Since we can’t go anywhere this year, I find myself reflecting on my trips of yesteryear. What I loved about them, and what I would have changed.
In my reflections, I’ll begin with the trip my daughter and I took in 2014. I love all things Laura Ingalls Wilder, and in 2014 my now-14-year-old daughter was 8, and she loved Laura too. In July we took a week-long trip around the Upper Midwest and visited almost all of the Laura Ingalls sites in those areas. In October we took a weekend trip to the “Laura” sites in southwest Missouri and southeast Kansas. I wrote a guide book about our travels, and released it on Amazon a few years after our trip. You can buy it here!
But back to my reflections. On our Upper Midwest trip, we left home on July 9 and headed north, stopping in Burr Oak, Iowa to see a Laura homesite that wasn’t mentioned in any of the “Little House” books. We stayed in our tent at the city-run campsite in Decorah, Iowa, about 20 minutes south of Burr Oak.
Next we visited the Laura Ingalls homesite and museum in Pepin, Wis., and spent the night in a hotel that had a small indoor waterpark in Owatonna, Minn.
We continued to Walnut Grove, where we saw the Laura Ingalls pageant both nights, spent hours at Plum Creek, and drove around town to see the sites. Lindsay participated in the Laura Look-A-Like contest, and we had a good long visit at the museum. In Walnut Grove we stayed in our tent at the Walnut Grove campground for two nights.
We headed west to DeSmet where we visited the homestead, saw the pageant there, stayed the night in the “covered wagon.” We took the tour of the DeSmet Laura sites, then headed southeast, staying one night in Sioux Falls, S.D., then one night in Des Moines before going home.
Honestly, this trip was so much fun, and Lindsay – now 14 and a typical dramatic teen – told me the other day she loved this trip.
What I would have changed.
Our first night, we backtracked south about 20 miles to stay the night at the city campground in Decorah, Iowa. It was a nice campground, with plenty of space between us and the other campers, and it seemed safe. On the minus side we had to drive to get our supper, and it was close to a highway and I heard cars all night long. Plus, not backtracking to get there would have saved us at least an hour of drive time. We should have continued north that day and stayed in Lanesboro, Minn. The campsites there are close enough to walk to town, and they looked like they’d have been more quiet.
We’re both vegetarians, which didn’t cause any problems until we got to DeSmet, which brings me to the other thing I would have changed. All through the trip, we’d eaten at restaurants with plenty of choices. In Walnut Grove we discovered that we could call the convenience store to order custom-made food. They had plenty of vegetarian choices. In DeSmet, we found that there are very few places to get food, and even fewer on Sunday night when we were there. If I’d have realized how slim the pickings would be, I’d have brought at least one meal along to DeSmet, from Walnut Grove. Lack of food was the main reason we left DeSmet only about 24 hours after our arrival.
The best of the trip
We stayed the night in Owatonna, Minn. at a hotel that had a small waterpark. Lindsay (and I) loved going down the slides, and floating in the lazy river. It helped her gain confidence and be more comfortable in the water.
I also was glad that we stayed two nights in Walnut Grove. It gave us time to see everything we wanted to see, and to have plenty of time to see the sights. It also allowed us to go to the pageant two nights. I’d purchased tickets ahead of time for the first night of the pageant. Our seats were in the second row. For the second night, we bought tickets at the box office, and opted for seats at the very back of the audience. It was fun to see the pageant from two perspectives (and in many ways, I actually preferred seeing it from farther back. It allowed us to see everything).
We also loved playing in Plum Creek at the actual dugout site, and to spend plenty of time there.
I was so glad that I’d booked a covered wagon for our one-night stay in DeSmet. Sleeping in the covered wagon was a unique experience. It was fun to imagine that it was a real covered wagon, and we were on our way west. Plus it was very windy that afternoon, so setting up the tent would have been very difficult. And the temperature got down to about 50 degrees during the night, but we were snug in the covered wagon.
So there you have it. The lowlights and highlights of our Little House trip.
Gina Parsons - Writer 