Every time we begin plotting vacation ideas here in the US I am always amazed by the vast size of our country. How incredible it would be if we could just move into an RV and drive, coast to coast, north to south, exploring every state at our leisure.

This year we will visit a few places new to our family as well as places my husband and I visited before we had kids, which we can’t wait to explore with the girls. Also included is a small “wish list” of destinations we would like to make it to, if time and money allow.

The Desert Southwest

Apache Junction

February will find my eldest daughter and I enjoying a long weekend in Chandler/Tempe/Mesa/Apache Junction, Arizona. I have visited in the past, but this will be Brenna’s first time seeing large cactus, mountains, and a real desert. We won’t get to the Grand Canyon, but have it on our “when the girls a re a bit older” list. Read More »

As we traveled out West, my husband kept mentioning wanting to see “the Badlands”.  I honestly couldn’t understand why any place in the world would ever been named in such a way, unless it was truly a horrid place, and if so, why we would want to go there?

But while in South Dakota, as we approached the area, the terrain changed, becoming dry and rocky, while at the same time colorful and intensely beautiful. The first glimpse of rock reminded me of a motorcycle ride we took across the desert outside of Las Vegas.  However, it wasn’t quite as hot, and once we got there I realize it wasn’t like any place I had ever seen before.

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I bet you didn’t even know there was a place called the Corn Palace, did you?

I sure didn’t know.

Apparently it’s a muti-purpose facility that is decorated with murals and designs made out of corn and other grains, in Mitchell, South Dakota.

Corn Mural

The Corn Palace was originally built in 1892 to attract people to the area, to show them how rich the soil was, how well corn grew.

1907 Corn Palace

Now, every year the theme changes, and the outside corn decorations are changed accordingly.

2008 Corn Palace

These people are really into corn.

Let’s call them corny, shall we?!

I think this palace of corn is also called the World’s Largest Bird Feeder.

Photos curtesy of Wikimedia Commons

by Linda (minnemom) of Travels with Children

The “Little House” books by Laura Ingalls Wilder have been part of the lives of children for many decades, and are still popular today.  As a child, my grandmother took me to several of the locations from the Ingalls family history, and I have begun to take my own children there now.  These are the sites I have visited.

Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum

Pepin, Wisconsin: The Big Woods–A wayside marker commemorates the books, and a museum houses artifacts about Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Burr Oak, Iowa–Although not written about in the Little House books, the Ingalls family lived here when Laura was a child.  The Laura Ingalls Wilder Park and Museum remember the Ingalls family here.

Walnut Grove, Minnesota–This is perhaps the best-known of Laura’s locations because it was here that the Little House on the Prairie TV series took place.  The Ingalls dugout site is just north of town on the banks of Plum Creek, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum has many items from the Ingalls family as well as a pioneer village reminiscent of the time.  Nearby, the Sod House on the Prairie near Sanborn is not an actual Ingalls site, but gives visitors the opportunity to see what life in a sod house was like.

DeSmet, South Dakota–The Little Town on the Prairie, where the Ingalls family lived through a very difficult winter.  Two sites are available to tour, including the Ingalls Homestead – Laura’s Living Prairie.

Plum Creek Marker, Walnut Grove, MN

Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family also lived in Independence, Kansas; Mansfield, Missouri; and other places around the United States.  Have you visited any of these sites, as a child or as an adult?

Photo credits:  minnemom