The Little House on the Prairie Festival is held once a year on the grounds where the Ingles family lived during "the early years." In the Little House series, the books are based in Walnut Grove, MN but the Ingles only lived in Walnut Grove for 2 years. They spend 4 years in Independence, Kansas after leaving the Big Woods. Independence, is where Carrie was born and where most of the Little House series characters originated.
On property, visitors can tour the Ingles home (original to the site), the schoolhouse and post office which are original and referenced as the locations in Walnut Grove. Obviously, I am a HUGE LHOP fan. This trip was especially fun for me because I truly love the history.
There is a festival once a year on the site. People are dressed in period costume and narrate life on the prairie during the Ingles time. There were water wells to pump (Anna's FAVORITE thing there), hayrides, a general store and iron works station. And, William learned to make a rope from scratch and form a haystack.
We stayed a few hours before loading up and heading to our bed and breakfast. The kids had no concept of a Bed and Breakfast but goodness, they LOVED it. William thought it was so fun to stay in someone's house. We chose the Molly Brown Inn. It is an old 1910 house that maintains it's original charm. The owner is a TOTAL CHARACTER. I mean, this guy was wild. He talked our ears off and served us breakfast. We knew his life story in less than one hour. And, he insisted that we bring the kids to his farm the morning we left town.
I was cringing. The farm was full of huge dogs. I wouldn't get out of the car, but Adeline had to see the donkey and Llama. So, Dan got her out and held on to her the whole time. Madison was a trooper and braved the farm with William. Anna and I stayed in the car. Not my cup of tea.
All in all, it was a great weekend getaway for all of us. I think we'll hit the Prairie Days festival next year since the kids enjoyed it so much.
On the drive back, we stopped at a darling park with a cute train for children to ride. We probably took 4 rides around the track. There was also a small children's zoo which Anna really loved.
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