Twitter, Taliesin, & Paul Barbeau

Chapter Four

The whole reason behind the Loons trip to Arizona is part of the Los Angeles Dodgers on-going effort to unite its minor league partners together in a way unseen through most organizations. The Dodgers treat the GMs and Presidents from each level of baseball to a time out at the desert.

Making his seventh trip to Arizona for Spring Training, and his fourth as the Loons President and GM, was Paul Barbeau. On his agenda for the weekend was to meet with Dodgers personnel at various outings across the two days, attend the Dodgers-Rangers game in Surprise on Friday, and to enjoy the trip before the Loons return to Dow Diamond for the summer.

While I spent my free time posted up at the In-N-Out burger in Glendale, Paul used his for the better: taking an educational trip to Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West. The site was a winter home to Wright, but also served as a studio and an architectural campus for some of his younger protégés-among who included Alden B. Dow.

The site is Wright's 'desert masterpiece', built in 1937 on the beautiful Sonoran desert in the foothills of the McDowell Mountains in northeast Scottsdale and showcases Wright's brilliant ability to integrate indoor and outdoor spaces. Taliesin West remains an active school for a select number of students to earn undergraduate and graduate degrees in architecture, keeping Frank Lloyd Wright design philosophies alive.

Throughout the tour, Barbeau made many connections to the Alden B. Dow Home and Studio back home, saying on Twitter, "Not sure if I am at Taliesin or Post St. in Midland (except for the 78 degree temp)".

On a quick side note, the Loons GM returned to Twitter over the trip and as a result more than doubled his total lifetime tweet count. Fans looking to get another source of Loons perspective should follow Paul on Twitter @pjbarbeau. Paul continued on the tour, where he was informed that many current students of Taliesin West are instructed to live in tents and shelters in the desert to better learn how to integrate their environment into their designs.

Camelback Ranch, with it's sandy brown palette, protruding stadium rafters, and natural ability to mesh with its surroundings seems as if to nod directly to Wright. Eventually the hour tour concluded and it was time for Paul to return to Glendale, back to the Dodgers Taliesin getaway.