We headed down the highway south out of Saskatoon (and Canada) on Tuesday July 20th. Our plan was to head south into Montana briefly, enroute to South Dakota and east through the midwest to Ontario. Things proceeded nicely in the beginning. Although we got a late start, our entry into the U.S. was smooth and uneventful, as all our cross-border ventures have been.However, we didn’t book ahead for a room, thinking it unnecessary. As we soon discovered, the good people of North Dakota are drilling for oil. There are no rooms to be found as they are all taken up by long-term oil workers. Pushing on we were resigned to the possibility of spending some time – and possibly the night - in the car. The boys were cheering, “it ain’t a road trip till you spend a night in the car”. We headed through North Dakota in the dark in the direction of Mount Rushmore.
As the night wore on it was clear that we were not going to find a room. We stopped for a while to try and rest in the car and then in the middle of the night decided to carry on. An electrical storm could be seen off in the distance and to the west. However, we were heading right for it. Lightning soon was all around us and the rain picked up. The sky lit the surrounding flat land of South Dakota for miles. Finally, we found a small town with a couple of big rigs off to the side. We took the opportunity to wait it out. You know if the big rigs have pulled off then road, you better do the same.
By early morning we were off again, after a restless and uncomfortable night, for Black Hills National Forest in South Dakota where we spent a few hours in and around Mount Rushmore. We found a room for the night in Rapid City and decided to book ahead from that point on. Kathi was able to always book great deals through Hotwire and so Hotwire become our hotel website of choice for this leg of the journey.
Historic Mt. Rushmore (in case you're wondering, it's George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln):
Our next days were direction east toward home. We crossed the state and spent the night in near luxury in Sioux Falls, SD passing by the town of Mitchell. Cornfields filled the view to the endless sky. Our next day sent us by another town called Jackson, Minnesota enroute to Waterloo, Iowa. 
However, along the way we stopped at what would be the first of three Frank Lloyd Wright houses. Mason City, Iowa is home to the Stockman house. This was an early modest Prairie style home designed and built by Wright in 1908 while working on a couple of commercial buildings in town. We spent a quiet night at a Super 8, dinner at Olive Garden, got the car oil changed and used a public coin laundry. The fun of life on the road.
An early example of Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie style in Mason City, Iowa:
FLW often designed the built-ins and furniture for his homes also:
Our intent now was to visit Cedar Rock, another FLW house that I had the chance to visit 18 years ago. It is quite a bit off the beaten track in the rural Iowa countryside. The house is one of the most complete of his houses, which was built in 1950. He not only designed the house for Mr. & Mrs. Walter Lowell, who had no children, but designed the built-in plywood tables, chairs, couches, and selected the dinnerware and glasses. It bears his signature red tile, being his seal of approval. It’s located along the Wapsipinicon River, right near Quasqueton, Iowa. As it happens there has been lots of rain and the river was rising to near record levels. The boathouse was at the time flooded to above the boat garage and, unfortunately, off limits. Anything that was not fastened in was removed but a lot of furniture was built in. The house and property along with a small endowment was left to the State of Iowa in 1981 after Mr. Lowell passed away and remains so today with tours available to the public. Cedar Rock in Iowa: example of Frank Lloyd Wright's organic architecture, inspired by the surrounding nature:
Next stop, the windy city. Chicago was even worthy of a two night stay at the airport Intercontinental Hotel. Another great Hotwire deal. Arriving on a Saturday and spending Sunday in the city worked for us. We used our own vehicle for getting around, starting with taking in the third FLW house in three days.We visited the home and studio of FLW in the beautiful Chicago neighbourhood of Oak Park. This was his home and studio from 1889-1909. He initially lived here with his family. When he began to practice on his own he added a drafting studio where he ran his business. There are several homes in the surrounding area designed by Wright including the Cheney residence. The wife of this particular client later became his mistress and the ensuing publicity and controversy caused them to leave the U.S. for Europe for a while, later returning to take up residence in Wisconsin. In the gift shop, Kathi picked up a copy of the recent novel, Loving Frank, which tells their story from Mrs. Cheney’s point of view and she found it to be a fast and engrossing read.
FLW's Home & Studio in the Oak Park neighbourhood of Chicago:
The home that Edwin & Mamah Cheney commissioned FLW to design for them (also in Oak Park):
Our day in Chicago was sun filled. We spent the afternoon first looking up at the Sears Tower (now called the Willis Tower), and touring the Magnificent Mile along Michigan Avenue window shopping and people watching.Next we headed for the fantastic Millennium Park. It has a great outdoor amphitheatre called The Jay Pritzker Pavilion and Great Lawn designed by another Frank – this time Gehry. The site has a bridge over the adjoining street (BP Bridge), also designed by him, and a great water park/feature/fountain (Crown Fountain). Check out the link because our pictures don’t do it justice.
Chicago's downtown skyline:
The Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower):+Tower.jpg)
Architecture of the Jay Pritzker Pavillion in Chicago's Millennium Park:
Crown Fountain:
The park is a great place to run and blow off steam after being well-behaved in several Frank Lloyd Wright homes :)
Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate sculpture, made of a seamless series of highly polished stainless steel plates, which reflect the city's famous skyline and the clouds above :
The boys check out their reflection in the cloud:
The city of Ottawa could take some lessons here for the new Landsdowne Park redevelopment. The fountain has all the great features of being something interesting and striking to look at but is very interactive. Crowds of people of all ages were running in the water, soaking under the main fountain, and sitting at the edge taking it all in. At the theatre we got to take in the beginnings of a free Chopin concert as the sun began to set.So ends our trip across America.
TE
Interactive Crown Fountain:
