Summer Road Trip 2010: Little House on the Prairie, Kansas

Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Our last stop....

Could there be any collection of books more wonderful than The Little House on the Prairie series? The answer is, 'no' in case you were still deciding.
I love.....and I do mean, LOVE the series. I think reading about Laura's journey is where I learned to love reading. On the way home from Iowa, we went too close to Laura's little house on the prairie to miss the stop. It's about 14 miles outside of the little town square area of Independence, Kansas off of 75. It wasn't too well marked regarding directions along 75, but once we hit the turn off, the signs directing you to the homestead were very clear. 9 am were the hours the internet said they would be open, but they were not open until 10....just a little warning. The house is not the original home that stood here, but it's built in the style of the home that Laura and her family would have lived within during these memories she wrote about in the book "Little House on the Prairie."

The site is free, though donations are appreciated. There is also a post office, and a school house that are on the site and set up to give you an idea about life on the prairie (they built here after the Ingalls moved on). In addition, you can see the well Pa dug (and Laura wrote about), and there is a little farmhouse next to the house that sells some goodies, and can answer questions. Of course, there is plenty of prairie surrounding it all.

There is nothing more exciting that standing in the middle of Laura's life setting.
I do have a side story I just have to tell. There is a lady I worked with the first few years I taught who is just an amazing person. She takes her grandchildren on vacations in the summer. She took her granddaughter on a trip a few years back, and they followed the trail of Laura Ingalls Wilder. There are little museums at many of the spots she lived, grew roots...and wings at, and later wrote about. There is a really good book called Laura Ingalls Wilder Country by William Anderson that my pal said she used to help plan her trip. She and her granddaughter read the books as they journeyed, and I was awed by the experience they both have, and am completely convinced I need to take the whole route someday! P.s. The same pal took her grandson on a 'The footsteps of Lincoln' trip, and is currently journeying the Oregon trail like they did once upon a time. Excuse me while I go ask her to adopt me. ;o)

3 comments

Jo said...

So I have to ask: do you have the Little House Cookbook? We're only on The Long Winter and when we saw this book at our local thrift store we went nuts and Joseph was so excited.

Christy said...

I saw it, and it's on my birthday list!! What a good idea to look at a used book store, I think I'll go to 1/2 books and see if they have it. I did buy a 50 cent recipe for gingerbread I'll share when I try it/if it's any good! I want to hear your cooking experiences! I'm SOOOO glad you and the family are reading the series!

Katie said...

We went to one of the Laura Ingall's places but I think it was De Smet, geez is that even right? Maybe my memory is faulty. I'll have to ask my mom.