Category: All (-ish)

We arrived in Walnut Grove and followed the signs to the museum.

This sign advertised several Laura Ingalls Wilder museums.  Interestingly, the Mansfield Missouri one is not listed here.  Also, what’s Spring Valley?  It turns out to be where the Wilder family (Almazo’s parents) lived after they moved from New York State.  Laura and Almanzo lived there after De Smit but before living in Florida.

We visited the store to buy our tickets and I bought a pressed penny.  I went with Jack.

 

There are two parts to the Laura Ingalls Wilder part of this museum: books and tv series. The events depcited in the book On the Banks of Plum Creek happened outside of Walnut Grove and the tv series Little House on the Prairie was set in Walnut Grove.

Being a fan of the books and not the TV show, I was interested in the book part of the museum.

This was very cool. They had several piece of illustrator Garth Williams’s work.  At the top is the rough sketch, then both the black and white and the color version of the final drawing. Below that is the text from the book.  This picture will also come in handy for the next post, so take a good look.

 

Here is Nellie Oleson being mean.

 

Actual things Laura owned.  (The museum would phrase this as ACTUAL things Laura OWNED!!!!)

 

The museum’s system indicating items owned by Laura Ingalls Wilder were backed by the shiny green border.

I found this museum to be a little heavy on things that weren’t really museum-quality like this framed Scriptural GUIDE.  If you are curious as to what Psalm 51 is, it’s here.

 

However, some of the not-so-museum-quality items made me laugh. Like this one.

 

The museum also included pictures and stories of people in the Walnut Grove area that Laura adapted for characters.  And here’s a blow up of a map Laura drew of Plum Creek.

 

We then entered the “TV” section of the museum, which I was not at all enamored with.  Here are two pictures of the actor/actual people.  Note:  I’ve not seen this photo of Charles Ingalls before.  Why is he sticking his finger in his ear?

 

There was a Walnut Grove mural and photos from the television series, as well as episodes of the television series playing.  There was also memorabilia from cast reunions which took place in Walnut Grove (though the show was filmed in California).

After exiting the book/tv part of the museum, it was time to wind our way through the other exhibits.  These included a dugout.

This dugout (unlike the one we visited in the prior post) has whitewashed walls.

 

It is very small.

As Sara demonstrates.

There was also a schoolhouse.

And a fancy house that had exhibits of a variety of things.  In front of it, you can see the reconstructed prairie.

 

Sara inside the fancy house playing dress-up.

There was another building with a post-office where you could sort letters, a covered wagon and other such things.

This house was across the street from the museum.  But what’s relevant is the sign in the yard.

Master’s Hotel was once here.  The brochure says it’s where Laura once worked, but all googling leads to the Master’s Hotel in Iowa which Charles Ingalls managed.  I did find a link for this book, which spells the hotel this way:  Masters’ Hotel.

Happily, we availed ourselves of the head-in-the-hole opportunities, first as farmer and wife.

Then as children.

There was also a covered wagon.

Hey!  Speaking of Children’s Literature, let’s drive to southern Minnesota and see some Little House sights!

Our first stop is the Sod House on the Prairie.

Stan McCone built a sod house and a dugout on his farm near Sanborne, MN.  He cut the sod from a site several miles away and brought it to his farm.  He also restored five acres of prairie grasses and wildflowers.

Approaching the sod house.

Inside.  This is a very fancy example of a sod house.  It is very large with its whitewashed walls.  It served as a bed and breakfast for many years, though it does not anymore.

The thick window frames remind me of cobb houses.

Overall, it’s a pretty spacious and light-filled dwelling.

I loved the door detail.

On our way to the dugout we encountered a farm cat.

Prairie and flowers.

The dugout.   The back side is dug into a hill.

Front door and roof detail.

This is much smaller than the soddy.  It felt oppressive inside, even with two very big windows.

This was bigger than the dugout Laura Ingalls Wilder’s family occupied in On the Banks of Plum Creek.  And that dugout only had one window and it was grease paper.

Plow.

Tool needed to create sod house/dugout.

The ever important outhouse.

View of both the dugout and the soddy.

Pretty prairie flower. The internet tells me its Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) L.

True confessions.  I often put filler titles in when I’m setting up the posts, mostly because I can’t remember the official name of something and don’t have time to look it up. But these really are those famous falls.  Or were, once upon a time.

If you are around my mom and mention Hiawatha, she will immediately say, “On the shores of Gitchee Gumee/Of the Shining Big Sea Water”  And that’s because that’s the start of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous poem “The Song of Hiawatha“.  You know that poem, right?  I sure do.  I sure haven’t read it, though.  It’s really long.  I feel like maybe it needs a campfire and no devices to distract you to get all the way through it.

In re-reading all the Betsy-Tacy books, these same famous falls were a kind of calling card for Betsy in the book Betsy and the Great World.  No one in Europe in 1913 knew where Minneapolis was, but everyone had heard of Minnehaha Falls.

So that’s where we are!  Minnehaha Falls!

From the top.

 Statue by Jacob Fjelde of Hiawatha and Minnehaha.  There was controversy back in 1902.  You can read all about it.

 Here are the falls.

 And here is our self-portrait.

Not ones to pass up an ice cream opportunity, we stopped at Grand Ole Creamery.  The portions were generous, to say the least. 

 President Obama visited just over a year ago and there was this delightful poster commemorating the event.
(Notice that Waldo is hiding right there.  We found another Waldo without trying)

 We also wandered by the St. Paul Curling Club.  You know, curling?  The sport that media is amused by every four years during the winter Olympics?  Despite being amused by it four years prior?

Anyway, if you want to learn, this is your place.

Our wandering took us to the Cathedral of Saint Paul, which is a gorgeous building conveniently located by Summit Avenue, where all the rich people built houses.

 

 

I learned (from Shawn) that the four evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) all have animal symbols to go with them.  Thus, we know that this is Mark, because he’s got a lion with him. Okay wait.  Below you will find a picture with something that is clearly a lion.  So this must be Luke with the Ox?  Although that doesn’t look like an ox to me.

 Here is John with the eagle.

 This delighted me to no end, because I imagined people coming in with big gallon containers and filling them with holy water for home use.  But Sara told me that really I should be thinking of containers that would make it through security at an airport. Apparently a little holy water goes a long way in the home.

 Here’s Matthew with an angel.

 Really great goose lamp.

 Detail of the main light hanging from the dome.

 Great proportions, eh?

 Here is Mark with the lion.

 One of my first exposures to the candle lighting at Catholic churches was by reading a somewhat scary middle-reader novel.  The name escapes me at this juncture.  But something wasn’t going well in the main character’s life, and he went to church and lit a candle quite often.  I loved that idea, and thus always enjoy when I come across the candle section in the church.  I’m sure the candle section has an official name.  But I’m not looking it up.  Shawn?

 Sara and Shawn on the steps.  Sara was telling me to envision it to be winter and the entire steps and all the way across the street and down the hill are covered with ice.  Then to picture people skating down them.  Or you can watch this video.

 Here’s the capitol dome.  Though a tour of the capitol would have totally fit my theme of Houses & Homes (house of government) no tours are happening because of a big renovation. Phooey.  I love me a good capitol tour.

 Exterior.

 

We were somewhat fried after our afternoon in the sun, but we still managed to make it to the fireworks.  We picked this spot down the way from the Stone Arch Bridge.  It was nice to walk to the fireworks and to stand while waiting for them.  For future reference Sara and Shawn can try these various suggestions for fireworks viewing.

Two (very mediocre) shots.

 

Happy birthday America.

We returned home to resupply and then headed to the Macalester College campus for a taping of A Prairie Home Companion. It was the 1,433rd show.  We arrived just after the gates had opened so we could find a good seat on the lawn.

Good seats obtained, program and ticket were photographed.

Then it was time to eat.  We had more than just plates.  There were sandwiches and salads and olives.  It was a feast.

I spotted this NPR shirt, probably a pledge gift.

In the middle of our feast/waiting, a band of pipers came by.  Just you wait, they will return.

Sara and I went to wander/find more beverage (it was very hot in the sun)/perhaps locate bubble tea.  We did not find bubble tea, but we did find lemonade.

I took pictures of the lineups for this show.

 

This smartly dressed ice cream seller was hanging out on the outside of the fence.  I liked his style.

And his display board.

Waiting around feet shot.  You can see we’ve been eating cherries.

As the show began, we broke out the dessert: angel food cake with strawberries.

Because we were so early, we got to hear Jearlyn and Jevetta Steele rehearse, and see them perform.

Joe Newberry told us a story and sang us some songs.

I really liked this woman’s skirt.

Fred Newman, Tim Russell and Sue Scott perform the Lives of the Cowboys.

JD McPherson was once a middle school art teacher. But he was laid off.  So he became a singer songwriter and brought along a band.  The saxophone looks like he’s not far out of middle school.

I like to take pictures of the camera guy. And I enjoyed the “On Air” sign.

Mr Keillor reads from his script.  I didn’t grab a picture of him telling us about the “Quiet week in Lake Wobegone” but he does that extemporaneously.  This picture makes him look like a scary old man, but I like it.  He can be quite curmudgeonly.

This guy found a good tree.  My hips didn’t like sitting on the ground for so long.

Look who came back! It’s the Macalester College Pipe Band!  I didn’t realize that when they were wandering through before it was their rehearsal.

Self-Portraits are everywhere!

Fred Newman is my favorite part of the show.

I was quite happy to (finally) see a live taping, especially since Garrison Keillor’s retirement from PHC is immanent.  I figured they taped the show and then cut it down, but our performance came in right at 2 hours, so they must not do as much cutting as I think.

St Paul’s neighborhood of St. Anthony Park has its own parade, which ends at Langford Park.  We went to take a look.

Here’s our pre-parade self portrait in which I’m noticing the increasing amount of “salt” in my formally all-peppered hair.

The parade begins with the flag and the Boy Scouts.

Here’s the Pig’s Eye Jass Band, which plays traditional Jazz.

Regimented hula hoopers.

Advertising for the St. Anthony Park Garden Tour.

State Senator.  At some point I noticed how all the placards were hand written, which was cool.

Another politician, this time a Representative.

One of the mascots for the Minnesota State Fair.  (which I hope to someday attend.)  I’m guessing that guy in the background is being above board and not unzipping his pants to expose himself, as he sort of looks like in this picture.

Spirit of the Park!  I don’t know what this means, but I very much like the car he is riding in.

Why not have the Board of Education in the parade?

Middle school students.

And their principal.

And why not have the elementary school principal too?

And, of course the high school is in attendance.

And a track star and Como Park’s coaching legend.

This truck of soccer kids was fun.  The ones in the truck tossed the soccer ball to the guys on the ground who would head it back to the truck.

This tractor and float advertises a tree farm.

Clown with cannon.  We saw him later in the park and the cannon shoots bubbles, which is fun.

Probably my favorite of the walking participants.

And what’s a parade without the Anaphylaxis and Food Allergy Association of Minnesota?

We’ve got a veteran.

Here’s the council.

Encourage a lifestyle with fewer cars.  I like their “drop a car” logo.

Here’s the Methodist Church.  It’s too late for Vacation Bible School this year, but perhaps you can plan it for next year.

The truck with the parade’s sponsors.

A quartet of pipers.

I’m glad we’ve moved through that period of yellow fire trucks.  They never looked quite right.

At the end of the parade are two people with a long jump rope stretched between them.  They hold back the bike parade and all the “joiners.”  That’s right!  At the end of this parade, you the onlooker gets to stand up and walk to the parade’s terminus in Langford Park.

We were looking out for Old Navy flag shirts.

 

 

At the park the Saint Anthony Park Community Band was playing.

I noticed the Pig’s Eye Jass Band was hanging about to listen to the Community Band Performance.

Though we did not stay to hear the Patriotic Essay Contest winners, it was still a grand start to our Independence Day.