We picked up our rental car in the morning and headed out to Walnut Grove, Minnesota. Our first stop involved Nicole and David "On the Banks of Plum Creek." Actually Nicole enjoyed taking her shoes and socks off and wading in Plum Creek. For those LIttle House on the Prarie fans, you will recognize the title as one of Laura Ingalls books. Pretty cool to think that we were walking in the same area as the Ingalls did over a hundred years ago.
We checked out where the Ingalls family had their first home. It was their nice little dugout that was in the side of a bank next to Plum Creek. I have to wonder how ma liked that home? I'd say she was quite the trooper... I don't think I would have liked it at all!
Next stop was to visit the town of Walnut Grove. It's a very small town. Not much there and a lot of what was there focused on Laura's life there. They did have an awesome museum exhibit there with lots of details on the Ingalls family. It was in Walnut Grove that I learned that Nellie Owens (Olsen) ended up eventually moving to to Tillamook, Oregon. She passed away in 1949 and was buried in Forest Grove with her father and her brother, WIllie. She was not located until the mid 1990's. It made me wonder if she ever read the book where she was first introduced in 1937. Perhaps she didn't like her portrayal as the spoiled brat that Laura wrote about. I'm sure she had no idea that her character would become so well known, particularly after the TV series.
We left Walnut creek when the town basically shut down at 6:00. Then it was on the road again to lots more agriculture. Well, I should say agriculture and windmills. I have never ever seen so many windmills. Miles and miles of them as you are heading out of Minnesota into South Dakota. I guy I spoke to said there are literally thousands of them. It was pretty amazing.
We found an awesome Mexican restaurant on our way to De Smet. Yum! As we were driving to our hotel after dark, one would have thought we were driving through a rain shower. That is exactly what it sounded like. Only it was rain, it was bugs. And, you should have seen the front of the car. Super yuck! Can't say I've ever experienced anything like that before. Don't know if that is unusual or the norm here in South Dakota. If you are ever out for a visit, you will have to let us know.
An observation from Glenn: When we were in Montreal last May, I counted 2-3 shoe stores per block in the downtown area. Out here in the midwest, every town seems to have at least one and most often 2 or 3 farm equipment dealers. We stopped at one just after lunch and checked out a combine I had my eye on:
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