Sorry about that. I even shocked myself with this post. 

I was e-mailing with someone that has toured many of Wright’s homes and he made some comments about a recent trip to western Pennsylvania.  He went up to tour Kentuck Knob and was not really impressed with either the person that helped him with buying the tour ticket or the person who gave the tour. 

He went on to tour Fallingwater later in the day and that tour completely saved his trip.  He hadn’t planned on taking the tour at FW, but decided to after the experience at Kentuck Knob. 

That brought up the topic of docents in my mind.  I’ve had fabulous tours at both Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob.  I’ve had a few bad tours at different historic homes over the years.  Most often I’d chalk them up to the tour guide being new or just having a bad day. 

I thought it might be interesting to share some experiences with different docents at Wright homes.  I’d like this not to be a slam-fest.  We all have bad days, and we’ve all been new and uncomfortable in a situation before.  That said, I’d love to hear some of the good, bad and weird experiences that people have had touring Wright homes — or other historic buildings in general. 

I’ll start off…  I’ve taken HUNDREDS of historic home tours over the years.  I always try and read up on the place that I’m touring so I have some context.  I find that I enjoy the tours a lot more.  This is especially true with Wright homes. 

I learned a long time ago that it is good to keep this information to myself.  The tours that I’ve liked the least are the ones that have “know-it-all” people on them that feel like they have to comment on things.  I’ve never really been that kind of person, but I’ve learned to avoid even the appearance of that. 

One of the common questions from a docent at a Wright home is, “How many Wright buildings have you visited?”.  I NEVER answer that question with a number.  I might say “many”, but I’m more likely to say “a few”. I find that with some docents it is distracting to have someone in the group that they think might be a “know-it-all”.  It makes both the docent and me uncomfortable. 

I’ve often struck up a conversation with the tour guide after the tour and told them of my travels at that time if it fits into the conversation.  Those have been fun and interesting exchanges. 

I have the highest admiration for anyone who gives tours at historic sites and Wright homes in particular.  I don’t think I’ve got the social skills to do it well. 

If you’re bored and have some good, bad or interesting experiences with tours and the people that give them, please post up.

Thanks!

 Pete

 As you can tell by the dates that I’ve posted lately, I haven’t had much spare time to work on the web site or blog.  My solution is to live vicariously through others’ road trips. 

 This post is kind of an odd one.  I don’t really have a point to make or something to say.  I just enjoyed an e-mail from a friend and thought I’d share it. 

I’ve been corresponding with a friend about Wright stuff this week and he was telling me about a trip he did.  Here’s the e-mail:

 

Hey Pete,

       Good to hear back from you.  For this particular trip, I started from St. Louis then drove east towards Ohio.  After visiting Dayton, Springfieild and Oberline OH, I then drove northwest to Ann Arbor, Okemos, Galesburg (even the GPS system could not find the place, an old lady from their library came to our rescue), and Kalamazoo MI, and finally made it to South Bend IN before heading back to Iowa (almost like a big ten campus tour . 

       I skip places you mentioned that would be hard to see from the street (such as the one at Indian Hill and Amberly Village OH).  The only houses that I planed to but could not see were the Kraus House at St. Louis (tour and front gate closed due to memorial day.  I thought it has became a city park and should open to the pubic, at least for the ground) and the Winn House at Kalamazoo (I only made it to the driveway before the turn, as you did in your road trip photos).

Cheers

Bryan