Laura's Living Prairie

After Walnut Grove, we drove 2 hours to the next Laura site in De Smet, SD. Again, if you could only choose one site, I'd recommend skipping Walnut Grove altogether and doing De Smet. 

We had planned to go to the museum in town, but followed the sign to the Ingalls Homestead - Laura's Living Prairie. It was spendy, but so fun. 

They had a lookout where you could see the whole operation. 

Delaney climbed up, but then got nervous coming down. She said "just go, I'll figure it out." And somehow she did. 

They had an actual dugout, shanty, cabin, farm, church (not Laura's, but an actual church from that time period), a schoolhouse (same as the church, but the first teacher at that schoolhouse was a student in Laura's 1st grade class), and thatch barn. They also had lots of animals, including these cute mules and ponies. 

They had carriage rides and they let the girls drive. 

Frankie drove from the barn to the schoolhouse, and Addie and Laney drove back. 

At the schoolhouse we practiced our 3 R's, tried on some clothes, sat at old desks, and learned all about school in the old days. 

In true Delaney fashion, she wasn't sure about the schoolhouse at first. 

But then she warmed up. 

This 1st grade girl was all in!

We got to ring the bell before we left. 

They got to make corn cob dolls.

We watched a demonstration of hay twisting, which the Ingalls had to do to stay alive during the long winter.

This poor girls hands were all cut up and sore. 

They also have a Wilder pageant, and each year they focus on a different book. This years book is The Long Winter, and it's gonna be good!

They got to take Isaac for a quick ride around. 

While they were gone, Matt impressed me with his mad roping skills. He got it on the first try! My hero!

He thought he'd be funny and rope Frankie. She didn't think it was funny. 

So to try and make up for it, he roped himself. But she didn't think that was funny either. 

They showed us how they ground 1/2 cups of wheat at a time during the long winter and all they had to eat were plain wheat cakes for months and months. Blah!

We tested out the straw beds - not comfy. 

Add's tried her hand at the pump organ - not easy. 

She also did some ironing...

And washed some clothes. 

She wanted to stay and wash more, she thought it was so fun. I'm sure it is for the first 5 garments, after that, not so much. 

They had these cute little kittens running around. 

They were all in love!

I'm pretty sure it was their fav part of the day. 

Cause we like driving 2000 miles to play with kittens. But then when they cuddled up to mama to nurse, fugedaboutit! So presh!
The girls had fun and didn't want to leave. 

You could spend all day there and not be bored. We'd love to camp there. Someday!

We hit several storms throughout the day. I like a good thunderstorm, but after the third or fourth time, I was over it. 

Pictures don't do justice, but it's been such a beautiful drive! Still loving our roadtrip!