Julia's Mexico City

You have all been so patient, I know you were just on the verge of writing to me about when would I finish my posts about Laura. If you want to refresh, here are the previous posts: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

So I spent the morning in De Smet, driving around town, taking a tour of the Surveyor's House, even went to the cemetary. But I couldn't put off going to the homestead any longer. I knew there would be no house there (it was long gone) but just being on that spot I had read about over and over made me nervous and excited.

I drove the mile out to the site and again, I was all alone.

The trees were planted by the Ingalls in the 1880s. And the road to town is the road that Laura watched on Sundays when waiting for Almanzo to come pick her up for a buggy ride.

I think what makes/made the trip so exciting is that these books were so a part of my imagination. What were your favorite books growing up? Nancy Drew? Black Stallion? Lord of the Rings? Imagine loving and reading those books over and over then someday being able to go to the places that are locked into your memory and imagination. That's how magical this trip was for me. She was a real person. It was all real and I could go and see where it happened.

Here she is with Almanzo not long after they got married:

(They were married August 25, 1885, Laura was 18, Almanzo was 28.)


This photo was taken right after the Long Winter. Laura is standing on the right, she is about 14. Mary is seated and about 15 and Carrie is standing on the left. Carrie is about 10 and never fully recovered her health after practically starving to death during the winter.


I can't wait to go back.

(more to come on the rest of my trip -- out to Deadwood and Crazy Horse...)

Labels: driving, laura ingalls wilder, minnesota, prairie, south dakota, travel