Take a “Little House” Vacation!

I’d like to be the second to welcome you to Beyond Little House!  You know the old saying, two heads are better than one, so it only stands to reason that four heads are better than two.  I think as a team we can provide a better online Laura experience than any one of us could on our own.  But we’d like to hear from you too.  Tell us what you’re looking for; we’ll do what we can to supply it.  We want this to be an interactive site where Laura fans of all levels can come to learn more about our favorite author.

On our “Go Beyond” page, you will see that one way you can go beyond the Little House books is to visit the homesites.  Perhaps you’re starting to think about your summer vacation.  Maybe you’re tired of going to the beach every single year, and you’d like to do something new and interesting with the kids.  Have you ever considered taking a “Little House” vacation?

I spent my entire childhood reading and rereading the “Little House” books. I was fortunate in that I had a mother and a sister who took an interest in Laura too, and a father who has enough of an interest in history and antiques that a Laura trip wasn’t out of the question.  So one summer, we decided it was time to experience the land of “Little House”. (The uninterested brother was bribed with other fun experiences along the way!)

Having grown up in the mountain state of West Virginia, the prairie was like a completely different world. We felt like small Laura must have felt in Little House on the Prairie, when after spending her life under the protective cover of the Big Woods, suddenly everything was exposed.  Everything for miles around in all directions could be seen — but there was little to see but waving grass and that big blue sky.

That first visit to the prairie changed the way I experienced the “Little House” books.  I will share more of the details in upcoming posts, on a site-by-site basis, but if you are looking for somewhere new to go this summer, let me encourage you to consider taking a “Little House” vacation.  Most of the midwestern sites can be easily worked into a driving trip, or if you live far away and don’t care for the lengthy drive out there, you could fly to a central location such as Minneapolis or Sioux Falls, SD, and do a driving trip from that point.

Check out the homesite links on our “Go Beyond” page and see if that doesn’t whet your appetite a little bit.  I will be doing a series of posts over the next several weeks providing vacation-planning information to help you have the best Laura experience possible.  I’ll even provide tips on other attractions along the way you may wish to include for those uninterested family members you may be dragging along!

And if a “Little House” trip this summer is out of the question, tuck this information away in the back of your mind for a future trip.  I guarantee it’s an experience you’ll remember for a lifetime.