Day 37 - De Smet, S.D. - WOW! WOW! WOW!

While at GNR I had heard that there was a museum in De Smet, SD. dedicated to the “Little House” author - Laura Ingalls Wilder who was my favorite growing up. I read those books over and over - borrowing them from the library and then collecting the whole set of my own over the years as I saved my money to buy them. A whole museum to visit and all about one of my favorite authors and only 40 miles off our trek - we couldn’t pass up the opportunity so off we went. We were all glad we did - we spent the entire day there - arriving about 9:40 AM and leaving town at about 5:15 PM.
Not knowing what to expect we were greatly surprised to find out that not only was it a museum but the whole town was dedicated to Laura. We first came upon the actual Ingalls homestead where they had some of the original buildings as well as some of the others in her stories that they had relocated there and similar ones from the days she was living there. 

Replica of the "Sod House" Pa built for them.

An authentic "Shanty House" they
had moved to the property - similar to the
one Laura lived in as a child

It was an interactive museum so we participated in quite a number of activities from bygone days. The teens got to ride horses and buggies, drive a covered wagon, rope a cow, grind wheat for flour, shuck corn, do laundry the old fashioned way, braid rope, and make a corn cob doll! Life was HARD on the prairies in the 1800’s - maybe they  won't complain so much now they realize how easy they have it!

Kasey doing laundry the hard way!

Roping a calf - he did OK - of course it was standing still!

Buggy & Horse Riding

Dillon driving the Mule drawn covered wagon.

About 2:30 PM we headed over to the town of De Smet to check out the numerous things they had over there.

We went to the visitors centre and saw some of her actual writings and manuscripts as well as personal items belonging to her and her family - clothing, jewellery, knick knacks, etc. mentioned in her stories. Kasey and I did the tour and saw more of the buildings as well as her family’s house in town. We went to the main street where the town of De Smet got started and some of the buildings in her stories are still in use today! We - actually mostly I - had a fantastic day!
P.S. - It turned out to be a beautiful day weather wise - the rain stopped and it was sunny but not too hot. We didn't make it to Mt. Rushmore - we’re a little behind schedule now but I don’t care because it was a wonderful experience! We spent the night at a small park in Blunt, SD. just before Pierre, SD. 

Nebraska!

South Dakota is added to the Map