Summer brought a chance to visit Kirtland, Ohio and interesting architecture along the way. Never heard of it? It's an important site in LDS church history, though I didn't realize how significant until we visited.
"Along the way" was Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece, Falling Water. Wright built this house
over the waterfall, and while I prefer more traditional styles, I was so impressed by the thought that went into every element of the house. Design was important, but it also had to be functional.
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| Just as stunning in person |
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| Checking out the overlook with Kara |
Kirtland was one of the earliest gathering places of the Mormons, a place where numerous revelations were received and our first temple was built. Today, the temple is owned by another church that split from the LDS church early on, but they were gracious enough to allow us to hold church there. It was important in their early history but appears to be less so now; it's my hope that the LDS church can eventually acquire it to fully restore it. What I didn't realize before we visited was how many times we believe that Christ appeared in the Kirtland area. How did I not know that?
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| Sunday morning at the Kirtland temple |
Our visit was brief but great, and while we never made it to Cleveland we drove to the next town so I could see Lake Erie, and enjoy a restaurant we'd heard about that made incredible grilled sandwiches.
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| Perfecting my swinging skills overlooking Lake Erie |
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| Lunch at Melt |
We broke up the drive back with an overnight near Pittsburgh, allowing us to see the Cathedral of Learning. I'd never heard of it before, but imagine an imposing gothic skyscaper with a great hall like Hogwarts, and with every classroom fitted out in tribute to a different country to celebrate their great scholars. You could go around the world without leaving the building, which is exactly what we did for a bit.
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| Cathedral of Learning, Pittsburgh |
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| Cathedral of Learning main hall |
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| Chinese classroom |
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| Germany's classroom had windows portraying their fairytales |
A lot to cram into a weekend, but a great start to summer.
