Having some extra time this summer to ponder next steps in my career has come with a helping of spontaneity as a welcome side effect. One of those moments led to another, that became one of the most enjoyable road-trip adventures I’ve ever experienced. As a pharmacist on hiatus, much of the trip was divorced from my professional side, although it crept through here and there. If you would indulge me, the desire to recount this story has stoked a small fire within me to begin writing again. I will do my best to refrain from wandering off on too many tangents, jumping down rabbit holes, or hopping off tangent holes.

It began back in the spring when I was finding my way back to old hobbies and discovering new ones. It was a commitment to learning a new routine and involved connecting with friends on a whole new level. I help mom and dad out in the yard, or grab coffee with a friend in a neighbouring town. Running errands during non-peak retail hours is an added bonus! On a random Thursday, I asked Dad if he had any plans and we took a drive to Lunenburg for lunch. In the course of sampling some craft beers and deep-dish donair pizza, the topic changed to planning summer trips. Last summer we had flown to Toronto to do some sight-seeing and take in a weekend of Blue Jays games at the newly renovated Rogers Centre. It was a great time as we were in an AirBnB across the street from the stadium.

Suggesting we could do another weekend of baseball, it was met with an underwhelming response, mostly due to the air travel and the congestion in the city. Quickly, the discussion pivoted to bucket lists. I wondered if he had one. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting a firm answer; through the years, I couldn’t identify any single place or attraction that would elicit excitement. His answer rather surprised me: “I had always wanted to see the Fallingwater house”.

I will pause for a moment in case some of you are deciding whether or not you should know what that may be. My bet is that the vast majority will not. I certainly couldn’t recall anything by that name coming up in previous conversation. As an aside (one tangent isn’t too many…), Dad had taken architecture in university and had therefore studied some of the greats, including the esteemed Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959). Known for pioneering architectural moments in the early twentieth century, he influenced countless architects and apprentices over a 70-year career. One of his philosophies was to let the environment dictate the design of a structure. If it was pastural, forested, hillside, or urban, the look and feel of the structure would complement the surroundings. His crown jewel was Fallingwater, a ‘summer house’ built from 1935-1937 in a small locale called Mill Run in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Now that we had a destination, we began plotting our route with a few guidelines:

• Keep the bulk of travel to main highways and interstates.
• Whenever possible, avoid more than five hours of driving on any given day.
• Stay in towns outside of large downtown cores. We wanted to avoid excess traffic and keep lodging costs down.
• All four occupants in the car, mom, dad, myself and my fiancee, each needed to suggest destinations or attractions for us to map out along the way. Although we had an endpoint, this was a trip with experiences we all would share.
• All food, accommodations, gas, consumables (ahem…wine with dinner?), etc. would all be split 50/50.

So on August 11, to celebrate my parents 51st wedding anniversary, we emptied the car of any contraband (joke 🙂 and set off to enjoy half the fun of getting there!

Tantallon, NS (Canada) –> Wells, ME (US of A)

The drive wasn’t notable, with a handful of stops for gas and bio breaks. The border was weird, as it always seems to be. Trying to remember the last time I had set foot in the US was harder than it should have been. With the pandemic in the rearview, I usually just add three years to whatever time period I ‘think’ makes sense. Thankfully it was wasn’t more than ten; in that case, border agents start asking more pointed questions about past convictions and reasons why you haven’t visited such a fabulous country in such a long time.

By Sunday night, after my calculations, we already had experienced 1/6th of the fun! We had an unflashy new currency, a brand, spanking new time zone, and shrinking distances to drive (silly metric conversion)! We settled into our AirBnB off the main drag and fought with the smart TV until bedtime.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where the adventure really begins!

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any agency, employer or affiliation.