Months ago I started kicking around the idea of visiting the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum in Mansfield, Missouri. This home is where Laura and her husband Almonso settled in 1897. She lived there for over 60 years. All the books in the Little House on the Prairie series were written in this home. Mansfield, Missouri is roughly halfway between Alabama and Utah so I decided that if we went back to Utah for a visit we should plan our route so we could see the home and museum dedicated to one of my favorite authors.
When we realized that we'd be moving home to Utah I made the stop in Mansfield as a anchor point for the whole road trip. I planned our route to include southern Missouri so we could make sure to stop at Laura's house. When we stopped for the night on Wednesday we were only 20 miles from Mansfield.
The kids all woke up around 7:00 and we got ready and went down to the office area for breakfast. The kids were excited about eating lots of cereal.
After breakfast we went back to the motel room. The museum didn't open until 9:00 so we had some time to kill. The kids watched TV while Brandon and I relaxed.
Finally it was time to get going. I was so excited to finally get to see Laura's home. I was especially excited about seeing Pa's fiddle in real life.
But when we got to the museum we received some bad news. The museum and home were closed for the season. Only the book store was open. For a minute I was really confused. I told the lady who worked at the book store, "But you're website says you are open until November 15." Before that sentence was even out of my mouth I realized that the 15th had already passed. This was really Thursday November 17th. We'd missed getting a tour by two days! That's what happens when a road trip that you planned for September gets bumped to November.
So we wouldn't get to see Pa's Fiddle or any of Laura's other possessions on this trip. We were able to walk up to see the outside of the home.
Of course I would have loved to see the inside of the home, but seeing the outside was still pretty amazing. I have loved Laura Ingalls ever since my mom first read me the books when I was 5 years old. So being able to see a place that she lived in for years was a dream come true.
There is a famous picture of Laura standing on the porch of her home. It looks different than this porch does today, but I still liked standing on her same porch. Just think, she stood here too!
Here's a sign that tells a little about Laura's life on this farm.
The farm today is very small, but they do have chickens. Laura loved chickens.
And so do my kids.
Apples were one of the things that Laura and Almonzo grew on their farm. So it's appropriate that there are a few apple trees on the property. I don't know how old these trees are.
Charlotte found this sign. She was so excited to see her name. According to Google, Charlotte Meade was a avid reader and loved the Little House Books. Her children donated funds for a new parking lot for the museum in her memory.
The kids had fun pretending to pick apples.
Derrick went back to the chickens. He kept saying "Hel-wo chickens"
Then we walked back down to the parking lot by the museum. We had one last look at the house.
I didn't realize all this at the time, but the museum and this path were all brand new earlier this year.
Lydia picked lots of flowers.
We got back into our vehicles and started driving west again. Our plan was to drive into Kansas and visit one of the sites where Laura lived as a little girl. However, as we traveled I kept seeing signs for the Precious Moments Chapel in Carthage, Missouri. I'd read about this in my guidebook, but for some reason it hadn't made my itinerary.
At first I ignored the signs, but I kept seeing billboards advertising the chapel and saying that it was free. Part of me wanted to skip it. But the other part of me - the part that loves Precious Moments figurines - wanted to stop. The deciding factor was when I realized how much Charlotte and Lydia would love seeing all the life size statues. So I called up Brandon and told him that we'd be making an extra stop.
I arrived about 20 minutes ahead of Brandon. Derrick and Veronica passed the time by looking at this cute little bear with a camper.
And by eating snacks.
Brandon and the girls arrived and we went up to the building. At first I thought this was the chapel.
But it was more like a super cute gift shop. Inside it was set up like a cute little village inhabited by Precious Moments people. Inside all the little buildings were stores where you could buy Precious Moments figurines.
There was a penny presser so of course we had to get that.
Here's one of the little buildings. It had a statue of a girl that was waving to us. Derrick kept saying, "Hel-wo."
I loved this oversize statue of one of the classic Precious Moments Statues. This reminded me so much of my mom. I think she had a picture of this.
After walking through the little village we went outside and followed the path to where the chapel was located.
Everything was really pretty - even in November.
Lydia was worried about all the statues. She thought they were all sad and lonely so she would give them hugs and hold their hands.
Veronica copied her.
Here's Lydia with another one.
The path turned and we could see the chapel.
Lydia comforting more statues.
We walked through the doors and entered a beautiful room. This room had over 30 paintings featuring Precious Moments characters depicting Bible Scenes.
Everything was so pretty and the colors were so vibrant.
Even the ceiling was covered with cherubs.
The sides of the chapel had stained glass windows. One side depicted Psalm 23 and the other side depicted the Be Attitudes.
Lydia liked these windows with birds on them.
Back outside the building Lydia kept comforting the statues. She said that she was like an angel.
Here is another statue where Lydia wanted to act like she was making a figurine.
We went back inside the village building and she kept comforting statues.
We'd loved our little detour at the Precious Moments Chapel, but it was time to get going. We passed over the boarder and into Kansas.
We stopped for gas and Charlotte and Lydia were passed out in the cab of the van.
Veronica was out too. But Derrick was awake.
When I first started planning this trip I assumed that we'd just drive straight through Kansas in one day. I figured there wasn't any interesting stuff in that state. But instead I found tons of things to do. We'd spend Thursday afternoon, all of Friday, and Saturday morning in that state. And there were still plenty of interesting things that I would have wanted to see.
Kansas was also very pretty. I couldn't help taking pictures as I drove.
Our first stop in Kansas was at the Little House on the Prairie Museum near Independence Kansas.
This is the location where Laura Ingalls lived when she was a young girl. The second book in the Little House on the Prairie series took place here. Laura tried to find this place again as an adult, but she was looking in the wrong place. It wasn't until many years later that a team of historians was able to track down this site. They built a little house according to how Laura described it in the books.
The wind was blowing very hard, and Veronica was not happy about that at all. She's roughly the same age that Laura was when her family first moved to Indian Territory. I can't imagine moving here with no infrastructure and two little girls.
Brandon and the girls showed up and we got out of our cars to see the site.
In keeping with our "closed" theme this museum was also closed. But we could walk around the outside and peek in the windows of the home. Charlotte and Lydia have loved reading the Little House on the Prairie series with me. We've read the whole series and are going through it for a second time. We finished Little House in the Prairie only a few weeks ago. Charlotte and Lydia were so excited to see things from the book such as this plow.
They were also so impressed by this wagon. Can you imagine putting all your possessions into this? We've been dejunking for months and we still needed a 26 foot moving van.
Here we are all in front of the house. My first impression was how small it was. This fit a family of five.
And here is the well that Pa dug. This well was on of the things that helped the team of historians figure out where the house should be located.
Charlotte and Lydia liked admiring the barn.
There are two other historic buildings on this property. One is a post office and one is a school. Both of these were moved here from near by locations.
There's also a farm house that stood on this site for years before anyone figured out how important this place really was. This is the museum and gift shop when everything is open for the season.
Look at that sky. It's pretty, but I couldn't help think about Laura's mother Caroline. I wonder if she ever felt lonely. She was here with two little girls and was pregnant with Carrie. (The real timeline differs from the books.) I can't imagine delivering a baby out here. A neighbor came to help, but still this family was very much on their own when they lived on this prairie.
And where was Derrick during all of this? Well he was passed out in the car.
I wanted my picture taken on the deserted road in front of the house. I think one car drove by the whole time we were there.
We still had about 2 hours of driving to do so it was time to get back in the cars and keep on driving.
As we drove the sun sank lower and lower and was absolutely beautiful. Kansas is pretty awesome.
We drove west to I-35 and then drove north to Wichita before driving north west to a town called Hutchinson.
This night we were staying at the Atrium Hotel and Conference Center. It was a fairly nice hotel with incredibly low rates. We'd been snacking all day so we just had more snacks for dinner. Brandon taught the girls to play war with a deck of cards that he'd picked up at a rest stop in Missouri.
Derrick and Veronica chilled out and watched train videos on my phone.
It was so nice to just relax in a nice warm hotel room.
Here I am after a great day of sight seeing.
Veronica wanted a picture too.
During the passed several nights the kids had taken turns having coughing fits. So this night I dug out my essential oils and diffuser. I had Breath going all night and none of the kids coughed. Yay!
This was another night where I fell asleep almost as fast as the kids. Travelling is fun, but it's also really tiring.
