On the Road Again

Today I had to bid farewell to this beautiful view and the Grand Hotel.  I made sure to get a couple of more minutes on the porch before I had to say good bye.

Then we were on the road headed to Detroit.  We would spend the majority of the next two days in the coach in order to make it to the big city.  We only made two stops today, one was at Big Buck for a fun and hearty lunch.  Since none of the tour included the upper peninsula of Michigan, they said this is the closest we would get to experiencing the culture they are known for up there ...

After another few hours of driving we arrived at stop number two, the Alden B. Dow home and studio.

Designed in 1933 by Alden B. Dow as his architectural studio and private residence, the Alden B. Dow Home and Studio, a National Historic Landmark, is inspired by nature, the melding of color, textures, form and light. The Home and Studio personifies Dow's idea that gardens never end and buildings never begin. It integrates the best elements of nature with the remarkable visions of man-made ingenuity.  Dow studied under the famous Frank Lloyd Wright for a few years, I could definitely see some of his influence evident in the design of this house.  Pictures weren't allowed inside, so the interior pictures are taken (stolen) from the Internet.

This room was my favorite.  It was so full of color and personality!  It was their "play room" where the family would put on productions for each other on the little stage next to the piano.  The line of characters along the far wall are renditions of all of Mr. Dow's in laws as a medieval court.  I thought that was hilarious.

Part of the tour took us outside to see the beautiful atmosphere house was built in

Above is the outside view of Mr. Dow's meeting room and below is the interior view.  It was known as the floating conference room, this is where Mr. Dow would meet with clients to discuss ideas for projects.  This was another one of my favorite rooms.  The man sure loved color!

This is a screened in porch that was fully furnished during the summer months.  It had the most splendid and peaceful views of the water Lily pond

Another wonderful example of how Mr. Dow incorporated bright, bold colors.  I thought that was so unique and such a fun detail of this building.

After the Dow house tour, we did some more driving ... then ended up in Bay City for an over night stay.  Bay City is the town the Madonna was born in and is city that the Bay City rollers got their name from... The post about our experience there is coming up next ...