We left Brookings today.
I forgot to take a picture of the community pool, so here’s a quick shot of it as we blasted past.
So we are on the road again. I think I love Brookings and maybe want to move there. It’s not the most practical place to live. There are some drawbacks to a tiny town. For example, the dance studio is fairly limited. There is not Little League here. Costco is an hour away. But would those things matter? Can we dance a bit less, play baseball in another league, take advantage of the laws here the allow homeschooled kids to join public school sports? Maybe. For now, we will keep this on our list of amazing places, and find out what Rapid city is like.
But first, De Smet.
The last time we came through here, I promised that if we ever passed by again, we would go back to the Ingalls homestead and camp there.
This place is freedom. The kids hardly waited for us to pay for their entry, and we hardly saw them again except for in the distance for the next several hours. Atticus made friends with another boy who taught him how to rope. They all made rope. They all rode horses and drove the cart. This time, there was a little colt just a few weeks old dashing around it’s mother horse as she gave rides to kids. That baby colt…cutest thing since Atticus was born!
We peeked around in all the special places, the little dugout, the barn, the little house. There in the little house, what should we find but a pair of sweet orange kittens! Lucky little guys! There is no greater life for a kitten then to spend days getting pets from a hundred doting guests and nights hunting mice. Good boys!
Notice that Kiara is holding the kitten while Judah is practicing roping her head. This is chaos.
If anyone is wondering which Little House tourist trap is best, well, De Smet has our vote. They have the perfect number of buildings and places to visit. They have the covered wagon, and one of Laura’s schools as a stopping-off place. The kids get to drive the wagon, a harrowing experience.
They have a stage coach to climb on and sit in. Brandon hopes this is a miniature version of the real thing.
They have a vintage church that they brought from way off on the prairie to show what church might have been like then.
And they have farm equipment with these odd little chipmunks, or are they ferrets? Ferrmunks? They are adorable.
And they let kids roam here. That’s Judah off in the middle of the prairie. Not pictured is Judah crawling through the corn patch rather than taking the road. He appeared, muddy and overjoyed. His own tiny corn patch back home is thriving, and this large corn patch is his aspiration in life. This child so wants to be a corn farmer!
When all the employees went home, we set up our tent and made a fire. Well, the men folk put up the tent and made a fire. They also cooked dinner. The girls and I went off to find a perfect place for a photo shoot.
“Mom, can I do a photo shoot too?”
I turned around, and there was Judah Axton. These are the kinds of things you ask for when you grow up with sisters close on either side of you. Ok, Judah, we will find a place to get some pictures of you!
This is a beautiful piece of the earth right here. We went on a run in the tall grasses and came back to a glowing sunset. Kiara discovered that her shoes are a favorite of the local red ants. Hopefully those ants will go home tonight so she can use those shoes tomorrow. We have a big day tomorrow, as we drive from De Smet all the way to Rapid City!
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