After our peaceful pause at the Monastery, we moved on to the east a bit to visit Almamater's brother and family. The first night, L. cooked up a fabulous meal for us and the rest of the gang. Next morning, L. joined our family on a little sojourn to Rocky Ridge Farm, where author Laura Ingalls Wilder and her husband, Almanzo, spent most of their married life. We had visited this site several years ago, but enjoyed it just as much the second time around.
This site contains the largest collection of Laura's personal belongings and the museum even gives over a substantial display to her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane.
Following our literary tour, we headed back to the house for an afternoon and evening of great company and delicious food. When we left, Rosebud told me that those were all her favorite cousins.
Next day, we hit Hannibal, Missouri-boyhood home of Samuel Clemens, aka, Mark Twain. This was a surprisingly worthwhile diversion for the entire family. There were excellent museums, one of which truly lived up to the description "interactive." Hannibal is a small, bustling town which has completely given itself over to its one claim to fame. That is to say, it is quite touristy. What with the Mark Twain Inn and the Becky Thatcher Cafe and the little picket fences with buckets and brushes set up on seemingly every corner for photo ops. Nonetheless, we were charmed and plan to return someday when the children are old enough to actually read Twain. And I have been inspired add Twain's autobiography to my reading list.
After our lovely time in Hannibal, we headed up the road to "nowhere in particular" to spend the night. Friday morning we headed up to Southern Illinois to visit some friends from days gone by. Recently they added twins to their family and we were blessed enough to see the little beauties when they were just six weeks old! Although I am not at liberty to share the pictures of any of their four beautiful children, the Professor had me take a picture of this fabulous window in their house:
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Part III: The Windy City
1 comment:
From Uncle G--
Looks like you had a great trip. Too bad about the thief incident. Will look forward to future posts. Did you know I was in the musical "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" last summer? I played Reverend Sprague. Quite a fun role!
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