National Parks Vacation, Day 2: A Glorious Laura Ingalls Day!

We’re back home from our National Parks Vacation! I decided to share my travel journal with y’all so you can relive the glory of our family vacationing with me…Enjoy!

Day 2 National Parks Trip, August 10

Well Day 2 was a bit on our nerves.  I don’t know if it’s because we all aren’t used to sleeping in a tent together yet, if it’s because kids are whiney or what but it was definitely a trying day.  An amazing day, but also trying. 

That’s the joy of being in a family though.  

We left the Myre-Big Island State Park at about 7:50 in the morning and set out for our next destination: the Ingalls Homestead in De Smet, South Dakota.  

Along the way we ran into rain.  A lot of rain.  

We made a pit stop in one town to see if they had a part to fix our camp stove (so grateful Nick figured out what was wrong with the darn thing).  A hardware store, an hour, and some good advice later, we were still in the same town going from each place recommended as we try to find this part.  

We left that town with no new part.  And it was still raining.  

Pouring is more like it. 

But we got to go to the bathroom. It’s all about the bright side, right? 

At about 1:00 we arrived at the Ingalls Homestead.  They call it Laura’s Living Land and they are so right.  It is absolutely a slice of heaven.  

We toured the homestead a bit and then went to town to see the main street.  We visited the Loftus store that is in the books to purchase some candy sticks (wouldn't Laura have been thrilled!). We then went to a bakery that was on property owned by Charles Ingalls and bought a couple of lemonades to go with out lunch. Then headed back to the homestead for a late lunch of pasta salad, monster cookies, and the lemonade. So yummy!

We spent the day exploring and thoroughly enjoying the homestead.  I’m not sure there are correct words to adequately describe the pure joy it is to visit the very land that Pa and Ma carved out as their own.  The American spirit is quite palpable here, as if liberty never wanted to leave these amber waves of grain.  

We made it to the gift shop in time to get the kiddos some souveniers. With our kids love for the place we knew this was somewhere we wanted to get them something...Emma chose a tee-shirt and Cal got a Jack the bulldog. Their gift shop was AMAZING and so well priced!

But what was the best part?  The cherry on the sundae?  

We got to stay in a covered wagon ON the homestead!  Squeal! 

It was such an amazing experience.  One that I cannot recommend enough. We made dinner out in the open air, over a fire.  We had quesadillas.  

True pioneer styled cuisine, am I right?

The kids made friends with other kids and played in the barn with the kittens and the calves all throughout the evening.  We did take one break to go back to De Smet (it’s only a mile away) to see some more Laura sites.  

We were able to see the Surveyor’s House where the Ingalls’ lived in the book on the banks of Silver Lake. We got to see the house Pa built in town after they had lived on the homestead.  

We saw where Almonzo and Laura lived when they were first married, and we went to the cemetery to visit their graves.  The Ingalls' family except Almanzo and Laura's family buried there.  

Then it was back to the homestead for more kittens, more exploring, more relaxing.  

When it got dark we stepped outside to see the stars.  It was jaw dropping incredible.  With not a light around to impede the sky, you could see more stars than I ever thought possible.  It was amazing.  And in that moment I felt such a kinship with Laura.

We had a really great nights rest that night. We opened the windows and felt the night breeze gently blowing over us.

It was a great day with so many memories made.  I will never, evert forget this day. 

What We Spent

Loftus Candy Sticks $1.07

Drinks $9.00

$32.07- Souveniers for the kids

What I'm Thankful For

Sleeping on the Ingalls Land!

The joy visiting brought my children (I figured I would be the only one geeked out).

Safety through the Rain

Only Rain on the Road...not at Laura's Living Land!

See You for Day 3!

If you missed it you can read all about our day one adventures.