Minnesota for the Weekend
adminI’m a few weeks late posting pictures, but earlier this month Kenzie and I went to Minnesota for a long weekend. The goal of the trip was to see some of the history from the “Little House on the Prairie” series of books (and later TV show). The books by Laura Ingalls Wilder were based on her experiences growing up here in the late 1800’s, and seeing this seemed like as good a reason as any for a road trip through Minnesota.
We made a big loop around the state and along the way went to Walnut Grove (where the Little House museum was closed unfortunately), saw the property where the Ingals first homesteaded in Minnesota (along with “Plum Creek”, the little creek running through the property), saw an authentic “mud house” (the typical homesteader home of the time), Sleepy Eye, and also Mankato. Mankato was great. If you remember the stories, this is where the Ingalls would go to the “big city” to deliver and pick up supplies. As we drove into Mankato we stumbled upon the old train station, the same one they would have gone to for deliveries. None of these places were the least bit touristy, and you were free to wander around on your own. It was a lot of fun to see firsthand the places associated with so many of the stories from the series.
The highlight for Kenzie though was probably when we happened up on Minnesota’s Biggest Candy Store. It was in the middle of nowhere but stood out because of the huge yellow grain silo (which had been converted into part of the store). It took us more than an hour to get through it, and we spent a small fortune but it was totally worth it! Oh, and if you ever want to see the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle…they have it. 🙂
Where we were in town we had to check out The Mall Of America too. It took us 3 days (about 4 hours per day) to get through it all. It’s very impressive and includes an amusement park and aquarium. After 3 days we were ready to be done, but it was worth a visit.
Our last day in town happened to be Veterans Day, so we decided to visit a nearby veterans cemetery. We looked up some Kuhns and even found one with the same name as my father, so while we didn’t know the person, we went looking for the headstone. These cemeteries are just beautiful.
Minnesota is not necessarily the first place I think of to visit for a vacation, but I can’t recommend it enough if you’re up for a bit of adventure. We had a blast!
