Last weekend, we ate at Hillbilly’s Pub and Grub—Donegal, Pennsylvania’s only non-pizza sit down restaurant. Not that I’ve got anything against pizza, but c’mon, Hillbilly’s Pub and Grub? Ya gotta try it. Susan got fish and chips. She said it was fine. I got a burger and onion rings. Holy cow, what a burger! The onion rings weren’t bad either. “Wow, this is better than Appalachian Brewing Company,” the gold standard for burgers in Gettysburg. In the hotel room before dinner, I said “I’m going to show them my missing tooth and see if I can get the hillbilly discount.” I was trying to get a rise out of Susan.
While at the restaurant, that comment floated back to me. I mused over it being the sort of thing an old(ish) guy like me might repeat several times. To the hostess, to the waiter, to the guy whizzing next to me in the john… Happily, no insistent ODC poked at me. I kept my mouth shut instead.
I told Susan, “It’s starting to look like I won’t get that tooth fixed until next year.”
“I’m sorry this is taking so long. I’d be pretty bummed to be missing a tooth for a year.”
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This week, the prompt at my writer’s group was “and we laughed and laughed…” Hmmm, I thought, fiction then. I’m not a laugh out loud sort of guy. In fact, smiles are rare as well. The surgeon I saw about my broken off tooth last week noted this. “Give me a smile. No, a really big smile. Can we see your missing tooth?” I gave my on-command smile, a toothy straight line reminiscent of a grade-schooler saying cheese. My teeth are visible, but no joy lurks there. “No, I can barely see the gap. It really comes down to vanity if you want a temporary bridge. After I extract your tooth, and set an implant in your bone, it won’t be ready for a crown until October.”
Christ, October? I might as well wait until January when my dental insurance resets. The implant will gobble up my whole insurance limit this year. I’ll be thankful when he pulls out that tooth. The remaining edge, protruding just beyond the gum, is sharp. I jab at it with my tongue until it bleeds.
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Donegal, Pennsylvania is the highway off-ramp for two popular tourist attractions. Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece architectural achievement sits thirty minutes to the south, and the Flight 93 National Memorial—the spot where United Airlines 9/11/2001 Flight 93 crashed into a farm field—sits forty-five minutes to the east. Without those destinations, I’m not sure Donegal would even exist.
We didn’t visit the Flight 93 Memorial, although I’d like to this summer. In a past post, I repeated, or possibly invented, a conspiracy theory about Flight 93. After driving by last weekend, and later talking to a friend about the powerful voice recordings of the passengers’ final words played on loop there, I decided I should probably visit the site and learn the facts before I spread any more sketchy rumors. In that same blog post, I also predicted that Biden would win the 2020 election and that the stolen election narrative would start America’s second civil war. I still can’t tell if I was right.
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Fallingwater is gorgeous. It’s styled to blend into the existing landscape of stratified rock cliffs. The stone for the house was mined on site, and there is little difference between the walls of the house (interior and exterior) and the walls of the cliffs that surround the area. Besides stone, the other primary feature of Fallingwater is glass. Wright put windows everywhere. His goal was to give the residents the feeling of being surrounded by nature even when indoors.
If you ever find yourself in south-western Pennsylvania, consider a stop at Fallingwater. The tour lasts sixty minutes and costs around thirty dollars. Easily worth fifty cents a minute. But buy your ticket in advance, despite streaming hundreds of people through the house per day, the Sunday we visited was a complete sellout.
The Other Stuff 
Happily, no insistent ODC poked at me. Love that. Lovely travelogue. I have the same tooth story. Mine’s fixed- for now. Nice to see Susan. Love her hair.
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After writing about my tooth, I decided to go get it ground down so it wouldn’t be so uncomfortable. Susan was flattered by your compliment. I love her hair too.
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You connect the three elements mentioned in the title skillfully. This is a total pleasure to read. I was hoping for a post from you today.
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Probably too kind. This sat half written for days. I couldn’t decide where to take it. I finally went towards fallingwater but I wasn’t very satisfied. I like the title though.
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When I opened the post, my eye went straight to the photo and I knew immediately it was a Frank Lloyd Wright building. So distinctive. Coincidentally, Walter Burley Griffin and his wife Marion Mahony – credited with the design for Australia’s national capital – worked in FLW’s office for a while and many of the themes of FLW’s work are apparent in Canberra, an area of Sydney and a pair of New South Wales country towns.
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I’m still trying to wrap my head around an architect being an international celebrity. Different world I guess. I’m excited to tour some other Wright buildings when I have an opportunity. Most likely is the Guggenheim in NYC because Susan & I want to go here anyway for the art.
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both of those places, as well as Gettysburg, are high on my list of must-visit places.
good luck with your tooth; and in a strange coincidence I watched a video earlier this week where the speaker noted how people just can’t stop running their tongues over sore spots in their mouth.
and let’s hope there is no second civil war…
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Hope you add Hillbilly’s to your bucket list too, but you don’t eat hamburgers, right?
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I’ve been known to cheat on occasion 🙂
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I’ve always wanted to see Fallingwater. Taliesin West, Wright’s magnificent architecture school/home in the Arizona desert, isn’t far from us. Despite his crazy persona, it’s a fascinating place.
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We read up a bit on Taliesin West on our way to fallingwater. Lots of crazy sh*t in his life besides just his persona. One day we’ll make it back out to Az. Been a long long time.
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FLW helps make America great.
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At this point, *something* needs to help.
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It seems so from over here!
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Sorry, I’m late catching up with this post, Jeff. As usual, I am forever playing catch-up.
Talking of missing teeth, you might remember that I recently broke one of my front teeth. I’ve been so conscious of it every time I go to smile, and I am a very smiley person. I always greet people along the footpath/cycleway with a good morning and smile at them. I’ve recently had to learn to smile with my mouth closed. However, I finally had it fixed this morning. I had to go to a private dentist because one of my medications for osteoporosis means an NHS dentist can’t do any invasive work, which seems really unfair. The filling cost £250, which followed a consultation fee of £150. He’s put some special filling material in the gap, but there’s no knowing how long that will stay fixed. If it comes out, it will mean having a crown for £1,500!! I have dental insurance but it only covers NHS treatment and not private. Fortunately, my bank was very understanding and was willing to extend my overdraft.
Anyway, back to your post. That’s such a lovely photo of you and Susan. I’ve heard of Hillbillies, but to be honest, I haven’t got a clue who they are or know anything about them. It sounds like they make good burgers and onion rings, though. And what a gorgeous place Fallingwater is. I love that the building is made from the same material as the cliff face. And all those windows, too. It must be lovely and bright inside. I think staying there would be an absolute joy for me because of the way the building allows views of all the nature around it, and you know how passionate I am about nature and all things ‘Planet Earth.’
I hope you, Susan, Sophie and Eli are all well. X
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