Walnut Grove. Plum Creek. Oh, the Places We’ll See.

Every time we’ve finished another one of the nine Little House books this year I’ve wanted to weep a bit.

(Now that I’ve confessed that I’m a crier, why try to disguise it anymore?)

For, you know, a myriad of reasons.

I.  Love.  These.  Books.  

I love them for what they are – a treasure of memories from a girl whose life might not have seemed to matter at the time she was living it but whose life, when viewed collectively, is a history and a recollection of an era and a family and a lifestyle fading into our country’s past.

I love them for what they have brought to our family – this shared ideal, this common love of a both new and familiar story that appeals to every age and every gender represented in our home.

I love them for how they’ve made this school year seem cohesive.

I love them for the fact that reading the novels together has marked our school year.  We will always refer to this as the Little House year.

I love the way the kids have embraced all things Laura.

I am sure I have mentioned it before – but Riley and I did this same curriculum when she was in the fifth grade.

When we finished the year’s worth of novels, we made a similar trek out west with her as we are planning to make this summer.

This year we will visit a few more locations than we were able to make it to that time.  Partially because my parents met us mid-way and we wanted to spend extra time with them.  (And for that – I will always be grateful.)  And partially because on the first Prairie Journey we took a four year old London and a three year old Mosely and a one year old Bergen.  In a car.  Across the country.  In the summer.  So there was that.

My mom loved to surprise Riley and she loved to support our homeschool agenda – particularly when it came to one of her favorite novels and television shows – Little House on the Prairie.  (Starring one of her favorite actors – Michael Landon.)

Mom had hired someone to make Riley a perfect little replica prairie dress – complete with bonnet and pinafore.

Of course I saved that treasure and recently we rescued it from the trunk and the girls took turns trying it on.

On our last journey west, Riley wore this little beauty of an outfit and competed in a Laura Look Alike contest in Walnut Grove, Minnesota. (You can visit their website through the link on the sidebar.)

I’m telling you what – Riley was a ringer for Laura Ingalls back then. Especially the Laura played by Melissa Gilbert in the television series.

Walnut Grove is a great tiny town and the Ingalls really did live there.  The town itself tends to put a bit more emphasis on the show than the novels themselves because the show doesn’t really feature any of the other homes Laura and her family lived.

We thought for certain Riley would win that contest.  We all sat in the audience, a thousand miles from home, watching the freckled, braided-hair brown-eyed kid in a prairie costume answer ever Little House question the judges threw at her.  She spoke clearly, smiled and even made the judges crack up  – a feat no other little Laura-wanna-be had done that day.

I think Riley’s seven biggest fans in the audience really though she would win the prize.

Maybe you can already guess the outcome – but she didn’t win.  We’re still trying not to be bitter.

This summer we are including Walnut Grove on our tour again of course – I think it’s Stop Number Two after Wisconsin.  I’ve been trying to coerce London and Mosely into competing, but they are hesitant.  I’m pretty sure Mosely can be convinced to enter the Laura Look Alike with the right enticement.  And she’s a little brown-eyed girl too – so maybe there’s hope for a second shot at victory.

I like touring the museum at Walnut Grove and the school house is pretty cute there.  We’ve even seen a website boasting a Nellie Oleson cafe.  My favorite part of Walnut Grove, however, is the outdoor pageant the town puts on.  A giant crowd gathers on a hillside where Laura herself once roamed and local actors perform scenes from the Little House novels – including a fire scene.

We already have our tickets for the performance and I cannot wait to sit on that grass on the prairie with my family and see a bit of Laura’s life pantomimed before our watching eyes.

(Oh – another part of Walnut Grove that I just love, love, love – is Plum Creek.)

Plum Creek is right outside the town and it’s the real deal.  If you’ve ever read the books, you know what I mean – Plum Creek!

I cannot forget the wonderful sweet joy of standing in the chilly, shallow waters of the real deal Plum Creek with my mom and my daughters.  (Yep, even as I pound out that sentence, I cry at the memory.)  Standing by the banks of the creek where Laura scared Nellie and Laura and her family lived in a little sod house with no idea that her life would find its way into my mother’s hands and into my heart and into my hands and hopefully into my daughters’ hearts too.

That’s really why we’re making this pilgrimage I guess.  If I had to pinpoint it all.

For the memory of a memory.  To start new memories.  To bring the old and the new together in a tangible way so it all flows on and in and through – just like little Plum Creek.

Oh Walnut Grove – we’re heading your way soon.  Be kind to us.