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 It has always been the same... several days
-- sometimes even a week or more -- before our next train trip, I begin
waking at various times during the night for no apparent reason. My
eyes are suddenly open and I am wondering why. But then, I hear it:
the mournful wail of a train whistle, coming from a train in the vicinity
that is passing through a grade crossing.
The oscillating compressed air of the horn
reverberates through the damp night air and easily reaches my sleeping ears,
wakes me briefly, and then I drift back to sleep, thinking about the
upcoming train trip. But this one will be different; in some way, I
guess they all are.
I know that the horn I hear is not, but I
pretend that it is the booming voice of the K5LA horn of the Southwest
Chief, the one we will ride southwest to Flagstaff, AZ. As I slowly
return to REM mode, I know I am smiling because I can feel the train pick up
speed after a brief stop somewhere I imagine to be warmer than the Illinois
winter. A gentle rocking begins as the 'Chief flies past buttes and
rocky hills: the Southwest Chief is the fastest Amtrak long-distance train,
being permitted a maximum speed of 90 mph (140 km/h) in various places on
the tracks of the BNSF Railway. Even as I slept, I was definitely
looking forward to the journey on our sleeper car, with Superliner sleeping
accommodations.
 We had decided to try a different itinerary
this time, departing from Princeton, Illinois; relatives live close by there and
we had planned a short visit before heading out. But even with an
early start from home, the skies were looking more and more ominous as we
headed south, and finally west on I-80. The snow had started falling
in earnest when we finally boarded the train at around 4:40 pm, our visit
shortened due to what was destined to become one of the worst storms in the
last twenty-five years. At this point, I was unconcerned; as the train
pulled out of the station, that horn was no longer part of a dream. We
were headed southwest!
We had brought along a small cocktail
(airplane style,) and had just enough time for the libation before our call
to dinner. One of the amenities that can be enjoyed on a long-distance
train is the dining car meals. Purchasing one's meals is always an
option if traveling coach, but because we had opted for a sleeping car for
our trip, meals came as part of the plan. It's good news and bad
news... The only bad news is that I always have too much to eat and
usually gain a few pounds after a trip like this! And the meals
onboard a train certainly are far better than any in-flight meal I ever had.
Dinner that first evening was a Kansas City
Strip Steak, baked potato and green beans for me and Fresh Salmon, rice
pilaf and green beans for Yvonne. Accompanied by a glass of wine,
we was perfectly happy and definitely sated as we shared the table and some
lively conversation with two gentleman headed to New Mexico.
Meanwhile, the whistle continued to wail and the train streaked
through the dark of Illinois, heading for the frozen openness of Kansas.
Of course I slept like a baby, rocking in the gentle arms of our sleeper
car.
Morning light found us wending our way
through Dodge City and then Garden City, Kansas, on our way to breakfast at
about the time were were approaching Lamar, Colorado. It had been
snowing throughout the night and I later found out that we had been right on
the edge of the storm for the majority of our trip, all 1766 miles of it!
 After breakfast, I spent much of the time
doing what I most love to do on a train: look out the window while someone
else does the driving! Yvonne and I also had plenty of time to talk
about our itinerary and plan our stops in Arizona. After detraining in
Flagstaff and spending the night there, we would rent a car and proceed to
Phoenix and Scottsdale, where we would be checking out Taliesin West, along
with as many other Frank Lloyd Wright structures as we could find.
Yvonne is the classic FLW maven, but I am quickly succumbing and I was
looking forward to the trip at least as much as she was.
 We were making our way across only the
southeastern corner of the Centennial State and then heading south into New
Mexico shortly after 10:00 am after passing through Trinidad, CO; the
scenery was really starting to get rugged and beautiful. We made
Raton, New Mexico by 11:00 am (local time) and were just finishing lunch --
a great Angus Steak Burger and fresh-made sandwich (Turkey piled high on
Foccacia) -- as we hit Las Vegas (New Mexico that is) at 12:30 pm. The
jaw-dropping landscape holds much geologic and archeological history.
 According to the Amtrak Route Guide, "Raton
Pass (on the eastern side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains between
Trinidad, Colorado and Raton) is a federally designated National Historic
Landmark." It was a gorgeous area, littered with evidence of
prehistoric settlement sites dating back at least 10,000 years; the Raton
Basin itself boasts the Iridium layer that supplies evidence of a giant
meteor impact believed to have caused the "mass extinction event" that wiped
out much of earth's life some 65 million years ago. The 6,930' high
Wagon Mound, a Santa Fe Trail landmark, was also visible from the train.
And still the snow was falling...
 Through the 1.57 million-acre Santa Fe
National Forest, the Cañoncito Navajo Nation, and Apache Canyon and
Glorietta Pass (sites of an 1862 Civil War battle called “the Gettysburg of
the West”) we sped, the snow flying out to the sides of our train as we
traversed the Ortiz and Sandia Mountains before arriving at Albuquerque in
the late afternoon for a fifty-minute stop for service.
An enjoyable dinner of Vegetarian Pasta Plate
for Yvonne and the Seafood Catch -- Salmon -- for me was our final one of
the trip and darkness had just begun to envelope the scenery as we
crossed the Continental divide, passing Red Rock State Park and Gallup, New
Mexico before crossing into the state of Arizona. It was almost 9:00
pm when we passed through Winslow, Arizona; I swear that I could heard the
strains of the Eagles' tune (..."standing on a corner in Winslow, AZ...") as
we were headed toward our final stop: Flagstaff.
It was now 10:00 pm, the outside temperature
nearing zero when we detrained. If only for an instant, the frigid air
actually felt pretty good. Checking in to the
Hilton Garden Inn - Flagstaff , sleep
was pretty much the only thing on our minds, but we needed to take a look at
the Weather Channel to see what it was like back home. The deepest
part of the storm was just arriving in the Chicago area and the winds were
beginning to howl. The deepest part of sleep was only moments away.
 Morning in Flagstaff was beautiful and the
view of the distant and snow-capped Kendrick Peak was like a postcard.
The temperature however, was -- gulp -- minus three and the chill was twenty-five degrees
below zero!
This was where I had come to get away from Chicago's winter cold?! I
guess that
at 7,000 feet, I should have expected colder temps in Arizona on the 2nd of
February... Oh, well. We got a ride to the nearby airport, picked
up our rental car and headed down from the Plateau to Phoenix... where it
had to be warmer.
 It had been suggested that we take the scenic
route (Route 89) down through Sedona. Boy was that some good advice!
The majestic, red rocks, ice-cold, crystal-clear streams and winding road
down through the Ponderosa Pine of the Coconino National Forest were breathtaking; I heard the whir and click of the camera every few
seconds. Sedona itself is beautiful. I only wish that were were
dressed to tour the town (we had not packed heavy coats, gloves and hats!).
By the time we had reached the outskirts of Phoenix, the temperature had
reached 42 degrees, the sun was bright and the sky was a deep, azure blue.
It was just about noon on Wednesday, February 2nd, and the storm back home
was closing schools and businesses already.
 Our hotel stay had been booked at the
Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort , just north of Phoenix; pulling in the driveway
there, I was awed by the number of orange trees, loaded with ripe fruit and
fountains sprayed water into the air. After checking in, we wound our
way up a long driveway and headed to the room that would be our home away
form home for the next five days. We unpacked, toasted to our safe
arrival and quickly set about the task of planning our stay and the Frank
Lloyd Wright homes and other buildings we would visit. But for now, we
had begun to think about dinner. After all, (as Scarlett said)
tomorrow is another day.
We had made a reservation at the on-premise
Different Pointe of View restaurant and I was eager to check out the
view and the dinner selections. Unfortunately, the cold weather took
its toll on the heating units at the restaurant and the chill was a bit
uncomfortable. But the night time view of Phoenix was magnificent, and
the food matched it. Imagine the following:
-
Penn Cove Mussels Braised with Fennel
Scented Sweet Italian Sausage, Gorgonzola Crème Fresh Herb Crostini;
-
Pan Seared Diver Scallops With Roasted
Sweet Corn & Red Quinoa Gateau with Caramelized Butternut Squash
Reduction;
-
Pan Seared Wild Day Boat Halibut Laughing
Bird Shrimp & Beech Mushroom Ragout with Asparagus and Peppadew Peppers,
Peruvian Purple Potatoes, Lemon Fennel Reduction.
Even if you can't, I think you'll agree that
it sounded really good; it was!
Thursday morning -- February 3rd -- saw the
coldest temperatures recorded for that particular day: nineteen degrees.
Even the Phoenix Open had to be cancelled, since "the entire golf course is
frozen solid!" After a great breakfast of salmon and fresh fruit,
we headed out to find the
Arizona Biltmore, a stunning
example of architecture with which Wright had been involved back in 1929.
Having called in advance and discovered that a tour was available, it seemed
like the perfect start for the week. And it was!
The Arizona
Biltmore was only about fifteen-twenty minutes from our hotel, the true
"Jewel in the Desert" to which it has been referred.
 Although the tour of the Biltmore only lasted
about an hour, we were provided ample opportunity to take dozens of photos.
We also learned of some of the details of construction (like the fact that
the textile blocks used were made from indigenous desert materials and the
patterns in them represented the refraction patterns of light.) and
interesting facts about hotel ownership, distinguished guests who had stayed
there -- including many U.S. Presidents from past administrations -- and
historical facts too, like the devastating fire that ravaged large portions
of the 3rd and 4th floors and caused tremendous water damage on the 2nd and
ground floors of the hotel in late June of 1973. There is much debate about
who really designed the Biltmore, although the architect of Record is
definitely Albert Chase McArthur. But it is undeniable that he hotel
has the look and feel of a Wright building, in the main lobby and in other
areas as well.
More information about the
Arizona Biltmore can be found here.
 It seemed fitting that we would duck in to
Frank and Albert's at the Biltmore to order The
Biltmore Original Sunrise –100% Blue Agave Tequila, Crème De Cassis,
Lime & Club Soda (invented at the Biltmore by Gene Sulit ~1935 or so).
A bit pricey, but well worth it. We sipped it next to the firepit
outside the hotel and watched the guests stroll through the meticulously
well-manicured property.
We would also return that evening for an elegant wine dinner in Wright's at
the Biltmore, enjoying a five-course celebration prepared by Chef Conor
Favre.
Friday dawned another frigid morning of 24
degrees, delaying the Golf Tournament start again, this time by
three-and-a-half hours. We didn't care. Another great breakfast
of Smoked Salmon BLT, consisting of tomatoes, bacon and herbed cream cheese
on an onion bialy and Seasonal Sliced Fruit, served with berries and low fat
vanilla yogurt at the Pointe in Tyme Grille was perfect before we
began quest number two: the First Christian Church.
 Originally commissioned in 1949 by the
Southwest Christian Seminary in Phoenix, Frank Lloyd Wright (then 82 years
of age) was to design a Classical University. Complete with chapel and
other structures, the campus would occupy eighty acres. His drawings
were finished and made public in 1950. The Seminary however, ceased
its operations and the university was never built. Permission was
obtained from Wright's widow to use the plans for a new First Christian
Church; construction began in 1971 and the church was completed in 1973.
Stunning -- and very Frank Lloyd Wright in every way -- the church
spire looks like a triangle and rises seventy-seven feet to the heavens (it
is actually has four sides) in bold fashion; the outer walls are concrete
and native stone. The red tile with Mr. Wright's signature imprinted on it
is an immediate signal that the building is an authentic and original Frank
Lloyd Wright design.
 Built and dedicated in 1978 is a separate and
free-standing, 120-foot bell tower that is topped with a 22-foot cross.
It's four sides are also an optical illusion, as it -- like the church spire
-- appears to be a triangle. Containing more than 300 tons of
concrete, stone and steel, the tower has no inward-supporting structures and
is truly one of the most unique of Wright's designs. We were grateful
for the opportunity to tour and photograph the building.
More on the First Christian
Church...
Another chilly morning was on tap for
Saturday, but at least fewer of the fountains around Phoenix and Scottsdale
were frozen, even though many icicles remained as late as 11:00 in the
morning. Another hearty breakfast was followed by the "Main Event": a
trip to Taliesin West, located in the northeastern quadrant of Scottsdale.
By 1932, Frank Lloyd Wright was not only
growing tired of the harsh Wisconsin winters ( I can only imagine; a call to
our friends had confirmed the 15-18 inches of snow that had fallen and the
four-foot drifts in our driveway), he was also growing broke. The trip
to Phoenix in 1927 to consult on the Biltmore Hotel must have piqued the
imagination of the Master Architect; he was fated to return to the desert to
found the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. Originally known
as the Taliesin Fellowship, the little "camp" of architects would grow into
Taliesin West on the six hundred acres Wright purchased around 1937 at the
foothills of the McDowell Mountains in Scottsdale.
It is difficult to imagine Scottsdale in the
late 1930s, when the population was barely 2700, especially today when it is
more than a quarter million and still growing. (He likely paid little
more than the $2.50 per acre that it cost U.S. Army Chaplain, Winfield
Scott -- who the city is named after -- back in the early 1880s.)
Entering the "estate" however, imagination is easier; the desert surrounding
Taliesin West swallows it whole. It is not until one is on the
"doorstep" to the place, that one can see anything at all of the buildings;
they so perfectly blend in with the desert. In Wright's own words,
Taliesin West would be "a look over the rim of the world", serving as an
architectural laboratory for him for the next 20 years.
 We had contacted officials from Taliesin West
to inquire as to the best tour to take when we visited, and were told that
the "Behind-the-Scenes" tour would be the one. (As an aside, I have
now been on nine different tours of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings. The
behind-the-scenes tour was an incredible -- and very expensive --
disappointment. Unorganized and bordering on boring, the tour guide
spent more time yakking about Wright's wife Olgivanna that informing us of
anything that could have been considered "behind the scenes". Choose a
less expensive alternative for your tour). Albeit disappointed by
several
 aspects of the tour -- as an example, we were promised a look at the
drafting studio and only got close enough to peek through the window -- I
was genuinely impressed by the buildings of Taliesin West. Everything
there was essentially assembled and constructed by hand, from
locally-available materials. Wright's genius was visible everywhere,
and it is a tribute to that genius to see that his dream has not only
survived, but continues to flourish even today; architects from around the
world still come to live, work and breathe the philosophy and building
designs that embody what no one believed could possibly last.
Our plans included a trip to Casa Grande to
finish our hiatus to Arizona, so we had but one more day to track down more
Wright structures in the Phoenix area. Sunday finally provided a
sunrise with a temperature above freezing (had we been back home, I would
probably have still been shoveling). A final breakfast at the Pointe in Tyme Grille
was followed by a final sortie to locate the
Carlson House, the
David Wright
House, Adelman House , the
Boomer Cottage, the
Price House and the
Lykes
House. Whew! We had our work cut out for us; as I look back, it
seems as if it might have been a rather ambitious and improbable
undertaking... But we managed to locate the properties, taking as many
pictures as time, space on the camera's memory stick and a respect for
property rights would allow. It was great fun and we accomplished
much!
 The Carlson House was located not far from
the First Christian we had visited the other day; fortunately, the address
given was correct. In the case of many of the Wright properties, some
due diligence and much patience must be applied in order to locate a
particular property. In this case, the location was a major
disappointment: trees and a significant fence hid the entire home and
surrounding property of the original owner Raymond Carlson, who, after
graduating form Stanford University, got a job with the Arizona Highway
department and ultimately became editor of the Arizona Highways magazine.
Few pictures of the home are available (there are some really nice photos
here), but I would suggest you not waste your time looking for this one.
Unless you are invited inside by appointment, there is literally nothing
that can be seen of the four-by-four posts and Masonite infill panels
described in the Frank Lloyd Wright Field Guide. It did undergo
extensive renovation recently (circa 2005) to the tune of about $1
million...
 Heading back east (just beyond the property
of the Biltmore Hotel) we were able to easily locate two Wright structures
located -- amazingly -- right next door to each one other; they couldn't be
any more different, one from another. The Benjamin Adelman House was
constructed circa 1952 from a design Wright had done in the 1940s. The
original floor plan called for a 700 square-foot main house with living and
dining space, workspace, master bedroom, and bath, and a 500 square foot
guest house behind the main house that contained two bedrooms, two baths and
a sitting room with a fireplace. The home was built by local Native
Americans for the Milwaukee, Wisconsin businessman as a winter residence at
a cost of $25,000; it sold in 2002 for 1.2 million dollars. Of course
by this time, it had undergone extensive renovation and
change: square footage has now increased to over 3360...
The Adelman House is unique in that it was a
variation of Wright's Usonian theme (called a Usonian Automatic) and
featured a carport -- Wright's own invention. The structure consists
of blocks molded on-site that were knit together into a grid by the use of
rebar that ran down groves in the sides of the blocks. It has a great
look to it and the new owners seem to be taking really good care of it.
However, it bears little resemblance to the original. Architect Arnold Roy
of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, who
did an internship with Wright starting in 1952, said the Adelman House was
badly altered. "It has been so bastardized that I no longer call it a
Frank Lloyd Wright house," Roy said. I think that it is still worth a
look.
 The Jorgine Boomer House is adjacent to the
Adelman property. Supposedly the Adelmans and Boomers met at the
Biltmore Hotel and often played bridge together and sometimes with Mamie
Eisenhower. Two stories in height with an equilateral parallelogram
footprint and built around a central chimney flue, the home was designed as
what Wright called a "mountain cottage". It is a just over 1400 square
feet, but has separate servant's and chauffeur's quarters. Built from
desert ruble and wood sheathing, the home faces north -- away from the hot
summer sun of the Arizona desert. It bears a vague resemblance to the
Walker Residence in
Carmel, CA.
 Farther east, we located the Norman Lykes
House in the hills. It is an incredible design based on circles coming
from a time very late in Frank Lloyd Wright's life when had embraced the
geometry of circles. The sketches for the house were the last to come
from the great architect; he died in April of 1959 before the design was
complete. He had however, spoken to an apprentice (John Rattenbury)
about the designs and, upon Wright's death, Rattenbury finished the design
and made working drawings. Although they loved the design, the Lykeses
waited another seven years to build it; it is however, located on the
original site.
The 2800 square foot design is rather
futuristic-looking, wrapping around and seemingly into the mountain itself.
A new owner took possession in 1994 and hired John Rattenbury to make some
significant changes to the house, including enlarging the master bedroom,
combining two other bedrooms into a guest room and converting a workshop
into a home theater. Even at the end of Wright's life and career, he
still adhered to his philosophy of organic architecture that blend with its
surroundings.
 Not far from the Lykes home and located on
what is now a very busy street in Paradise Valley (at the far eastern
portion of Phoenix), is the location of the Harold Price Sr. House. In
1952, Price had visited Wright at Taliesin West to discuss building a
multi-story building in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The result was a
commission to build the 19-story, 221-foot tall Price Tower. Not long
thereafter -- 1954 -- the roughly 5,000 square foot Price
Residence was built on nine acres along a hill just off of Tatum Drive.
Sprawling what seems to be a football field
in length, the residence boasts ten rooms, including five master bedrooms
and two servant's bedrooms -- all with their own baths. An open-air
atrium is surrounded by a living room and kitchen; the bedroom wings are on
either end of the building. Interestingly, the atrium incorporates
a unique design that allows the roof to "float" above the walls on steel
pylons, allowing for breezes to flow through the gap in-between; a skylight
that illuminates a fountain in the atrium. The
concrete block in the walls is more reminiscent of that used in today's
construction, rather than that used by Wright in earlier designs.
One last structure that we succeeded in
locating was the home designed by Wright for his son David. Initially,
it was difficult to locate, since the location for it placed the home on a
street where the address simply did not exist and the home was supposedly
not visible from the street... On a hunch, we turned the corner and
voila!
 Built in 1951 in Arcadia and designed
apparently as part of a Frank Lloyd Wright magazine story circa 1948 on how
to live in the desert southwest, the 2,200 square foot home (there is also a
guest house built toward the rear of the property) sitting on two acres of
land is also of a circular style, with the living quarters and entrance --
arrived at by following a winding ramp -- elevated to the second level.
(Wright's idea here was that by elevating the living space, one could take
advantage of the desert breezes...) There is another spiral ramp
leading to a rooftop deck above the kitchen where one can avail oneself the great views of Camelback Mountain. Both the circular design and
the spiral ramps are features Wright also used in his design of the
Guggenheim Museum, completed in 1959; Wright died before the museum was
finished.
Interestingly, David Wright was a sales rep
for a concrete block company; the house his father designed for him is built
with curved concrete block, as opposed to the wood that father Frank had
envisioned. It does have wooden soffits and window frames and the roof
is metal. Philippine mahogany was used for the ceilings, woodwork,
cabinets and furniture. The floor is concrete, but the master designed
a beautiful rug to cover it.
Some have said that the home is "ugly",
although we all know that beauty is truly in the eyes of the beholder.
Beauty for Frank Lloyd Wright was in his philosophy of organic architecture
and how a structure needed to be in harmony with nature. The home that
is tucked away amongst the aging citrus groves seems to not fit with the
surrounding modern homes that have been constructed since 1951; any lack of
harmony has obviously occurred since that time, as square homes have been
built around the circle.
Son David and his wife lived in the home
until his death in 1997 at 102 years of age and his widow, Gladys, passed
away in 2008 at 104, outliving their only son, who died at 49 years of age.
David and Gladys were the only owners of the home and lived in it their
entire lives. Not long thereafter, Wright heirs offered the home for
sale for $3.9 million (in August of 2008); it was apparently sold for
cash in June of 2009 for $2.8 million by a Limited Partnership with plans to
restore the nearly 60-year old home to its original condition -- likely at
great cost. When we viewed the home, it was from the street. An
8-foot high chain-link fence surrounded the property keeping cameras, the
curious and inquisitive away, and it appeared as if no one occupied it.
It seemed almost an ignominious end to the
son of a legend, the house that stands almost freakishly, alone against a
neighborhood of encroaching modern misfits. Quoting from a March 2009
article by Jaimee Rose (www.AZCentral.com):
"This is the home of a family - a normal family with memories both happy
and hard that lived in a famous house with a famous name on the mailbox and
a famous patriarch that made the world more lovely but family life tough."
We got back into our car and drove silently away. It was a long ways
down the road before either of us wished to discuss the home and its
ultimate future.
Great photos of David Wright house
here.
We had done what we had planned to do... and
then some. Perhaps some phone calls would have allowed us access to
the inside of some of the Wright designs, but I for one would rather leave
current residents alone, as I am sure that they get pestered enough by
curious and often rude onlookers. We had much to digest and many
pictures to pour over when we got back home. Tomorrow we would relax
and watch some of the Super Bowl; Monday we would head down to Casa Grande
to enjoy a round of golf and some lively conversation with friends who had
escaped for awhile the cold reality of Iowa.
Speaking of reality, we had our own escaped
reality to which we needed to return. The trip back to Phoenix Sky
Harbor airport was easy, as was the process of getting through security and
onto the plane. The flight was smooth, but it was definitely one of
the most uncomfortable I have experienced. The seats on airlines seem
to get smaller by the day and I now know why I prefer to travel by train...
Our flight plans took us to Chicago O'Hare
and then to Peoria, where we were once again abruptly reintroduced to the
frigid Midwest Winter. After a short ride back to the Princeton area
and our car, we headed back to Batavia, arriving just after 10:00 pm.
Our driveway had been plowed, but the city, when plowing the street in front
of our house, had gifted us with a two-foot drift in the drive;
four-wheel-drive was necessary to get through it. It was then time to
shovel through roughly ten feet of the three-foot-high drifted snow to get
to the front door.
 But we were safely back in our own home once
again. It was a great adventure -- a true "working vacation" -- but
well worth the effort and time spent. Sleep came quickly, even before
the furnace had the chance to warm up the house. Arizona was a distant
memory, but an incredibly good one that I shall not forget.
Y Gwir yn Erbyn y Byd which means "The Truth Against the World
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