have to see the Hagan house at Kentuck Knob.