Laura Ingalls Wilder at Burr Oak, Iowa

 For all who went to school in Elmore, Mn, you know what I am talking about here!  In 4th grade we read Laura Ingalls Wilder books as taught in reading class by our teacher, Mrs. Dick.  We were all absolutely enthralled by her writings and the fact that she was a Minnesota pioneer.  She had several homes in the area as they moved from place to place and she wrote about all of them.  One place that she wrote about and that was not published YET! was the home in Burr Oak, Iowa.  The tour guide would say Burr Oak and I always thought she was saying "Baroque" and it took me a few minutes to figure out what she was saying.  Burr Oak didn't appear on our GPS.  It was near Decatur, Iowa.  It was in the vicinity of Lanesboro and so I wanted to take the opportunity to go there.  There was a main road leading to it called Ingalls Hwy or something like that.  Another home which we didn't visit was in Walnut Grove, Minnesota.

So we found ourselves in Burr Oak.  We were told that although Laura wrote about Burr Oak experiences in their lives, this writing was not published as a part of the children's books that are now so well known and published in  40 languages.  The reason was is because this home was in a hotel and the Ingalls family lived there and Mrs. Ingalls fed the hotel patrons and they worked there at the hotel which was situated next door to a saloon.  The stories that Laura Ingalls wrote about and expressed were not suitable for children in the part written at this location because her experiences here next to the saloon were not always the best and not some that children should be reading about.  This year this book is being published for an adult audience and is now available for pre-order.  We saw a copy of that writing in her own hand-writing, which was very nice actually.

So we started the tour in the museum part which was in the old Burr Oak Savings bank shown below:

Here is a picture of the Hotel where the Ingalls family lived and worked.  The saloon is no longer there.

Below a picture as you enter:

And a few more shots of the home:

At the pump organ, Laura would "have" to sing while a regular male patron of the hotel played.  Not her favorite thing to do, but had to anyways.

This was a short tour, fun for my memories as a Laura Ingalls fan, though and I am glad I got to visit.  I would have always felt as though I had missed it considering I was so close to it! 

Amish Country! Lanesboro, Mn and surrounding towns.

OK, so I have been reading a lot about Amish people lately.  Makes for a very interesting read and I am very fascinated by their culture.  So since there were old order Amish in Minnesota, not so very far away from where we were going and because we had some time, we went to Amish land.  We headed to a town called Lanesboro in southeastern Minnesota.  Here is the downtown of Lanesboro:

Here are some more pictures of the area:

It is very green and VERY humid in this part of Minnesota.  Everything was wet in the morning, not from rain, but dew.  Forgot what dew even was!
Here is Brecklyn at our little hotel called Brewster's little red hotel.  It had a LOT of stairs.  Very casual check-in, and Amish furnishings in our room such as head boards, dresser shelves, etc.

Then  for a little night life across the street.

Lots of road construction, of course!  And a band and dinner across the way.  Here we ate on the back patio with a collection of fireflies to entertain along with the band.  At first Brecklyn didn't like them, but after a while she decided that they were pretty fun to watch and eventually try to catch and put in a container.

A quaint, quiet, Minnesota street.

The Root River runs along the patio part of the restaurant where we ate.

A few phone issues as Jamie's phone and my phone literally took turns getting zero reception.  Luckily we had different phone providers and when hers failed to work, mine did and vice-versa.

Looking out at the river.

Our hotel and we were on the 3rd level up.

The side-yard of the hotel, also had picnic tables and a fire pit, BBQ, etc.

Eating at the "little" diner.  Looked like a train car squeezed lengthwise between 2 buildings and as narrow as you see in this picture.  Home-style breakfast on the counter cooked as you ordered it.

We had a choice, to take the Amish bus tour or the Amish "self-guided" CD tour.  I opted for the latter.  Saved money and we could shop as we pleased.  Here a view of Amish farmland.

A little Amish school, there were many since the kids have to walk and everything was kind of far apart if you were on foot.

The Amish have big houses, lots of kids, ya know!

Last place on the tour was in Harmony, MN at the village Green.

There were many Amish shops on the way.  They are on their own property and of different types and sizes.  Some sell crafts, others produce, eggs, butter, quilts, furniture and such.  We stopped off at several and would have loved to take LOTS of pictures but we didn't want to disrespect their religious beliefs as to not taking pictures.  So we didn't.  The little kids were absolutely adorable.  In their little Amish dresses they looked so cute!  And they were very shy.  Sometimes they would peek out at us and duck out of sight if they saw us looking at them.  It was kind of funny.  We weren't sure why.  Some were less shy, like a tiny little Amish girl about 1-2 who found one of the "English" lady shoppers so interesting and was very animated and cute.  So funny.  Would have loved to have had a video of that.  In many cases the Amish were almost too trusting as they left the money boxes in the shop area and let you shop and requested that you leave your money or check in the box on the table and to write down what items you purchased.  Very interesting. The little boys were also cute in their straw hats and suspenders.  Other times there was a lady in the store to help and they had little accents and I asked the one younger girl a question in German but they couldn't understand me at all.  So I listened to them speak and I couldn't understand them at all either!  So their "German" was really different than any I have ever heard.  A fun experience and another fun thing to recall. 

Minnesota Road Trip!

Jamie, Brecklyn and I took a little time, back in time for me.  It was the week of my hometown's Sesquicentennial celebration.  I figured I had been to the centennial, I should be at the 150th as well! I definitely won't make it to the Bi=centennial, will I!  So here is a little re-cap of our fun trip we took together.  By the way this was Breckie's first airplane ride.   It was a fairly smooth ride so it was a good first experience for her. 

Here we are waiting to go!

Waiting to depart.  We left a little late because a bird or something hit the door of our plane on it's last flight and they had to make some repairs, they said.  But we still got there at the scheduled time.

The first plan of attack was yeah, you guessed it, the famous "Mall of America".  Last time that Jamie and I were here we were able to take pictures in front of the big sign outside.  But this time we couldn't because there was construction just outside in the front. Oh well, we took a picture in the parking garage instead!  Ha ha!

 

 

And what was the first discovery?  Yes, it was ....The American Girl Doll Store.  Jamie always wanted one, never could afford one...guess who got one?  Yes Brecklyn lucked out!  Here some pics:

Pinch me, I think I'm dreaming!

Does it get better than this?  Well, yes, maybe so!

Brecklyn searches for the one that looks like her!

It's number 38!

A musician...

A never-ending store with dolls that are black, white, brown, old and new, washing clothes in a wringer washer, Indians with a tee-pee, kitchens, doctors, nurses, students, ironers, colonial, pioneers, you name it!  They got it!

Clothes, accessories of every type, shape and size!

But this is the one:

And poor baby, has to go for an appointment to get her ears pierced!  Can you believe it?

An outfit, glasses, a stand and a few odds and ends, and poor grandma is out a small fortune!

Then on to the rides, yes it is a small amusement park within the mall!

 

 

 

Did the flying Walendas start here???

Then to the Lego store it is:

 

A whole store for Lindt Chocolates, can you believe it?

And several hours later, a million bucks poorer, we head out on our trip and pass by the Mayo clinic in Rochester, MN.  The famous medical clinic.  Good to know in case we have an illness on the road, no?

Just an aside, as a child I loved "old Dutch" potato chips and ya know what?  Still do!

So this concludes the first post.  Now on to the next!