Anna's Awesome Adventures!!!: Little House Trip Day #6

[Due to Internet and time problems, I was unable to publish the final blog posts. I apologize. This was Monday's post.]

Woke up at 7:45 and my mom and I went out for a lovely cool morning walk throughout Pepin. Came back, had breakfast (banana oatmeal, blueberry muffin, orange juice, cocoa), and drove to the Little House Wayside. This is a three-acre piece of land originally owned by Charles Ingalls. There is a replica log cabin on the property. Although it isn't exactly where the real Little House in the Big Woods sat or where Laura was born, it's pretty close, so we enjoyed being in Laura's territory. The cabin was actually quite large and had some wall-mounted displays about Laura's time in Pepin.

Then we drove to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Pepin. Housed in two adjoining buildings, this nice little museum has information and artifacts about Laura, the Quiner and Ingalls families, Pepin's history, and pioneer-related items. There was a replica front of a steamboat, which was quite fun to crawl up in (duck or you'll hit your head), and a dress worn by Anna Barry. She was quite a small woman! We enjoyed lunch (tuna-cheese wrap, cracker, clementine, zucchini bread, juice) in Laura's namesake park. Then we headed on down to Burr Oak, Iowa...another spot on the map not written about in Laura's books. The Ingalls family lived here from 1876-1877 and Charles managed the Masters Hotel, which has been restored and is the only place they lived in which is still in its original location. While Charles ran it, Caroline and the girls did the cooking and cleaning. It was an unpleasant, crude, rowdy, and downright dangerous experience, but nevertheless part of Laura's childhood. Tours are given of the Masters Hotel and you can see each room and hear stories of events which occurred there. To have the full Laura experience, we also went to the Burr Oak Cemetery, where Laura and her friend Alice often played.

We drove down to Decorah, Iowa, to have supper at Don Jose Mexican Restaurant. The Burrito Mexicano was very tasty and filling. Then a little bit more driving to the southeast (near Postville) before arriving at the best lodging spot of the trip, the Little House on the Farm. It's an adorable little spot in a very peaceful, serene country setting. There were red gingham curtains in the windows, a "pump" sink, a loft, and so much more. Everything is so cleverly and creatively planned, right down to the smallest detail. We were in bed at 11:30.