Lost Texan Adventures-Day 4

Day 4-Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Mansfield, MO and Table Rock Lake, MO

I woke up so excited this morning. The kind of excited like anticipating opening presents from Santa on Christmas morning. We were heading out on a very special pilgrimage to Mansfield, Missouri to tour the homestead of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Rocky Ridge Farm. This visit was the whole inspiration for the direction that we planned our camping trip. 
I love American History and any literature about pioneer life. I have read and re-read every book in the Little House on The Prairie Collection, and seen every episode of the TV series several times, and yes, I am the proud owner of the DVD collection. So when I realized that Mansfield was a mere 81 miles from Branson, I was beyond thrilled. 
In 1894, Laura & Almanzo Wilder built a quaint little farmhouse on 185 acres in the rolling hills of the Ozarks. This homestead is where they lived for more than 60 years. After her death in 1957 the property was added to the National Register of Historic Places and now has a museum, gift shop, etc. Well, let's just say the three boys did not have the same unbridled enthusiasm for this field trip as me. And I have to say, they were VERY patient and kind, sitting outside on a park bench, just waiting and waiting while I was inside looking at each and every artifact and reading every caption. I mean, I could hardly contain my excitement when I laid eyes on Pa Ingalls' fiddle, actual clothing that Laura wore, patchwork quilts sewn by her, china, letters written, original manuscripts from her books, her spectacles, and the most exciting of all, you got to tour their farmhouse. It was all so terribly exciting that I could easily stayed there all day, the boys could have taken off in the truck, and I would have never noticed. Did I mention that the boys were bored to tears during this excursion?  Yes, lets just say that Mason was not a happy camper at this point and there was lots of eye rolling, whining, and tears involved. But they ALL knew how much I was looking forward to this field trip and there would have been HELL to pay for anyone who stood in my way of enjoying each and every precious  moment at Rocky Ridge Farm. Finally Michael had to drag me out of the gift shop, but not before I purchased "The Little House Cookbook" and "The Laura Ingalls Wilder Country Cookbook" and some toy guns and candy for the boys for being so patient and having to endure an afternoon of boredom. 

So there you have it. 

Everything you ever wanted to know (or didn't want to know-ha!) about our excursion to Rocky Ridge Farm. 

But wait: our day wasn't over yet. We hurried back to our campsite to quickly change into swimsuits, grabbed an ice chest and some towels and headed on over to the marina, where we rented a boat and headed out into the afternoon sun on the beautiful green waters of Table Rock Lake.  

The water was cool and refreshing and crystal clear. We had so much fun cruising around the lake, then stopping for a swim  here and there, and tubing. Not that "we" went tubing. I was the only brave soul to go out and get beat up bouncing around on an inner tube while Michael flung me around the lake, going what felt like 50mph, although he swears he was only going 20mph. Jostled and jolted and sore I was and there was definitely some Advil involved.
At the end of the day, we discovered a little cove to hang out in and swim. At dusk we headed back to drop of the boat, made a fire back at camp, cooked up some bacon Cheeseburgers and Jalapeño Ranch style beans. And then we all realized that we were worn out from our busy day. So by 9:30pm we all fell into bed exhausted and slept for 9 straight hours…bliss.

A great ending to a perfect day.