MN/SD Laura Ingalls Wilder focused trip

This is very cool! I would love to do a literary themed trip like this. I have a few ideas about some. I hope you do a trip report afterwards. I'd love to know how it goes.

Look up the trolls near Detroit Lakes, MN.

You're missing this place in Wisconsin, her birthplace, about 75 miles from Minneapolis.
https://www.lauraingallspepin.com/home-at-lauras-place/

https://desmetalliancechurch.com/history.php

Pa helped build this church. It's the church my family attended when we lived in the area when I was young.

Have you looked at re enactment plays and such?

As Sam says, there is the site in Wisconsin where "Little House in the Big Woods" is set. There is a replica log cabin, and the town of Pepin has a LIW museum. Pepin is a very attractive and interesting town on the Mississippi.

There is a lot in DeSmet. Some of the family is buried in the local cemetery.

There is a museum in Spring Valley, MN, where, I believe the Wilder family lived. Some are interred in a cemetery in Spring Valley. There is a museum inside a historic church.

https://laurasprairiehouse.com/historical-sites/spring-valley-minnesota/laura-ingalls-wilder-site/

Another site is just over the MN border in Burr Oak, Iowa. I think mailing address is Decorah. It is a little known site and not written about in the books. It was a very sad time for the family.

https://www.lauraingallswilder.us/

Pipestone is very interesting as is the Jeffers Petroglyphs.

https://www.mnhs.org/jefferspetroglyphs

Have you read this book? It has some pictures. You can get it on Amazon, but we got it at the Burr Oaks Site where there are several buildings to tour.

https://www.amazon.com/Little-House-Traveler-Writings-Nonfiction/dp/0060724927/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3BN2XBJ9JU1HA&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.mj-FIeEg_aEn0I8YwqTcW5Y2neu9AdCmcgWbiyRc5Pihp1cE-clNiy5mmWL_EV3Rc-SmLTXI9waWEHVFbwE3wnWqpBF1QEhEQEcoK-mpeKH85ej4AgiVCegwqWUiGd1q_X4k17SNv2L9lz-P5P2MJLG6Dg9wQuNN__zWuHdXONKJe_sNoXb8JevbLyfCMSdkzYHgn7UAlgUDj2fiZe-4XtMB988CitZoyKBi_Abhs-Q.o1tKX3Z87EaTy5N6-SyqbNZy-spocve7uYsno7E9ZIc&dib_tag=se&keywords=a+little+house+traveler+laura+ingalls+wilder&qid=1779651616&sprefix=a+little+house+traveler%2Caps%2C365&sr=8-1

Miscellaneous:
*By Minnehaha Falls there is an excellent seafood restaurant (Sea Salt), its in a park building and very casual and also Sebastian ice cream.
*Minnehaha Falls is about a half mile from the Mississippi River where there is a bike/walking path. There also is a lock and dam in that area.
*Minneapolis is known for its lakes with walking paths and bike trails around them. I really like Lake Harriet where you will also find a rose garden, perennial garden and a Japanese garden. All free.
*Also in that relative area is Fort Snelling State Park, which is an urban oasis. https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/park.html?id=spk00154#homepage. And there is a historic fort on the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers https://www.mnhs.org/fortsnelling. On the otherside of the river from Fort Snelling is Minnesota's first city, Mendota. There, is a historic site where you can learn about MN's first governor and the fur trade, a couple historic houses and trading post to visit. https://www.mnhs.org/sibley. I think that particular site would be particularly relevant to a Laura Ingalls Wilder trip

Posted by Katiecem
California Central Coast 🐚
05/24/26 01:02 PM
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This is very cool! I would love to do a literary themed trip like this. I have a few ideas about some. I hope you do a trip report afterwards. I'd love to know how it goes.

@katiecem, I did a trip last summer where I flew into Bentonville, AR, rented a car, and drove down to Ft. Smith and did the national historic site there. Then, I went to the LIW Historic Home and Museum in Mansfield, MO. It was FANTASTIC. It has ALL the artifacts in the books - Pa's fiddle, the platter LIW threw out her window as her house burned down, her wedding dress, the samplers she sewed in LHITBW, etc. I spent all day there and read every single thing in the museum, plus you get to tour both houses that she lived in and wrote the books. Her and Almanzo's graves are there, too. Next, I hit the Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden (fantastic) on my way to Natural Falls State Park in Oklahoma (the 49th state I visited). Finally, I finished in Bentonville, AR and toured the original Wal-Mart and its museum (super interesting). It was a great trip, and I also spent 3 nights for that one.

Posted by mnannie
Northern Minnesota
05/24/26 01:57 PM
1040 posts
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Look up the trolls near Detroit Lakes, MN.

@mnannie These look so cool! Is this the same artist that did the one in Austin, TX, that someone just burned down? Looks similar! Hmmm, I may very well add this to the itinerary if I do go to Fargo. Thanks for the suggestion!

Posted by Sam
Green Bay
05/24/26 01:59 PM
23533 posts
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You're missing this place in Wisconsin, her birthplace, about 75 miles from Minneapolis.
https://www.lauraingallspepin.com/home-at-lauras-place/

@Sam, yes, sadly I'm going to have to miss Pepin on this trip. That's intentional because I want to give each of the LIW spaces the time they deserve, plus I'd love to go back to Madison, WI and see more of it (I went once for a conference a few years ago and found it to be absolutely delightful).

Posted by pbscd
USA
05/24/26 02:26 PM
509 posts
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https://desmetalliancechurch.com/history.php
Pa helped build this church. It's the church my family attended when we lived in the area when I was young.
Have you looked at re enactment plays and such?

@pbscd That is SO COOL that you went to the Pa Ingalls church! It is definitely on my "to see" items in De Smet. I did see that they have the LIW pageant but it's not during the week that I'm going. Honestly, though, I've read the books so many times I could probably act out the pageant myself, hahaha!

Another site is just over the MN border in Burr Oak, Iowa. I think mailing address is Decorah. It is a little known site and not written about in the books. It was a very sad time for the family.

@jules Yes, I read about this in the Pioneer Girl Annotated Bibliography (if you're a LIW fan, this is a MUST READ. It has the original version of the books she wrote plus tons of research, photos, etc.) I don't think I will have time to see it on this trip, but thanks for the suggestion!

Pipestone is very interesting as is the Jeffers Petroglyphs.

Good to know! Thanks!

Have you read this book? It has some pictures. You can get it on Amazon, but we got it at the Burr Oaks Site where there are several buildings to tour.

I had to look that one up, and I see it's 3 books in one. I've read the first two (On the Way Home and also West From Home), but I did not realize there was a third one (The Road Back) - I'm definitely going to try to track that one down! Pioneer Girl talks about the journey that L & A took from Missouri back to SD, so I'm familiar with the topic, but I'd love more detail. Thanks for the suggestion!

Miscellaneous:
*By Minnehaha Falls there is an excellent seafood restaurant (Sea Salt), its in a park building and very casual and also Sebastian ice cream.
*Minnehaha Falls is about a half mile from the Mississippi River where there is a bike/walking path. There also is a lock and dam in that area.
*Minneapolis is known for its lakes with walking paths and bike trails around them. I really like Lake Harriet where you will also find a rose garden, perennial garden and a Japanese garden. All free.
*Also in that relative area is Fort Snelling State Park, which is an urban oasis. https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/park.html?id=spk00154#homepage. And there is a historic fort on the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers https://www.mnhs.org/fortsnelling. On the otherside of the river from Fort Snelling is Minnesota's first city, Mendota. There, is a historic site where you can learn about MN's first governor and the fur trade. https://www.mnhs.org/sibley. I think that particular site would be particularly relevant to a Laura Ingalls Wilder trip

Those are all great suggestions; thank you so much for your local tips! Yay!

I'm not at all biased, but Minnesota is amazing in the summer!

I'd say that everyone above has given you pretty much all the information there is, but you will have a great time. My daughter and son-in-law and their kids and I have been pretty much all over the state visiting these places and love them.

And that's nice that you are staying in New Ulm. We stopped for lunch there when we went to visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder site. There are several really good German restaurants in town. We ate at Turner Hall, which was really good, but they have others. And the history of New Ulm is pretty interesting, too. What I especially like is that it was founded by German immigrants from Chicago and Cincinnati who were members of the Turner Society. I'm originally from Cincinnati, so I've always been fascinated by that. And that's probably way more information about New Ulm than you needed or wanted to know, lol!

If you like small museums (this one's not necessarily quirky,) the Museum of Russian Art is pretty wonderful. It's one of my favorite museums. https://tmora.org

Another pretty cool place is the American Swedish Institute. It's in a gorgeous building, has a lot of really interesting exhibits, and the gift shop is to die for. I usually go there several times a year.

Another LIW Fan here!
We visited DeSmet a few years back on an Upper Midwest driving vacation. One other thing we saw in SD was the Corn Palace (I think it’s in Mitchell?).
Interesting place, if you’re passing by, but not worth a special detour, IMO.
If you’re still looking for ideas in Minneapolis, we visited Paisley Park (home of Prince) in Minneapolis. I found it very interesting, even though I’m not a huge Prince fan.

To build on Mardee's great ideas for New Ulm, there is a big statue of "Herman the German" in New Ulm with a little museum https://hermannmonument.com/. Herman the German is meant to represent to contributions of Germans in Minnesota. Across the Minnesota River from New Ulm is a historical 1871 store, that was abruptly closed one day with all the merchandise still in it. One of the factors for the closure was that the railroad did not go thru the town. https://www.mnhs.org/harkinstore If you drive by, do stop in. The store is from the time frame that Laura lived in MN.

Also in New Ulm is Schell's Brewery where you can tour and taste. The brewery is 165 years old! https://www.schellsbrewery.com/brewery/bierhalle/

Not sure what your route is to get to DeSmet, but when I visited awhile back I remember that the state highway leading there was extremely flat and straight, to the point where I remarked to my driving companion that it felt like we weren’t moving at all!

If you have time in South Dakota, I highly recommend visiting the Badlands. It’s an absolutely gorgeous area with really unusual landforms.

And thanks for the recommendation on the annotated autobiography. I definitely need to check that out.

The visitor center in Fargo gives free t-shirts to people who are visiting all the states and save North Dakota for last. It's called the Best for Last Club (no comment). If that's not enough to convince you to travel to Fargo, maybe the Fargo movie display complete with the wood chipper will.

In NE South Dakota not far off the interstate is Nicollet Tower & Interpretive Center. You can climb a 75 foot tower (it's not scary) and see ND, SD and Minnesota!

In Wahpeton, North Dakota there is a tent pole monument to circus dead (you said you like weird monuments). Wahpeton is also the home of the world's largest catfish statue.

My very first time staying in Alexandria was just last weekend. The Big Ole Viking Statue is just across the street from the Runestone Museum. It is a good choice to stay if you don't want to go all the way up to Fargo.

Just a note on Paisley Park. It's in Chanhassen, a half hour drive time, in good traffic, from Minneapolis. Depending on route, Paisley Park could be a stop on the way to or from Walnut Grove/New Ulm.

Badlands National Park in South Dakota (North Dakota also has badlands and theirs is also a national park) is a good four hour drive west of DeSmet.

The Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD, is very unique. If you are on I-90 and need a meal break or gas its worth a look. It is, over an hour southwest of DeSmet.

This sounds like so much fun! I have no suggestions as I've not been to anywhere but Minneapolis, but chiming in to recommend a couple of books. The first, "The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie" which documents a trek similar to yours and is also quite humorous. The second, "Prairie Fires" by Caroline Fraser, is more serious and won the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction.

Now I might have to bump up this road trip on my "to go/do" list. Thanks for reminding me! And do come back and let us know how it went.

@mardee - thanks for letting me know that the food at Turner Hall is good. I was eyeing it because of the Rathskeller murals, but I was afraid it would be "meh" due to the tourism factor. Both of your museum suggestions look interesting, but due to their limited opening hours, I can't make them work with my flight times.

@BarbaraG - I visited the Corn Palace many years ago on a work trip. Pretty funny. And THANK YOU for the Paisley Park suggestion!! That is totally up my alley and is EXACTLY what I will be doing on my way from New Ulm to the airport, since it has early tours!

@jules - I will definitely go take a pic of Herman the German! I had eyed the Schells Brewery but it closes really early so I don't think I will be there in time to sample its wares. I also was very interested in the Harkin Store when I first checked out New Ulm, but it's temporarily closed right now for some reason. Pooh. And thanks for your suggestion about Paisley Park being on the way to the airport - bingo, I've found my "morning after New Ulm" activity! (I have been to the Badlands on a previous trip to the West side of SD.)

@mnannie, I've heard about the t-shirts! My coworker even showed me a website where there's a whole club about ND being the last state people visit, haha! The Tent Pole Monument is on Atlas Obscura, so apparently lots of people like weird stuff, too, haha!

@CL - thanks for your book suggestions! Off to put them on hold at the library.

Kelly, I'm not sure what you can see/do, but the exterior of Harkin Store is open and I imagine you can look thru the windows. Also, there is informational signs. Worth it if you are driving by, I think.

due to the tourism factor

Don’t worry about running into tourists, New Ulm is way off anybody’s radar.

Pipestone + Jeffers Petroglyphs is more than half a day. Some of the petroglyphs are about 8000 years old. Need a tour guide to wet the rock.

If it’s the Holiday Inn in Alexandria it’s OK, lively bar scene.

Bizarrely Georgia was my 50th state. No t-shirt for me.

Edit: I see I’m not the only one
https://www.facebook.com/groups/15908242749/posts/10160724620987750/

Another shout-out for Ft Snelling! It's a interesting piece of history, and they do a good job of presenting it. A bit of minutia? Dred Scott and his wife lived here for a time as the enslaved servants of the assigned medical officer, Dr. John Emerson.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding but just to clarify, Pepin WI is much closer to Minneapolis than it is to Madison. It's maybe 1.5 hours one way. And the upper Mississippi River around that area is a beautiful drive with lots of quaint stops. Cross to Wisconsin at Red Wing and drive down with a stop at Stockholm for pie, see the Ingalls site and you have a really nice day.

EDIT: The National Eagle Center in Wabasha is pretty neat on the return loop.

But if you don't have time or you have other priorities, that's fine. I just didn't want you to think Pepin made more sense as part of a Madison trip.

@Chris, good catch! Pepin is an easy (and lovely) drive from the Minnesota metro area. We've done that drive many times in a day.

We've been geocaching for over 20 years and in that time have cached in 85 of the 87 counties in Minnesota. It's a great way to to get to places you'd never venture to otherwise. Now there something called Adventure Labs.. They are usually 5 stops related to a certain topic. In the last month we have done Adventure Labs including the Detroit Lake Trolls, interesting places in downtown Alexandria, Fort Snelling Cemetery and Fort Snelling State Park. It's a free app and you answer questions at the stops to complete a lab. Most of the locations you have mentioned have a lab, and we find it an fast and easy way to locate the best parts of an attraction.

The largest candy store is in Jordan, Minnesota. Some people love it.

We are also huge LIW fans. Our kids grew up hearing all 8 of her books read out loud, again and again.
This trip sounds amazing!

For Laura Ingalls Wilder,
There are YouTube videos about this topic. I’ve watched a few of them. Check them out for travel information.

Part 1 - Trip Report

Realized I never delivered a follow-up on this trip! Here's what I ended up doing.

Day 1: Flew to MSP. Went to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. It was ok, but not something I'd recommend going super out of your way to see. (Lots of goose poop and I was surprised at how poorly maintained the grounds were.) A plus, though, was a shopping center nearby with a Whole Foods and a Trader Joe's, so I stocked up on food (which turned out to be an EXCELLENT choice as this ended up being one of the remotest US trips I've been on) before heading to Alexandria. Arrived at my Holiday Inn, which I had booked free on points, to find that it had re-branded to a Wyndham literally the day before I arrived, haha! Luckily they still honored my free stay. Hotel was OLDDDDD but adequate for what I needed (a free place on the way to something else).

Day 2: Drove to Tewaukon Wildlife Refuge in ND. Hiked the nature trails, observed the wildlife. This turned out to be an unexpected highlight of my trip. I was the ONLY person there. (There was a car for a park ranger, but I never saw him/her in person). It was me, nature, and the wind. It was so peaceful and lovely. I was a bit nervous at first, being a solo female traveler, but it felt very safe, despite its remoteness (dirt roads to get there). There was actually one bar of cell service right by the ranger station, and they had an outdoor composting toilet.

Speaking of remote...after a picnic lunch in the car (thanks Whole Foods), I drove to De Smet. There are NO services on the way - no gas stations, bathrooms, nothing. Not even a Dollar General. I was very glad I had my own food and drink and had filled up the tank in Alexandria. Gorgeous country, America's breadbasket, but very remote.

I pulled into De Smet, and it's a charming, tiny little "one horse" town. Truly, if it weren't for the LIW associations, it probably would be a ghost town. I got tickets to the surveyor's house first, and spent some time in the gift shop and museum while waiting for my tour (both pretty good, but probably not of much interest to those who don't know a lot about book LIW - not TV show LIW). The museum is very deep cut-like, e.g.: "Here's a letter from Ida Wright's uncle who played the organ in the church!"

The surveyor's house was AMAZING. I totally geeked out. Seeing everything described in BTSOSL in person was so meaningful. The stairs going up to the attic, the pantry that had the canned peaches and oyster crackers - they've preserved it in amazing detail. I was shocked, however, that I was the only person on the tour who had read the books! I don't think you can appreciate a LIW tour without reading the books, as so much of the TV show was just made up by Michael Landon and didn't represent things the Ingalls family did at all. The original schoolhouse (where Laura rocked the desk out of the floor) was great as well. I just sat there amazed that I was in the same spot as her. And they also had a replica Brewster School like the one LIW taught at age 15.

We had to drive to the second part of the tour, which was the house that Ma, Pa, Carrie, Mary, and Grace lived in starting two years after LIW and AW moved to Missouri, and in which Ma, Pa, and Mary lived until their deaths. Y'all, Pa was a MASTER CRAFTSMAN. He built the entire house from scratch and the kitchen has these amazing custom cabinets. LIW wasn't exaggerating in the books about her Pa's abilities! I enjoyed learning more about the family post-Laura; after Pa died and Grace/Carrie moved away after marriage, Ma and Mary took in boarders for money and used one half of the house for themselves, one for guests. This house was two doors down from my B&B, the Prairie House Manor, which was Banker Ruth's house (from TLW). Brotha lived in style; banking must have paid well! Very affordable stay, quiet and quaint, highly recommend. The other 3 hotels in town looked sketchy, so I'd definitely recommend staying here.

Thank you for updating with your trip report! Glad you made it out there. And yes, I can't imagine being a fan of little house on the prairie without reading the books! I grew up with them but then had a long time between reading them. I lost sleep while I was reading the Long Winter. I just didn't know how they would survive but I knew they had to because there were more books. I'd love to see the cabinets Pa built.

Trip Report - Part 2

After dinner on Day 2, I drove out to the De Smet cemetery and was so moved by the graves of the Ingalls' family (they're all there except LIW and Almanzo/Rose, who are in Missouri). There's tons of familiar names on stones - Boast, Foster, Loftus, etc. Many of the street signs in the town have something to do with the books, so there are just little "Easter eggs" all over the place.

Day 3: I went to the LIW Homestead. This was a big winner, and the site of TLW, LTOTP, and THGY. I got there exactly when it opened and was the only person in the orientation video room. When I emerged from the orientation video, there was a passel of people waiting to watch the second showing of the orientation video, so I hot footed it outside and skipped the first attraction (a very tall tower with lots of stairs for a birds-eye view of the whole place - I didn't think this was necessary as the visitor's center sits on a hill) and skipped the second attraction, which was a tiny little museum dedicated to the books. I quick-walked through it and realized that I have the books practically memorized, so there was no need to linger. This was a GREAT strategy as I then had the following ALL TO MYSELF: the replica sod house, an original claim shanty (not the Ingalls' but would have been the same type, and amazing that it's still standing!), a replica of Pa's barn in the same spot - and the barn had KITTENS who were so sweet, and i got a good 15 minutes of one-on-one kitten time. I also examined the well, the garden, and the replica shanty-turned-real house with no other guests. The shanty has a worker stationed there who can answer questions, and it's set up exactly as it was when the Ingalls' lived there. There is a horse stables and a barn next door (not original to the Ingalls, but to house the work horses and carriages as well as a hands-on exhibit). The hands-on exhibit seemed geared mostly to kids ("make your own corncob doll") but I did get to try grinding wheat (it's tough!) and saw a demonstration of how to twist hay. They don't let guests twist it because apparently people cut themselves. Next to this was 10 acres of crops - oats, wheat, and a garden, in the same ratio that Pa would have planted.

You board a covered wagon to drive to the other side of the claim (remember, it's 160 acres) to see another period accurate one-room schoolhouse that served students until the 1960s. I had the driver all to myself and really enjoyed talking to her, since she had worked there for 20 years and knew a lot about the property. In the 1990s a nostalgic Gen Xer decided to buy the original Ingalls property and restore it to the books' description. At the time, it was being used as a soybean field (if I remember correctly) so they had to get rid of all that, get heirloom grass seed from the University of South Dakota, restore the prairie and slough grass, etc. It took over 10 years before all this took effect. I am so glad they did the work of restoring it because it is just so meaningful to see it "for real," just how Laura would have lived. And even today, you can't see the town of De Smet from the claim, because of the hills and how remote it is. And Big Slough is indeed wet - my soaked sneaker can attest. :) Oh, 5 of the original cottonwood trees Pa planted are still standing. There's also a tiny church in the corner of the property that you can drive to that is period accurate (Ingalls did not attend that one). The church they did attend is still standing (and active) in town.

I left the homestead and heading toward Pipestone National Monument. On the way, I took a detour to the strip of land between the twin lakes (Henry and Thompson) to see where LIW and Almanzo would go buggy riding. I got a "private property vibe" so I didn't hang around, but the lakes are beautiful (and windy!).

Trip Report - Day 3 (cont.)

I hit Pipestone National Monument on the way to Walnut Grove, MN, mainly to break up the drive, but I was so glad I did! It's free and gorgeous - waterfalls, rock formations, and a nice, easy walk. Definitely recommend stopping here to see a very ancient site where Native Americans would mine a specific kind of red rock to make their ceremonial pipes.

An hour later, I entered Walnut Grove. Well, I say I entered it, but I actually never went into the town - I went to the Plum Creek location, which is on private property but they owners allow you to visit with a $10 donation. Once again, i was moved to tears standing in the exact location where LIW would play with reeds, slide down the table top, and sic leeches on Nellie. Plum Creek looks JUST LIKE THE BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS, even today. Garth Williams was really popping off with his accuracy of his drawings! Of course the dugout house has long since caved in, but they have it roped off where it used to be (and it was TINY). There are two trails behind the dugout - the one to the right is sort of a dud (hot, not much to see) but the one that goes left was well worth it, as that's where you see the tableland and lots of wildflowers. Definitely recommend a visit here. I made the conscious decision to skip the LIW Museum in Walnut Grove, as from reading online and in other books about it, that it's mostly dedicated to the TV show (and if you haven't picked up on it yet, I'm clearly Team Book Snob), and also, because I had visited the LIW museum in Missouri the year before and decided that nothing could possibly top that museum.

I drove to New Ulm, MN and slept for free on points at the Best Western. Also rather old but sufficed just fine, also fully booked by a travel baseball team (and me, ha!). New Ulm was a GORGEOUS little town with some interesting architecture and I wished I had more time to explore it. Everything there seemed to only be open from 10am-4pm which totally did not match my hours and needs. I did eat dinner at the Rathskeller with the historic murals, but the place was packed so I couldn't really look at any of them closely (they're right behind people's tables). The food was very mediocre, which was disappointing.

Day 4

I had wanted to tour Prince's house (Paisley Park) the morning of my flight home, but I had put off buying tickets because they are EXPENSIVE ($75 to $200), and then when I went to buy a ticket they were all sold out. I madly Googled something that I could visit that would be open early enough before my flight but would not be too far from the airport. I found the James J. Hill house in St. Paul. I knew nothing about Mr. Hill but I do like historic homes, so I took a gamble and arrived just as the tour was starting. Hill was a Gilded Age railroad baron and had a big ol' 36,000 sf mansion. The tour was super interesting - like a laid-back Biltmore House tour - and we got to go in many areas that the self-guided tours are not allowed. I particularly enjoyed seeing things like the boiler room and the laundry room. I wish I had more time in this area, because the street the museum was on (Summit Avenue) had multiple giant, historic-looking homes and I would have greatly enjoyed walking down the street and ogling them. The beautiful St. Paul's Cathedral is also right across the street from the museum.

I hot-footed it to the airport and flew home. I had a very busy and full 3 days and nights, but I wanted it that way. Everything I did on the trip was well worth the time for a LIW fan, and I also enjoyed my nature/history forays as ways to a) see my 50th state (ND) and b) break up longer drives.

Thanks for coming back with a trip report! I enjoyed reading it. Seems like you saw a LOT and had a good time.

What an amazing trip! I am also Team Book. As I child, I made cardboard cut-out dolls of Laura and Mary and drew their clothes as described in the books…

Wonderful trip report - I feel I am there.

It sounds like you really had a great trip. Thanks for circling back.

Ditto the thanks for coming back to report on your trip. I'm inspired, this is on next year's domestic adventure list.

Thanks for the report, Kelly! I enjoyed reading it. Yep, I'm another Team Book snob. I never did watch the series, other than a few shows where I cringed at the anachronisms. I will definitely have to get to De Smet. I've been to all the sites in Minnesota, including Walnut Creek, which I also loved, but have never been to De Smet, so that will definitely be a good road trip opportunity.

I wish I had more time in this area, because the street the museum was on (Summit Avenue) had multiple giant, historic-looking homes and I would have greatly enjoyed walking down the street and ogling them.

Summit Avenue is one of my favorite places to walk, and if you're ever back this way, it's definitely worth visiting the length of it. It has some of the most gorgeous houses I've ever seen. And of course, St. Paul's is just absolutely beautiful. When I first moved to Minnesota and started learning German, my lessons were at the Germanic American Institute, which is on Summit, so I used to be on that street a lot.

The differences between St. Paul and Minneapolis are very interesting. My son-in-law (who grew up there) always says that St. Paul is very Catholic and Minneapolis is more Protestant, lol! I definitely think St. Paul has a more European vibe than Minneapolis does. The streets meander all over and have a bit more charm than Minneapolis, where all the streets are rigidly parallel/perpendicular. 😊

Thanks for sharing your trip report. I read all the books after learning of LIW from the tv show. Your "private" tour of the Homestead sounds amazing.