At the Little House on the Prairie Homestead

Monday June 29
Thompson Lake State Park, South Dakota

My neighbors, Lisa and her Mom, who were camped at Thompson Lake were locals at deSmet, So. Dakota so they recommended someone in town to change the oil on Doodlebug. 

While that was happening I went into the local coffee shop and did some blogging. Lots of local activity there, the morning coffee clatches were in full swing. Also there was a little girl who was on her way to a 4-H horse show. I had seen them loading her Pinto pony in the horse trailer on the way in.

Her name is Madison, the little girl, not the horse.

Spent the rest of the day in the late 1800's at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Homestead museum. I know it's a recreated village with buildings of the era moved there to represent the actual ones lived in by the Ingalls family, but it still gave me the feeling of being transported back to that time.

The sod house where pioneers would make their first home while fulfilling their obligation to live there for a number of years in order to be able to own the land. 

Pa Ingalls worked in town to earn money to buy lumber (since there was none on the prairie) to build Ma and his 3 girls a real home.

In the sod roof barn there were real kittens and a mama cat the kids were enjoying playing with.

A ride in a conestoga wagon out to the school house.

These college girls were visitors who have been fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books since childhood and were excited to be seeing all the history here.  

They loaned me one of the bonnets they had bought for a friend for this photo.

I think I would have made a good prairie woman....

This little colt and  his mama were just running around the place until he got too tired and had to take a nap.

Just the vast expanses of space gave the feeling of what it must have been like to live on the plains in those days.

I took the long walk to the church as much for the exercise as to feel what it must have been like to go those distances on foot with just the sky and the wildflowers and grass for beauty.

Inside the church was information on what brought so many people to this area...  

free land if they were  strong enough to stick it out. Many weren't.

Those who made a success of it did finally learn to make the land pay off.

One of the docents told me there are at least 3 or 4 versions of Laura Ingalls Wilder's life:

her official biography, the stories she told for her children's books, and lastly the TV show which seemed to draw the most interesting parts of all using quite a bit of artistic license.

Back at Thompson Lake I made friends with Lan and her cute Jack Russell puppy, Joker.

         A very fun, satisfying day.................