Kansas, the "Sunflower State" - source
Yes, we'll be road tripping through Dorothy Gale and Laura Ingalls Wilder country on our way across several Midwestern states to Illinois...
The Road to Oz...
I'm hoping we can visit the OZ Museum in Wamego, KS!
Kansans have mixed feelings for Baum and his story. Dorothy, a little girl from Kansas, lives in a bleak, drab environment...The Kansas Baum describes was based on his experiences living in South Dakota in the 1880s. Many Kansans found this description of Kansas unjust and untrue...but after having traveled through the colorful and exciting Land of Oz, Dorothy exclaims as she taps together the heels of her ruby slippers, "There's no place like home. There's no place like home." Many Kansans point to Dorothy's desire as the more important message of the work.
The "Real" Little House on the Prairie...
Unfortunately our route won't take us as far south as Independence, Kansas, to see a replica of the real Little House on the Prairie...
...so we'll just have to settle for a tour in the video below from the awesome website about Laura Ingalls, Frontier Girl.
In 1869, the Ingalls' family moved to this location, 12 miles southwest of Independence, Kansas. They stayed here about a year before returning to their earlier home in Pepin, Wisconsin. Laura Ingalls Wilder was only 3 when the family lived in Kansas, but when she started writing the "Little House" books, she based Little House on the Prairie on memories of her older family members: Pa, Ma, and Mary. The Michael Landon television series Little House on the Prairie was not set at this location, but at Walnut Grove, Minnesota, where the family moved in 1874. The small Little House on the Prairie cabin at this location is a recreation [of the original home] based on the description found in the book. The foundation of a small house believed to have been the home of the Ingalls' family, was found at this location in 1977. [source: kansastravel.org]
We love the Oz Museum in Wamego, so I'm so glad you made it there! When I was young, the only Oz location was "Dorothy's House" in Liberal, in extreme southwestern Kansas. I still want to visit it someday, too, but the museum in Wamego is much more spectacular. I was in Independence this Friday, but we were in a hurry to get to Joplin, so no stopping at the LHOTP Museum this time. We visited it 2 years ago, though, and loved it. Pa's real hand-dug well! :) Happy travels!
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