Epic Road Trip - The Final Day!

On Sunday morning, we left Tulsa at 8:30 a.m. to head to our last destination before home - the Rocky Ridge Farm in Mansfield, Missouri.  As we were driving through Missouri, Emma says, "Who would want to live in a place called Misery?"  I said, "It's Missouri."  Emma said, "Missouri, Misery, who would want to live here?"  The drive there was pretty miserable as we encountered our first major rainfall of the trip.

The Rocky Ridge farm is the place where Almanzo and Laura settled once they left South Dakota and it was where they both died.  I enjoyed the museum which housed a number of artifacts from the Ingalls family.  Most notably, Pa's fiddle is there.  If you've read the Little House on the Prairie books, you know what a big part Pa's fiddle played in Laura's stories.

When we were walking up to the house, Cristina asked me, "Does Laura live in this house?"  She seemed to be a bit exasperated with Laura!  I guess it must be a little confusing for a kid to see all these houses that belonged to Laura, but to never actually see Laura living in any of them.   I explained to her that Laura used to live here, but she was dead.  She then proceeded to ask me, "Does Pa live here or is he dead?  Does Ma live here or is she dead?  Does Carrie live here or is she dead?"  Poor kid was disappointed that the whole family was dead.

The white farmhouse was built room by room by Almanzo.  Everything in the house was made to accommodate Laura's short height.  She was only 4 feet 11 inches.  Almanzo made several pieces of furniture and a whole rack of different canes.  He had to use a cane due to complications from an earlier illness.

 I discovered on this trip that I have an affinity for fields of haystacks.  I loved to see the hay all piled up in fields in Nebraska, South Dakota, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas.  Below is the hayfield on the Rocky Ridge Farm.

 The girls hanging out on the steps of the rock house that Rose had built for her parents.  We were waiting on a tour.

 Crossing over the Mississippi River on our drive back to Georgia.  We ended up logging 4203.6 miles in all on our epic road trip and had such an amazing time.  Having the opportunity to see another part of the country was truly a blessing.  We're not sure what we can do to top this trip in the future.

Epic Road Trip Day Ten

On Saturday morning, we decided to drive up to Independence, Kansas to see another Laura Ingalls Wilder spot.  There was a small replica cabin, one room school house and an old post office on the site of the Ingalls home in Independence, which was the setting of the book, Little House on the Prairie.  We didn't stay at this location very long.  There wasn't much to see and the woman running the place was extremely rude.  It was such a surprise to meet someone so unpleasant because at all the other locations, the workers were super friendly and excited to share stories.

 Charlotte taking a nap in the house with a rag doll.

 After we left Independence, we drove back to Tulsa and took the girls to the 41st Street Plaza of River Parks in the downtown area next to the Arkansas River.  Too bad we couldn't bring along some of the rain from Atlanta to help fill up their river!

 The park had a lot of fun water elements and the girls got drenched running in the fountains and skipping through the different areas.

 I love this picture of Charlotte in her bonnet hopping over the shooting water arcs.

 Once again, Ella was delighted by the WA-TER!  She loves to grab handfuls of it.

 After splashing around for a bit, Ella found this little hammock and rested in it happily until it was time to head back to Jeff and Laura's place.

 When we were in Independence, we bought a little bonnet for Stella and attempted to get a picture of all the girls in their bonnets.  It is hard enough trying to get a good shot with four girls and it was next to impossible with five!

Epic Road Trip Day Nine

On Friday, we got out to see some sites in Tulsa.  In the morning, Laura took us to one of her favorite spots, Turkey Mountain, for a two mile hike.  The girls were a little whinier than normal, but managed the distance without too many complaints.  

 Cristina had to stop for a few breaks along the way.  Maybe if she had chosen more sensible shoes the hike would have been a little easier?  Just a guess.

 Cristina had the camera for much of the hike and I have a lot of pictures of people's footprints.

 After the hike, we had lunch at Subway.  During lunch, Charlotte lost her second tooth.  She was quite excited about it.

 When we were planning the trip to Tulsa, Brian wanted to check out the new Woody Guthrie museum.  After spending time at a few museums during the trip, I figured that the last thing that the kids would want to do is spend the afternoon looking at instruments and musical lyrics.  Brian discovered there was a children's museum in Tulsa and we decided to divide and conquer.  Brian and Jeff had a kid free tour of the Guthrie museum and Laura and I hung out with the girls at the Discovery Lab, Tulsa's Children's Museum.  The main centerpiece of the museum were these giant tape tunnels that went across the main room.  I was really surprised when Ella climbed up in them and went all around by herself with no problems.

 Ella playing with the ball chutes at the museum.

The girls channeling their inner artists at the creation station.

 Charlotte laying on a bed of nails.

 Emma and Ella coming down the slide.  I'm pretty sure those are Cristina's legs in the background.

 Emma and Charlotte built a house out of cardboard boxes.  Charlotte directed all the kids where to put the blocks, so it turned out to her liking.

While we were watching the kids play, Brian was snapping pictures of Woody Guthrie's fiddle, which survived two bombings when he was part of the merchant marines.

 Back at Jeff and Laura's house, the girls had fun playing with Stella and taking turns holding her.  Stella looks like she'll be as big as Cristina in no time!

 I'm pretty sure Charlotte's favorite thing about Laura's house was playing with the dogs, Jack and Coogee.  She is such an animal lover and attracted animals wherever we went during our trip.

 Cristina was thrilled to have the chance to feed Stella.  I don't think she was fast enough for Stella's liking, but she did a good job.

Epic Road Trip Day Eight

On Thursday, we were all pretty happy to just hang out with Jeff, Laura and Baby Stella. The ride to Tulsa wiped us all out.  In the afternoon, their neighbor, Lyle, invited us over to swim in the pool.  The girls were excited to go swimming - one of their favorite activities of all time. Baby Stella showed off her swimming skills from her Diaper Dolphin swim class.  Meanwhile, Emma showed off her floating skills.

 I'm not really sure what possessed Cristina to bite a chunk out of this pool noodle.  I was so embarrassed when I realized what she was doing.

 Ella decided on this trip that she likes swimming pools.  She was more than happy to have Emma take her around in the pool.

 Emma and Charlotte love to create pool races.  Emma challenged Jeff to a race back and forth across the pool.  I don't think he had any idea of the competitive spirit of the Clement girls.

In St. Louis, Emma taught Charlotte how to float in the pool.  Here she is showing off her new skill. 

After swimming in the pool, the girls had fun playing with Stella and pulling her around the house in her wagon.  

Epic Road Trip Day Seven

On Wednesday morning, we decided to let the girls ride the horses one more time before leaving the homestead and heading for Tulsa.  We didn't realize that the horses didn't come out until after 10 a.m., so it set us back on our plans for an early start.  The girls amused themselves again in the church and barn on the property.  Cristina and Ella really enjoyed the stagecoach. Ella kept grabbing the reins and yelling, "Hi-yaw!"

 Finally, the horses came out and the girls took one more spin around the property.  Just as we were walking away, Ella decided that she was finally brave enough to ride the horses.  She enjoyed her ride around the barnyard on Star.

 On our way out of town, we did a quick driving tour of some of the sites mentioned in the books by the By the Shores of Silver Lake, Little Town on the Prairie, and These Happy Golden Years.  Below is the Surveyors' House that they lived in the winter before they moved out to the homestead.  The other house is the house that Charles Ingalls built for Caroline when he gave up farming and moved into town to become a carpenter.

I was a little sad to leave De Smet.  It was my favorite stop on our road trip.

Epic Road Trip Day Six

On Tuesday, we took a side trip to Walnut Grove, Minnesota.  When we were first planning this trip, Emma really wanted to go to Walnut Grove and when we realized it was only two hours from De Smet, we figured it would be a great side trip.  We headed for Plum Creek early on Tuesday and made it there in time for a picnic lunch and celebration of Emma's ninth birthday.  

 The girls were excited when we told them they could put their bathing suits on and go swimming in Plum Creek just like Mary and Laura did.  Recently, Ella has developed a strong infatuation for water and whenever she sees water in any form, she gleefully yells out, "WA-TER!  WA-TER!"  It was a dream for her to grab handfuls of water from Plum Creek.

After our visit to Plum Creek, the location of the Ingalls family's sod house, we went into the town of Walnut Grove and visited the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum.  This museum had a lot of memorabilia from the Little House on the Prairie television series, which was based in Walnut Grove.  I don't think the girls were that interested, but I found the old copies of TV Guide and People magazine with Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert to be entertaining.  Cristina really liked the replica of the cabin from the show.  She asked me to get it for her for Christmas.

 Outside the museum were old jail cells from the town.  I'm not really sure how it fits in with the Ingalls story, but Charlotte looked right at home in there!

 Ella had fun playing with this old Little People farm.  I vividly remember playing with this same farm when I was a kid.  They just don't make them like they used to - choking hazards and all that jazz!

 After Plum Creek, we headed back to De Smet to enjoy dinner around the campfire and walks around the property.  I'm pretty sure this would have been the perfect picture of me and Ella if Brian hadn't put those hot dogs right in front of my face!

 The scenery was so amazing. I really wished I had a better camera to capture the views.  You could see for miles on the prairie.  We stayed up late on our last night here and watched the stars come out.  We scored major points with Emma and Charlotte for letting them stay up past bedtime.

Epic Road Trip Day Five

On Monday, it was so nice not to have to get in the van and drive anywhere.  We spent the whole day on the Ingalls Homestead enjoying all the activities and the wide open spaces. This picture was taken from the viewing tower. We stayed in the little green wagon on the right next to the tree.

 We spent the day participating in the different activities on the homestead.  The girls had the opportunity to pump water from a well, wash some laundry with a wash board, make a corn cob doll, spin their own rope, and attend a one room school house lesson.  I really appreciated all the hands on activities on the property and the kids were encouraged to touch and play with everything.  After spending a lot of hours sitting in the van, this was the perfect day for them.

The highlight of the day for Charlotte was definitely riding the horses.  They had some of the cutest little miniature horses and one tiny six week old pony.  Cristina got to ride on a miniature horse named Star.  Charlotte and Emma took turns riding on a pony named Toby.  Charlotte was in love with this pony.  She kept talking to it.  She would say over and over, "Now, you be a good boy, Toby. Be nice and gentle with these kids.  Be a good example, Toby."  More than once, we had to have her move along, so other kids could enjoy the horses too!  There was also a horse call Pertrina that pulled a cart that they took turns riding in.

After a full day on the homestead, we set up camp for the night in our covered wagon.  The wagon was a tight fit, but we all managed to get in there.  Once again, the girls got the nice cushy bed and Brian and I squeezed onto a mat on the floor.  It was definitely an experience.  For supper, we cooked hobo packets in the coals and the girls made s'mores for dessert.  They loved cooking outside and we'll definitely have to plan more camping for them in the future.