Day 18 (Monday, July 12th) Taliesin West, Scottsdale, AZ

Today was another tour-and-drive day. When we got into Tuscon, we realized that one of Frank Lloyd Wright's most famous buildings (home/studio/school) was in Scottsdale. Instead of staying 2 days in Tuscon, we spent one and drove up here to Scottsdale, yesterday.

Today we drove out to Taliesin West and took a tour designed for parents and their school-aged kids. The tour guide did an incredible job of engaging the kids; there was just us and one other family of three.

Taliesin West is an incredible place! FLW built it in the 1930s, right after he finished Falling Water, in Pennsylvania. He bought 600 acres and built the whole place in a single acre in the middle. When he built it, it was in the middle of empty desert, but now, only the 600 acres keeps modern Scottsdale at bay. He built the place with stones and materials that he collected (with his students) from the surrounding desert and designed it to fit organically into the desert. The details are amazing!

The FLW Foundation still maintains the Architecture School and the facilities. The other Taliesin is in Wisconsin and the students alternate properties, spending the winters here in the desert. There are even some artists that have lived on the property since the 1930s. One of them actually helped build it. There is a Cabaret Dinner Theatre that is still in use that has amazing acoustics, a larger theater, a library, and then there were the Wright's living quarters. We got to relax in his amazing living room and Jake actually got to play a few notes on his Steinway piano. the grounds were even mo

re amazing; mixing lawns, small pools and fountains, and an architectural style that resembled the surrounding hills and desert. It was a truly beautiful place that amazed and surprised you at every turn.