October 21: We started our trip back to Colorado with stops at 3 entirely different historical sites in South West Pennsylvania.

Flight 93 National Memorial, Shanksville, PA: We were quite moved by the stunning simple Flight 93 National Memorial in the countryside of SW PA. The visitor’s center itself is a memorial to the victims of both Flight 93 as well as the other 9/11 attacks and sits above the actual impact point of Flight 93.

There is ongoing construction of the “Tower of Voices“, a 93′ tall monument housing 40 huge chimes that will ring 40 different tones as the wind blows through them. 8 of the 40 chimes are currently installed, but there is quite a bit of engineering in building the 5 – 10′ chimes and the rest have yet to be installed.

Entrance into Flight Path Walkway & Overlook

Flight Path Overlook

Overlook to Impact Site

Tower of Voice

In process of hanging 40 chimes for each person who died on Flight 93

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater House, Mill Run, PA:  “Fallingwater was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935 in rural southwestern Pennsylvania for the Kaufmans, a retail store owner out of Pittsburgh. The house was built partly over a waterfall on Bear Run in the Mill Run in the Allegheny Mountains. Kaufmans’ son deeded the property and all of its original contents to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy in 1963. So it sits almost exactly as it did when the Kaufman family entertained from 1939 to 1963.

There was much hoopla and controversy over FLW’s cantilever design. It turns out that the contractor did some unapproved reinforcement of the concrete cantilevers and a full restructuring was executed in the mid 1990s with new technology.

Fort Necessity National Battlefield, Farmington, PA: Lt. Col. George Washington, as a British officer, was attempting to get the French to vacate this area of Pennsylvania and found himself in a series of skirmishes that prompted him to hastily build Fort Necessity in the summer of 1754. The French, aided by local Indians fought Washington and his troops at Fort Necessity. While Washington lost this particular battle, it is considered the opening action of the French and Indian War. This war was a clash of British, French and American Indian cultures. It ended with the removal of French power from North America. The stage was set for the American Revolution. (National Park Service website: https://www.nps.gov/fone/index.htm)