A fine extended weekend it was. Took full advantage of the Wright & Like 2010 tour in Racine, taking in the big hits, like Wingspread and the Johnson Wax Admin Bldg, and the smaller, but just as impactful, like Trilogy and the William Mason house. The weather for traveling Friday mid-day was superb and the diesel transported us economically along the interstate system; no backroads or limping transmissions this time.
Friday night, then, we attempted to dine at "Oh Dennis! Saloon and Charcoal Grill" but, arriving in pouring rain at 9:01PM, discovered they kill the grills at 9:00PM. We backtracked to another spot I had heard good things about. Infusino's Pizza. Ordered the recommended House Pan and have to admit, 1- simply the best pizza anywhere, 2- the medium was too much for us to handle, and 3- the price couldn't be beat. Some chicago style pizzas focus on mass to garner their Pan claim. Not this one, and it's all the better for it. Bad part of town? Ooooh Yeaaahhh. Ghettos seemed to be the hallmark of the Racine trip. We rustled up some local bottled brews and cold Labatt's and enjoyed at the hotel.
Saturday night after a day of touring, and hitting up ALL the tour destinations, we returned to "Oh Dennis!"'s for their speciality: ribs. Came darn close to the Hickory House for falling right off the bone and not being too wet nor dry. Cara's fries were done to perfection and encrusted with parmesan cheese crumbs. I still give the HH a tip of my hat due to their sweeter sauce; Cara begs to differ. Full house of course, with a half hour wait. The dank, busy atmosphere, heavy paneling and prompt servers and bartenders helped speed the clock. Alas, no good brews on tap.
The spoils of the trip include a good folder of shots, slides, motivation, and Schlitz 12 packs for $9.49. By end of day Sunday I had forgotten what the factory even looked like.
It can be both motivating and difficult to see such unique, atypical structures in person. The motivation is often self serving, such as "I've considered that", or "that's how I did it". And the difficult, when you shake your head how anything so gutsy, aggressive and perfectly executed can exceed your wildest dreams. When it comes to Wright, his engineering standards and grasp on the physical environment was at times….shaky. On the other hand, by seldom tanking those things into account they never even entered his mind as limitations when laying out a design. Doors that have to be caulked shut at the bottom to keep out the rain, leaky windows and sagging roofs tend to characterize a lot of his work. Then again, why shouldn't it?
On the motivation front, I was up Monday and off to work on a list of tasks scribbled out Sunday night. Things I had not been looking forward to, but needed to be done. Chiefly, moving furniture and clearing the area in front of the rec room tri-window. I moved the saw, stand and tools out to the front deck and started work on trimming that fixed window out. It required several cuts exceeding the capability of the saw but I managed. Late in the afternoon, more re-arranging, and mahog end caps to the soffit light in the bedroom. Backing up to the AM in the kitchen, installed rolling racks in the lower cupboards and got a handle on our "kitchen stuff" situation. Finally, I think the pieces are coming together. As the sun set and Cara started dinner, I pressed forward on shortening the wooden blinds in the north upstairs windows and adjusting cord lengths; trickiest part is the time consuming removal of warning labels on the wood in half a dozen languages. I'll do okay if I can managed two per night.
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