Day 28 - Hagerstown, Maryland

Beautiful drive west (and a bit south) this morning on the I-76, watching the high cloud formations gradually changing shape. Forests and mountains (and a few tunnels through the mountains) all the way to Donegal, where I turned south and drove through Laurel Highlands to Fallingwater, which I have long wanted to see. I think I have found my dream home - Frank Lloyd Wright was a genius with an amazing ability to see the potential in a beautiful site. The house is quite literally built into the environment, using existing boulders in situ as foundations and supports for the cantilevered terraces, and uncurtained windows all around the house so that every room gets daylight. Most of the built-in furniture is black walnut, designed by FLW - I guess it's a bit of an irony that I'm sitting in my plastic Motel 6 room reading about the natural materials used throughout this wonderful house. OK, enough drooling from me - you can find some more pictures here.

Then I headed south and back east again, into Maryland on Alt-40 - a National Scenic Byway which follows the hills up and down, passing through some pretty and historic towns like Frostburg. Actually when the signs ran out in Cumberland, I ended up lost on a completely un-numbered road at one point, up one side of a mountain and back down the other, but with wonderful views of the changing foliage. I ended up back on the interstate with which I had intended to intersect - more by luck than judgment, I suspect. Stopped off tonight at Hagerstown, of which I have seen nothing but the Motel 6 and the mall across the street!