Two weeks ago, I went on the road trip of my dreams with Amber. If you’d asked me, before that day, whether a sunny drive (fuelled by hemp milk coffee and soulsister conversation) with the sole aim of a magnificent chocolate factory tour would be enough for me, I would’ve said yes. Yes, absolutely, that is enough to make me happy.
But I was luckier than that. My road trip wasn’t about mere happiness; it was about dream-achieving exhilaration.
First, though, it was about more coffee. Who knew gas station coffee could be quite acceptable? Fancy that.
After Amber and I toured the Askinosie Factory in Springfield, we hopped back in the car with our sights firmly set on Mansfield. In this town, we would find the homes where one of my most cherished authors, Laura Ingalls Wilder, lived out the majority of her life (and wrote her books).
As we drew into Mansfield, signs and shops emblazoned with Laura’s name started to appear, and I began to embody a strange (and probably perturbing, to Amber) combination of breathless silence and random shrieks.
I grew up reading and rereading every Laura Ingalls Wilder novel/memoir, and my love for her stories has carried through my blog. It seems I’ve mentioned Laura here and here and here and here and here and here…
So when I say that visiting her home was emotionally overwhelming? I mean it.
And I can prove it.
So. Many. Feelings.
Then we found Laura’s house. FEELINGS. We got to walk around inside this home that she and Almanzo built themselves, room by room, despite the fact that Laura was only 4ft 9in and Almanzo had a cane and a crippled leg. I saw the dishes that Laura cooked with, the stove she cooked on, the beds where they slept, the desk at which she wrote her books, the embroidery they both worked on, the staircase their daughter Rose climbed to go to bed, the wallpaper they chose, the flooring that has lasted all these years, the overflowing library, and so much more.
So. Many. Feelings.
I needed a bit of a lie down. Dizzy.
Amber, bless ‘er heart, noticed that I was getting quite teary during the house tour, and didn’t even chastise me when I spent all of our time in the museum exclaiming things like “Oh! This is the invitation for the party Laura went to in Little Town on the Prairie where she experienced an electric shock and got a whole orange! a whole orange!” or “Pa’s fiddle! Oh Amber, it’s really Pa’s actual fiddle!”.
As a certain someone was making fun of me for recently, it turns out I really can be as ridiculously sensitive as a dewdrop on a soufflé sometimes.
A little drive from Laura and Almanzo’s main house is the Rock House, in which they also briefly lived. Before visiting this gorgeous place, Amber and I stopped by the gift store for something that has been missing from my life and soul for a long time.
Yes. That’s right.
I now own my very own prairie pioneer bonnet.
If I had my way, I’d never take it off. After all, it gives me Prairie Sass.
Alas, all good things must come to an end, and so Amber and I waved farewell to Laura and began the drive home to Kansas City (Missouri!), this time energized by our myriad sample bags of delicious, delicious Askinosie chocolate and Amber’s spectacular taste in music. (If you think you see whole pieces of vanilla pod embedded in that dark chocolate, you’re right. Review to come.)
Thank you, Amber, for helping create this shining day.
So. Many. Feelings.
And now you have done it all. I’m so glad this dream was able to be fulfilled – many props to Amber for soulsister friendship
ROFL – I love the prairie sass – cannot wait to see you rock it out more often.
You know, I reckon I could totally get away with the Prairie Sass here in Austin. It’s just not as much fun without someone there to help me document it, though.
You’re such a carefree soul! Love your bonnet:P
Aww you look so happy-love it!
And how can you jump so high in boots? 
It was the joy. The joy was like little mechanical springs in the shoe heels.
Serious answer? I really don’t know. There are some other photos where I gained even more height. Perhaps I was possessed?
What an amazing experience for you! You are a photographer’s dream! I love these pictures – they’re exactly what I needed to see today.
Your family is so lucky to read your stories and see your photos too.
Margaret, I’m so grateful I could help, in even the tiniest way, get your mind off your worries today! Thinking of you and your pup xo
P.S. You’d think so, and yet have my mother, father, or brother commented here yet? NO THEY HAVE NOT. *peers out into the internet mists intently*
Aww you are adorable! This reminds me so much of when I got to go see Green Gables from Anne of Green Gables a few years ago- so many emotions! Glad to see I’m not the only one who gets overwhelmed by boos coming to life
Visiting Prince Edward Island is definitely on my To-Do list for Canada, don’t you even doubt that for a second! In a way, though, I think I’ll always find Laura Ingalls Wilder’s home more overwhelming, because her books are her own life stories, rather than fiction. That said, you better believe I’ll be drinking red currant wine on PEI
If you go to PEI, please let me know. That’s one place that’s within an attainable distance! Plus I lurrrrrrve it there:)
OMG YES YES YES.
PRAIRIE SASS!
This was a most perfect day in every way, and I’m so happy to have been a part of it with you. <3 Miss you already!
I agree; it was absolutely, absolutely perfect. (And not just what I’ve posted, but all the words and laughter and secret parts we’ll always have as memories just for us.) xoxo
The happiness! The friendship! The FEELINGS! The Prairie Sass!
All of these make me chortle with glee.
You’re a LovelyHead, Alayna! I’m so sorry I haven’t been able to bring my Prairie Sass to you this trip (although I’ve transited through Atlanta airport about a million times). One day. One day.
I am actually tingling. The actual fiddle?? Truly?? Oh Hannah, such wonderfulness! And how amazing that they still have the invitation to that party with the orange (and shock
). All of it is amazing really. Thank goodness for people preserving these things. Much as my heart is in England, I really hope I get to this museum one day – and I’m so thrilled you got there now 
The real honest-to-goodness fiddle, right there (in a glass case, but still). And so many pieces of embroidery, clothing, furniture, little jewelboxes (even a few that were mentioned in the books), letters… it made me feel all fuzzy. I truly, truly loved it.
I’ve never been to her house nor have I ever seen photos so thanks so much for sharing. That’s a gorgeous home in a beautiful setting. I can’t believe Laura was so small. I think that’s the height Alfie is and he’s seven! She was no bigger than a child yet it didn’t stop creating something so huge! I would love to go on that tour, too – I’m a huge fan and full of admiration xx
They apparently get tens of thousands of visitors every year; I will keep faith that you will get there one day too
I had no idea she was that small either, but it sure makes the “Half Pint” nickname make sense! I could never tell from photos of her with Almanzo, either, but apparently that’s because he was quite short too! Love ‘em both, love ‘em all 
How fun that you went to Laura’s house! I LOVE that stone house. You look so cute in that bonnet!
It’s sure to get me all the men.
Love that you picked yourself up a bonnet! What fun.
I would love to see the overflowing library. (guess they didn’t let you take photos – sigh) I don’t think I have read her books or barely watched the tv shows but I do love me some literary history and I think I would have loved this place
No, no photos allowed in the houses or in the museum. In a sense, I’m grateful for that, as it allowed me to really focus on being there. UGH DON’T EVEN WATCH THE TV SHOW EVER UGH. I recommend reading the books to Sylvia; my mum first read them to me as a kid
No joke this was an awesome road trip, LOL I giggled when I saw your jumping pic
Cheers
CCU
Wow, this must be wonderful to enter the house of somebody you adore so much and whose books have meant so much to you and accompanied you throughout your childhood! I think it’s a strange feeling of intimacy that bridges time … You feel so close to people when you have a glimpse into the private lives conserves within the things amongst which they have lived.
I dream of visiting Chopin’s home one day. You know, and see a piano he has played on …
Oh yes, it’s exactly that. Oh, to see the pianos played by the greats! I would dearly love that too. You’ll get to Chopin’s place of magic, I have no doubt!
When I was little, we visited the location of the sod house from On the Banks of Plum Creek. I was quite disappointed to discover upon arriving that the sod house had collapsed, and was no longer the magnificent hobbit hole I had pictured.
http://www.walnutgrove.org/dugout.htm
Still, pretty cool. I would give one of my small fingers, or two of my toes, to be able to live in a house as pretty as that rock house!
It was rather lacking in inside amenities, but theoretically, me too.
Well, of course the sod house collapsed! Darn hoof through the roof!
I love a good random shriek.
Also, you have killer pins, and I think you may have started a whole new fashionista trend of a “Runway Bonnet” – strike a pose sister, you are rocking that look
So so happy for you – must have been quite overwhelmingly wonderful…. your love just spills out through these words.
Teehee, maybe I should pitch Runway Bonnet to one of those fashion people. Gaultier or Vuitton or something? Or are they perfumes? Heavens, I’m really not a Vogue reader…
Ah, well, I need to find something to cascade my love into!
i haven’t visited your blog in so long and i see THIS, you living my wildest dream! i can’t believe you were really there! and the bonnet suits you beautifully!
I’m so thrilled to find that so many other people adore Laura Ingalls Wilder like I do! High five! And thank you for your lovely words
Oh wow I would totally have cried too! And bought the bonnet. Awesome, awesomness!
What a look girl! Channelling your inner Laura all the way! I love it. I couldn’t help wondering what might have happened if Miss Laura appeared at the doorway and called you in for tea.
I think that I would have burst into tears and enveloped her in a massive hug, and she would have scorned me as a common harlot for having my legs and decolletage showing like that.
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I am coming over to visit from Amber’s site – I totally get what you are saying. I’ve been there a couple of times, and I cannot WAIT to visit all of the other homes/museums across the U.S. I’m in the middle of reading the books again to my kids. That’s really fun that the two of you had a road trip together.
Oh, how lovely to find another Laura Ingalls Wilder fan! If I ever have kids, I’ll dream of reading them together.
What a wonderful experience to go to such a shrine to a favourite author. Loving the bonnet BTW.
Very jealous! I adored and devoured Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books. Manly was my hero
Oh, to find my own Almanzo!