Little House !

July 5^th  (Licia Reporting):

From the time I learned of Laura Ingalls Wilder books, I fell in love with the stories of life in pioneer time.   I read them all.  I read them all with Kate and I read them all with Jen. (Sorry Andy – you and I read different series!)  When the Little House TV show came on, I watched every episode and I always thought it would be fun to go back in time to experience pioneer days.  However, books and TV shows are not real life.  After seeing replicas of the early houses of the Ingalls, give me modern conveniences and air conditioning!!!!!

Pete and I started the day at the Little House in the Big Woods.   This is a replica as the original is long gone.  I thought Annisquam was small!  The main room would have had a fire in the fireplace all the time for cooking and heat.  The two bedrooms were more like closets and the loft area was completely open.  A family of four lived in this small space.  On the plus side it did have log walls and roof.

We then drove across Minnesota on Rt 14 West to the Little Sod House on the Prairie.  This is a replica of the house the Ingalls lived in from the book On the Banks of Plum Creek.  This is made of blocks of sod cut out of the prairie (roots and all).  The dirt walls on the inside contained the roots.  The one we looked at had plaster covering the dirt since it was rented out as a B and B at one time.  It was one large room that served sleeping, cooking and living.  It did have windows and a door but no partitions for privacy.  The prairie had few trees!  Inside was cool, damp and dark.  Not a fun way of living but it was inexpensive to build. Pete noticed that the 2-holer privy was 30 yards away!

We continued down Rt 14 to Walnut Grove.  Here we found a museum supposedly of Laura Ingalls Wilder era buildings.  This was primarily a tourist trap.  It did have a nice gift shop and of course I bought a few things (two neat books to read!).  Anything remotely tied to Laura Ingalls is commercialized.  I can understand it because this area of Minnesota has few residents other than the farmers, and the towns can use any extra form of income.  

We will be stopping at one more Ingalls site tomorrow on Rt 14 in De Smet, SD.  This is the area covered in the book Little House on the Prairie.

After our stops we finished driving through Minnesota and came to what could be a scene from Star Wars.  Lake Breton has the largest Wind Turbine Farm in the US.  There are 600 of these all along the road on both sides as far as you can see (10 miles).  They are huge and look very surreal.

We are in a lovely state park in South Dakota tonight.  We are actually going to be in this state for the next three days.  Lots to see here and we gain another hour tomorrow so there will be time to see everything.