Wednesday, July 24, 2013

My Own Laura Ingalls Wilder Journey, so far...

Since I just posted a blog about The Wilder Life, I figured it was an appropriate time to share my own Wilder adventure...

A little over 6 years ago, on my drive from Ohio (yes, I lived in Ohio for 8 months!) to Colorado, I spent some time "geeking out." My variety of geeking out involved visiting some Laura Ingalls Wilder sites. I actually planned my trip around these visits. I figured if I am going to drive halfway across the country, I should see some things along the way! Mansfield, Missouri, happened to be a reasonable place to stop without going out of the way, and it is where Laura spent most of her life and where she wrote the books. Mansfield is a tiny town, almost more of a village really, in the Ozark Mountains. I also attempted to visit the site of THE "Little House on the Prairie," in Independence, Kansas, but was prevented from doing so by extreme flooding. So, no pictures from that--though I did stay in Independence overnight. Below are pictures from Mansfield:


Bust of Laura Ingalls Wilder in the town square in Mansfield.
The gravestone for Laura and her husband Almanzo in the cemetary in Mansfield.
The gravestone for Rose Wilder Lane, Laura & Almanzo's daughter.
View of the side and front of their house from the front lawn.
Me standing on the front porch. (And I must just add, thank goodness I have lost weight AND bought a new bra since then!)
Me on the front porch of their other house, known as the Rock House. It is about a mile away on the same property and was built for them as a gift from their daughter Rose. They only lived in it for a short time and then moved back to their original home.
The garage at the Rock House. For some reason, before I saw this and the guide mentioned that it had held the car that Laura drove, it had never even occurred to me that she may have driven a car! Duh, she rode in wagons!
I have always wanted to share these...and hope one day to add images from trips to other home sites, so...

To be continued...


1 comment:

  1. This is soooo cool, Val! It's neat that you shared your trip thru photos. And that you were able to visit places linked to a figure you're so fond of!

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