Missouri

My mom and I went on a little trip this last week to Missouri. My idea was to visit the last home of Laura Ingalls Wilder,one of my favorite childhood authors. On the way to Mansfield, MO we stopped in Columbia where I was born. We saw the hospital but Mom didn't remember it too well, and said it was a much larger complex than in 1963 and 1965 when my sister was born there. Then we went onto the campus of University of Missouri where we lived on campus. Those temporary housing units are gone now, and the VA hospital placed on there.



Here is Laura and Almanzo's home at Rocky Ridge. We were here sometime in the 1970's but nothing was at all familiar,except the Red Chief tablets Laura hand wrote her books on. Those are in a case in the museum area. Now there is a bookstore, too.



Next we have Mom exiting the farmhouse with our tour guide in the background. They had 4-5 employees working on this October day, which is kind of surprising for a small operation in the off-season.



Finally, the big surprise. Laura's daughter Rose built a house for her parents in 1928 aptly named "The Rock House" that they lived in for 8 years down the road from the farmhouse. The LIW association acquired the house in 1990 and had it restored and ready for tours in 1997. It really was beautiful and had all the modern conveniences, however as soon as Rose left the area in 1936, they moved back to their beloved farmhouse that Almanzo had built. Poor Rose.




There's something about this pioneer girl/woman that still fascinates me...
After my big vacation (a week off) I'm more tired than if I worked all week. Does anyone else feel like this?