I'm planning an anniversary weekend with my DH and I don't know whether to stay in Pittsburgh or Uniontown or somewhere close to Uniontown for the weekend. My itinerary so far includes tickets to the in-depth tour of Fallingwater Sunday AM at 8:30am and regular tour of Kentuck Knob at 2pm. It will be a 4 hour drive for us to arrive in Pittsburgh coming from North of Pittsburgh. From what I read, it is about a 2 hr drive from Pittsburgh to Fallingwaters so I'm not sure with our tour being at 8:30 Sunday AM if we should stay that far away in Pittsburgh Sat night. There's a Fairfield Inn in Uniontown (about 40 min away) from Fallingwaters that is a possibility. Should I look for something even closer than Uniontown? I like Hampton Inns and Fairfield Inns. Our options are to: leave for Pittsburgh Friday afternoon and spend Friday night in Pittsburgh and having Saturday to sightsee in Pittsburgh and then driving somewhere closer to Fallingwaters for our Sat night stay for our early Sun AM tour OR 2nd option would be to just leave on Saturday and drive straight through to Fallingwaters to spend the night in the hotel around there and bypass a Pittsburgh trip. Any suggestions out there? Thanks so much

I'd say option 1. Do a search here for Fallingwater - there're some suggestions for lodging near FW. I went to Pittsburgh, FW & Kentuck Knob in July this year. We stayed at the Renaissance hotel in Pittsburgh (via Priceline). Excellent hotel and location. Here's link to my trip report if you're interested:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=35028729

We were just in that area over Labor Day weekend and stayed at Seven Springs Resort in Champion for $85/nt. It was about a 40 min drive to Kentuck Knob (I would leave an hour just to be on the safe side). We really like Seven Springs, there were a lot of activities both indoor and outdoor. The closest lodging we saw to Fallingwater would be B&Bs in Ohiopyle State Park, but we didn't have a favorable restaurant experience there and can't recommend anything. We did have a good dinner at the Stone House Inn, on Rt. 40.

My recollection is that we snagged a motel in Somerset the night before we did the in-depth Fallingwater tour. We were coming from the east, so it made more sense.

The dearth of lodging in that area is, indeed, a problem. You have to determine which compromise allows you to be most comfortable.

We did a similar trip in mid-August. We stayed in Pittsburgh - at the Westin which we got for $72/night on Priceline. Nice hotel. We flew in early Saturday am and drove straight to FW - over an hour from the airport (maybe 1.5hrs). Kentuck Knob was about 20 minutes tops from FW. In between is Ohiopyle with its state park and beautiful river. Drive back to Pitt was not fun in the dark (narrow, windy and very hilly roads). If you could find a good hotel you might want to stay closer to the area.

But if you do stay in Pitt, try to see the Dale Chilhuly exhibit at the Phipps Conservatory or see the glass exhibit and permnanent exhibits at the Carnegie. Both of these were unexpectedly excellent.

What a great trip you have planned! I just love Fallingwater!

Well it is your anniversary--perhaps you want to splurge for 1 night and stay at
http://www.nemacolin.com/LODGING

I believe the founder/owner of 84 Lumber created it! We went for a meal and toured the facilities after our trip to Fallingwater but we lived in Pittsburgh so didn't need lodging.

I have stayed at Seven Springs--it was in much need of a facelift but location wise is pretty good and they have all kinds of lodging options on site as well as dining/activities.

I would definitely stay 1 night in Pittsburgh and get a chance to sightsee even if you only see a few places. I second PHIPPS! Not sure when you are going but the Chihuly exhibit going on thru Nov 1 --my family friend raved about! She called me in NC to see if we were going to PA anytime soon!!!

http://www.phipps.conservatory.org/

alise007 - Unfortunately, the Nemacolin is sold out for the weekend we're going. Would you suggest staying at the Seven Springs then? Do you remember how far it was from FW? I think I'm going to leave early Sat AM and drive straight to Ohiopyle Park (arriving around 1pm) and do some hiking and viewing of the beautiful scenery and then stay somewhere near FW due to the early FW tour that we have to be at by 8am Sun AM. On sunday, we'll have our two tours and then head back home. I think I would cram too much in if we did Pittsburgh for 1 day. I think that will have to be a separate trip. If anyone can suggest anything else to do on Sat around Ohiopyle Park, it would be much appreciated.

Aruba, I have already mentioned that 7 Springs is about 40 minutes from Fallingwater. The drive is on winding country roads, the hotel gave us directions and a map. While it's not Nemacolin, it's also a fraction of the cost and we didn't find it sub par. Don't know when Alise was there, we visited over Labor Day 2007.

Aliska - OK. In your post, you mentioned that it was 40 min to KK. Since my first tour is in the AM at FW, I needed to know how far 7 Springs was from FW. KK is my afternoon tour. From 7 Springs, FW would be closer so I wanted to check the travel time.

I just wanted to mention an article I read this weekend about a new option to stay over in a FLW house. It sounded really interesting to me, so I bookmarked it:
New Wright house makes trinity in Pa. from the AP via Yahoo! News
http://tinyurl.com/2xozvj

The Duncan House was moved to PA, and "is one of only six Wright homes nationwide open to overnight guests."

The article also provides this info:
DUNCAN HOUSE: Usonian Drive, Acme, Pa.; http://www.polymathpark.com or 877-833-7829. Open year-round. Overnight accommodations; book well in advance. For three people to stay overnight, $385 plus tax. Each additional person is $50. Children under 6 are not permitted. Tours available on select Sundays year-round; adults, $16; children 6-12, $8.

A nice drive from Pittsburgh to Fallingwater is to take Route 51, to 119 to Rt 40(historical road.)Once you get past the congestion in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, it an easy drive. More interesting than the turnpike.

You can also stay at the Mount Summit Inn which is on Rt 40 6 miles out of Uniontown heading towards Ohiopyle. I have never stayed there but it is a historical landmark and not far from either KK or Falling water. They even offer a FLW package.
http://www.summitinnresort.com/

Or stay at the Stone House Inn, also a historical landmark and even close to both on Route 40. If not, it is a good place to stop for either lunch or dinner.
http://www.stonehouseinn.com/

There are a couple of interesting stops along historic route 40, including Fort Necessity, General Braddocks grave, Christian Klay Winery, and Laurel Caverns. A intersting shopping stop is Country Charm with a lot of nice Amish furniture and relatively inexpensive crafty type stuff. All are within 10-15 miles of Fallingwater and KK.

Ohiopyle is all about the scenery. Check out the main falls and Cucumber Falls and hike the Meadow Run trail. You can rent bikes, or if you are into trout fishing it is primo trout waters.

Have fun, this is one of my favorite areas!!

I was at Fallingwater on Sunday.

Afterwards we drove to the Flight 93 Memorial. There is a privately funded chapel (info at http://www.flt93memorialchapel.org/) as well as the official National Park temporary memorial at the crash site (info at http://www.nps.gov/flni/)

Just a thought if you have some extra time while you are in the neighborhood.

There is also a Hampton Inn in Uniontown, since you mentioned you like Hamptons. http://hamptoninn.hilton.com/en/hp/h...tyhocn=UNTPAHX

Blackandgold - Thanks for the suggestions! Our plan is to spend Fri night in Downtown Pittsburgh and then take the drive down Rt 51 (nice suggestion instead of Turnpike) to Ohiopyle State Park and spend all day Sat there and stop at the Amish shop that you mentioned. I'm guessing that is right on Rt. 40? For Sat night, we're going to stay in Greensburg (most everything is sold out near FW). I know we'll then be driving back to Fallingwater Sun AM but that's ok. I can't believe how far in advance the hotels, B&B's sell out. We're really looking forward to the scenery/views.

Yes, Country Charm is on Rt 40 on your left on the way to Ohiopyle. I think it is in the village of Chalk Hill. I am surprised that it is hard to find a place to stay, but I am usually camping. Have fun.

Here is an article from USA Today on the area from 9-27-07:
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/desti...OE=click-refer

Not sure if I missed your anniversary but wanted to let you know about the tiny town of Confluence, near FW. Lots of bed and breakfasts, best one is along the Yough called Paddler's Lane, tell them Tyra from California sent you. Check out their web site. My grandparents were long-time residents of Confluence, grandpa died last February and grandma's there now, she spends winters in California with us. You DO NOT want to stay in Uniontown, no charm, better to get into the place where Mountains Touch Rivers, stole that from Confluence's motto. And say hi to Butch the security guard at FW, he's a longtime friend of the Rose Family!!