Frank Lloyd Wright & A Bug Jam
/Our unexpected trip to Colorado resulted in a time crunch for getting to Florida. There’s always Plan B! Blue was left to weather the cold in Denver and we boarded an American Airlines flight to the Sunshine State. We were not to be deterred.
A few days early, but my first birthday cake in years was a homemade carrot cake baked by Nicole. Yum! They mistakenlly had 70 on the birthday cake. I’m quite sure I’m closer to 50.
We bypassed all the hoopla in Orlando. We whizzed past Disney and Universal Studios and Sea World without a second thought and headed to Davenport to spend a few days with old cruising friends. We originally met John and Nicole in the South Pacific over a decade ago and have stayed in touch. There’s never a dearth of things to talk about or memories to share or things to do when we’re with them. That’s how it is with good friends.
They suggested a visit to the Florida Southern College campus in Lakeland, Florida. According to the college website, “In 2012, the Florida Southern College Historic District was designated a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior for being the largest single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in the world.” It sounded like a great opportunity and off we went.
From left… Nicole, Frank & me
At the visitor center, we picked up a self-guided tour map and then wandered around the beautiful campus for an hour or so. It was outstanding. In 1938, the college contacted Frank Lloyd Wright and asked his help in planning a college campus that would be perceived as a ‘Temple of Education’. Wright took up the challenge and deigned 18 structures… faculty housing, dormitories, chapels, library, and more. Of the 18 plans, only 12 were constructed during his lifetime.The blending of his futuristic, clean-line designs with nature and the flow of campus life was stunning.
His design for the Usonian House wasn’t realized on campus until 2013. Originally intended for faculty housing, the house is now on display. We had the opportunity to take a guided tour and appreciate Wright’s thoughtful detail in every aspect of the house’s design… from unique Lego-like building block construction to his use of piano hinges in the cabinets and glass blocks in the walls. ‘Usonia’ is a word coined by Wright himself to convey his vision of a distinct architectural style in the USA that was free from ‘previous architectural conventions’. Every space, every nook, every cranny was purposeful and used efficiently and effectively.
The Usonian house … apparently simple, but deceivingly complex in purposeful design and efficiency of space.
Living room/dining room space of the Usonian House
John’s pride and joy is a bright orange 1972 Volkswagen Beetle convertible that he purchased in the 1980s and has recently been restoring. It’s a beauty. After a quick test ride around the neighborhood to determine that all four of us could manage to fit (Nicole & I in the ‘space-challenged’ backseat), we all decided it would be fun to attend a Bug Jam in Dade City, Florida.
We crammed all our gear and ourselves into the VW and headed out early in the morning. The wind whipped and whistled past Nicole and I in the backseat. Luckily, the ride was only 1-1/2 hours. As we unfolded ourselves at the fairgrounds, we were a bit stove-up, but no worse for the wear … other than hair. Yikes!
Shining and polishing before the judging
The day was warm and wonderful. David and John polished and rubbed and made all tidy for a later judging. With 700+ cars on display and over a 100 vendors selling everything from beer and gator nuggets to VW parts, collectibles and all-things-Volkswagen, this Bug Jam is the largest VW car show in the southeast USA..
Bugs galore
There were Beetles and Things and trikes and single cabs, Westfalias and buses, Carmen Ghias, dune buggies, Herbies, kit cars using VW chassis, rat rods and more from all different years and in every condition imaginable. Some were driven to the jam and others had to be towed. The atmosphere was carnival-like with live music playing and friendly crowds milling about as we wandered around admiring and checking out every possible variation of VW. Some folks were particularly creative when it came to developing fun themes to display in their cars.
It was a long ride home as the day had cooled down and the wind had increased, but we managed quite well as folks whooped and cheered and waved as we passed by. Our fun few days with good friends passed all too quickly. We talked about plans for our next get-together and then we were off. More memories made; more memories to share; more memories to make.
Where to next? Well, more visits with friends then to St. Pete for a visit with our son, Brennan and his wife, Hannah. The ‘big’ celebration is yet to come. Join us. Don’t worry I won’t ask for help blowing out all those birthday candles.