We have lived here FOREVER and we have never been to Walnut Grove, MN which is one of the places she lived!
(FYI- we have lots… and lots… of pictures!
In other words you won't need to visit because you will feel like you have already been there!)
Hubby and I had our coffee and the children had there blankies, stuffed animals and they were watching "Little House On the Prairie" on the TV!
The first stop was the sod house in Sanborn, MN!
The Ingalls Family lived in a sod home for part of their time in MN.
Their home has since caved in but this family built one so we could see what they looked like!
When the Ingalls where here there was ONLY prairie.
No trees at all.
When they cut down the prairie grasses they saw the sod was strong and thick so they cut it like bricks and used it to build their homes!
This home is MUCH bigger than the Ingalls home actually was.
And the beds look bigger than they really are- Joey is just tiny ;-)
The kids loved it here!
And we have all the freedom we wanted to explore and have fun!
They only asked that we not pick the apples.
No problem! We can do that!
This is quite the nice stove for "back then"!
Chalk and blackboards entertained the kids!
Bassinet for the baby!
And books and with pictures so we can learn even more!
This was actually the nicest home we saw!
Sarah had to use the restroom…
On second thought… maybe not!
Look at the layers of sod.
And the roof was covered with sod, too.
The walls wear thick- about a foot deep.
I am sure guessing the sod was fairly good at insulting the home.
This house was starting to fall apart from the weather and other natural causes.
They were all built in the 1980's.
Luke was not so sure about this sod house…
It was much smaller.
The floor was natural dirt/ hardened mud.
It was built a little more into the ground for protection.
The beds were made of rope with a wood frame.
The mattress was stuffed with hay, grass and feathers.
It had to be redone frequently or there would be bugs in it.
This one had a small loft.
This is the wash basin/ bathroom sink…
See how deep the windows were because of the thickness of the walls.
This seemed to be a storage shed.
And then the wind changed and the smell of cow manure infiltrated our fantasy.
This log cabin was about the size of the Ingall's log home.
10 X 10
It was filled with Indian artifacts.
I love bells!
It had a loft and the children checked it out!
They loved discovering what was in there!
Up the ladder they had many children's wooden toys.
Even a horses tale…
Emma was not fond of the fact that Abby was shooting her with the toy gun…
I can't blame her!
So thankful he is home to share in all of this!
Love this boy!
And then we ate at Nellie's cafe!
It is a quaint small town cafe and everyone was so nice!
Of course we visited with the tables next to us and the waitresses!
It is not like the building on TV but the food was great and reasonably priced!
