Little House Wayside

After our visit to Devil's Lake State park and all that was included in that, we headed to Minnesota City, Minnesota to spend the night. We stayed in the cutest house! It was built in 1949 and is all metal, with a metal roof. It was also the cleanest, most organized house we have ever stayed in! I would go back to Minnesota City just to stay there again 😂We spent Monday evening relaxing and hanging out and then headed back to Wisconsin on Tuesday. As we were leaving we went by a Free Little Library that was near the house. It was designed to match the Church that it was in front of (see picture below). I found a book that had been on my "to-be-read" list forever but the library didn't have! Score! Plus, I was able to bless that library with a hand full of books. (not sure if I have mentioned yet I took two bags of books on our trip with the sole purpose of blessing other free libraries along our journey). One of the things I noticed at the end of our street, was instead of a stop sign it has a yield sign!! We saw that in several places in Minnesota City! I was completely fascinated and wonder how many other states do this or have other signs that we haven't seen before. Our destination on Tuesday was to visit the home of Laura Ingalls Wilder in Pepin, Wisconsin.

We visited Laura's house then went into "town" and went to the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum, where we also got a few souvenirs. There were quite a few neat things to see in the museum and I will let the pictures speak for themselves (below). 

After the museum we headed down the street a little ways and ate at the Garden Pub & Grill. It was covered outside seating, rain was moving in so we had a nice breeze, and the food was wonderful. Once we finished eating we walked over to the gift shop and looked around. Matt and the kids got a variety of fudge to take with us. From there we headed to a house on the lake in Birchwood, Wisconsin. Unfortunately, we had planned to be at the cabin for 4 days, but once we got there it wasn't going to work. I don't struggle a lot with anxiety, but I walked in that house and into the bedroom Matt and I were going to be sleeping in, and I shrunk into myself and my anxiety went high. The bed took up most of the space with barely any room to walk on either side of it, and a dresser at the end of the bed in this tiny room! I am not usually claustrophobic, but I couldn't deal. I was going to try to, until I noticed Elijah's anxiety was high as well. The ceilings were low (except in the room him and Kayla were going to be sleeping in) and he was feeling very claustrophobic as well. Not to mention the dead bugs on the stove, the cobwebs in quite a few places etc...it was frustrating. We spent our evening trying to get out of our 4 day contract and find a new place to stay for the next 3 nights. We were on vacation to relax and the house wasn't at all like it had been presented. We did get some of our money back and we were able to find a much better place for those next three nights. 

A few house pictures:

 

Little Free Library in Minnesota City:

 

Heading across the Mississippi River again:

 

Laura Ingalls Wilder's house where she grew up:

This used to be the outhouse but is now a public restroom. Look how far it is from the house! I would hate to have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night!

At the Museum:

Our lunch location: