My trip to Pepin

Beth, Dorothy and I left home at about 5 am and travelled to Pepin. It was
great to finally meet Beth's presentation helper. She is a great Laura fan. On
the way she read us an article that she had found in a newapaer about the Laura
days in Mansfield. I then gave her a copy of our Diva Convention 3008 diary so
she could read for herself what fun we had last year. Beth and I enjoyed
hearing the story again and we giggled as we remembered this and that,
especially the lady who served us in Mansfield at lunchtime. Good memories.
I then read a copy of Lorrie's GB diary for Dorothy, of the day that Dean Butler and William Anderson were at the Heritage Hill LIW days celebration. . She had not read all of the episodes online. It was good for me to read them again too, I wished again that I could have been there.
By the time all of this reading was done, we were quite close to Pepin. We
found the museum on the main road but didn't stop, we wanted to see the replica
of the house. We followed the signs but couldn't find the house.
We found Lake Pepin and took some pics of the beautiful water. I could just
imagine Little Mary and Laura looking for pebbles and Ma preparing for a picnic.
We were to meet up with Diva Bobbie so she called and couldn't find the house
either. We decided to meet up at the museum. We entered and met a family who
had travelled from Michigan. There was no one working in this section of the
two building museum so we went over to the other one and asked the lady where
the house was. She said that it is 7 miles out the road we had travelled on
before, we hadn't gone far enough.
The house was very cool. It had a large area for kitchen and sitting and two
bedroom area. The loft was over the bedrooms and would have been a great place
to play among the vegetables. The replica house didn't have any means to get up
to the loft. I would have love to climb up there and play, bummer.
We took pics and then the family who we met at the museum arrived and wanted
pics of their girls with Beth. It was a special moment for that family. Very
sweet to witness.
We Deaded to lunch and had soup and sandwishes at a little diner. Tehn we
headed back to the museum/trading post (our money for their souvineers.) We met
more people to whom Beth introduced herself. The children were happy to meet
her but the moms were downright excited!! Beth signed some books for them,
which they hadn't paid for yet, and we bought a few things too. I found a
little booklet that discussed who Soldad du Chene might have been, very
interesting stuff.
We had to say goodbye to Bobbie but we will see her again next week in Keystone.
We had a quiet drive home. The ladies were in the front of the car chatting and
I was reading Bill Anderson's bio of Laura, to study for the trivia contest in
Keystone. Need to freshen up my memory.
We arrived home at about 6pm and enjoyed a restufl evening. It was a very
wonderful day, one I will not soon forget.
Marilyn

Just beautiful! I am so glad you all got to experience this.

Wow, Marilyn! What a great experience! I love reading your first-hand stories. It's just like being there. Thank you!

Mercy, sorry for the spelling errors. I am not on my own computer and the screen is on the wrong side of the desk for my vision. I'm surprized I haven't been Fifed yet, lol.

This had to be fun to go see Marilyn! Glad you got to go with Beth. We are all waiting to hear more.....

It sounds like you are having a great time. Do they know if the replica house is actually on the land Pa owned?

According to the woman who was working in the museum/giftshop, the land that the replica sits on is the actual land that Pa owned. Knowing that made the visit sweeter!!
There really isn't much there that actually belonged to the Ingalls family. Artifacts have mostly been donated by people of the area but they would have been the same tools etc that Ma and Pa would have used. But still, as a Laura fan, it was a great experience for me to be there and to see it for my own eyes. I bought a shirt with a drawing of the cabin on it and the words, "Birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder Pepin, Wisconsin".

It sounds like you had a wonderful time in Pepin. I enjoyed the pictures you shared too. I can't imagine what it was like to be there.

Another LIW adventure begins early tomorrow morning. Lorrie arrives tonight and we are getting up at 2am to leave by 3. We are driving to Keystone, SD, will take about 2 days. We are attending the LHOP cast reunion. Will share those adventures with you as well. I'm excited.

Darn... those are pretty nice photos. Makes me think I may just have to venture over to Pepin next summer. I guess it's about time huh?

I'm glad you silly girls had a great time. Oh let the next adventure begin.. Look out South Dakota.

ya The Diva Gang is on their way!

It sounds fantastic Marilyn! I'm sure you'll hold this adventure near and dear to your heart for many years to come!! I'm so glad it was special for all of you. Looking forward to hearing more and seeing more pics!