Taliesin West

Saturday, 22 December

We awoke or a beautiful sunrise over the Superstition Mountains.



Today’s first priority was golf.  We made an early-ish tee time for 9am at Apache Creek Golf Club in Apache Junction, AZ, a short drive away.  We hit on the range into an early morning sun - so it was definitely a feel-based warmup as you could not watch the ball flight due to the sun.  Occasionally you could see a puff of dust where the ball hit to give you a vague idea of where the ball went.

Being a Saturday, we knew it was going to be crowded.  We were pleased that the pace was not too bad.  Kris opened up with a birdie on the first hole to take a two stroke lead.  It took Darrell 8 more holes to tie it up at 39 each at the turn.  On the back nine, it was Darrell’s turn to make a birdie, which with the 6 pars, had him at a final score of 77.  So he had to buy.  Kris played better today, with a driving average of 173 yards, and one drive over 200 yards.  As she keeps upping her game, Darrell is having to stay on his game to have a chance.  She even mumbled something about shooting an 81 and not getting to buy.

The course was in great shape, with beautiful mountains in the background.


Finishing in just under 4 hours, the first stop was Starbucks.  With most of the afternoon left, we decided to head for Taliesin West (https://franklloydwright.org/taliesin-west/), the Frank Lloyd Wright winter home in Scottsdale, AZ.  Arriving just before 2pm without reservations, we got our tickets and were in the 2pm tour.  Another example of our luck in not having to wait around for a scheduled tour.  The tour was 90 minutes and went over the history of why Taliesin West was built, how it was built, how it was used and is being used today.  






Our guide was quite an admirer of Frank Lloyd Wright.  She said he believed strongly in organic architecture - building with the land, not just on it.  Taliesin West was built because was getting sick with repeated lung issues.  His doctors told him that his lungs were scarred from,repeated pneumonia, and that if he spent another winter in Wisconsin, he might not make it the winter.  He had recently started an architect apprentice program, so Taliesin West was the winter camp for him and his apprentice program.  Taliesin West was built in 1938 by Frank Lloyd Wright and his apprentices, almost entirely by hand.  Frank Lloyd Wright and the apprentice program moved to the winter camp at Taliesin West every winter for the rest of his life.  Frank Lloyd Wright went on to live to 1959.  His apprentice program, now an architecture school, continues to hold classes in Wisconsin, moving to Taliesin West every winter.  While we were touring, the faculty and students were on holiday break, however, we did see a couple of students still working.

A surprising feature of the tour is that we were allowed/encouraged to sit on the furniture (reproductions - the originals are in museums) and take photographs inside and outside (except for the drafting room where projects were underway).  This is in contrast to Falling Water where photographs inside are not permitted, and we could not touch anything.

Tonight we are back at Lost Dutchman State Park in Apache Junction, AZ.

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