During some of our long days driving around America, my husband Murray and I got to thinking of some of the bands we liked who could be playing in the States while we were there. So, after googling a couple of possibilities, we looked up Rend Collective (my favourite band) and discovered they were playing at the right place on the right day! It just took a few little tweaks to our itinerary,(happily, booking.com reservations can be cancelled with a refund with 24 hours notice) and an early start out of Memphis to be in Kansas City that night for the concert. So exciting!!
Rocky Ridge Farm in Mansfield, Missouri (the home of Laura Ingalls Wilder from 1896 until her death in 1957), was already on the itinerary, as the Little House Series were amongst my most favourite books growing up. It was convenient for a lunch stop on our journey as it is located about midway between Memphis and Kansas City. There is a museum here and you can tour the two houses on the farm. It is a very special place to visit as the farmhouse was built a little at a time by Laura and her husband Almanzo and it was here that she wrote her famous books, beginning with Little House in the Big Woods. The next book, Little House on the Prairie is probably the best known as there was a television series made of the same name. In the farmhouse and the museum you can see Pa’s fiddle, Laura’s writing desk, original letters, Laura and Mary’s slates, Nellie’s stationary calling card, their quilts and many more personal items. It was a dream come true for me to visit here! Reading the books in my own farmhouse growing up, I never imagined I would have the privilege to do this. It was quite an emotional experience for me to be here and experience it all.
After a simple, but lovely picnic lunch from Laura’s Lunch Pail we hit the road again. We arrived in Kansas City just in time for the concert. Rend Collective were amazing to watch – so much stage energy! What a blessed day – living out my childhood dreams and seeing my favourite band in concert. The locals were surprised to see Aussies floating around – they said they don’t see too many tourists in Kansas City!
Since arriving back home my kids have been inspired to read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books. Did you grow up reading the Little House books? Who was your favourite character?
Boy this place was amazing! NOLA (New Orleans, Louisiana) really got under our skin and we could have parked up and stayed a while. We travelled here from Miami via the swamps and sink holes of Tallahassee (a place which has a pace the Lonely Planet calls “slower than syrup”). We were a little confused and thought this was the place Bobbie Gentry sang about in the famous “Ode to Billie Joe”, but that was actually the Tallahatchie Bridge which we crossed later in our trip through Mississippi.
Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World Resort, Orlando, Florida – is it really the happiest place on earth? I guess it all depends on your perspective. It’s certainly an enchanting place to be, and one where you can leave behind life’s cares and enter into a magical world of make-believe. People generally seem to either love or hate theme parks! As a family, we are definitely in the camp of theme park lovers. There’s something cathartic about parking all the worries of the world for a day and abandoning yourself to the thrills and spills of theme park rides and entertainment.
While we were in Orlando visiting Disneyworld and the Kennedy Space Centre we stayed at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort. This added to the experience and was a lot of fun for the kids. Each section of the Resort was themed from a different Disney movie. The section we stayed in was Nemo themed (as was the pool complete with underwater speakers). The Cars themed area was also amazing.
The next stop on our trip was an Airbnb house on the outskirts of Gatlinburg, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. We spent our time here visiting Cades Cove, a valley containing the remnants of a 19th century settlement. It’s a fascinating place to poke around old churches and farmhouses on hiking trails. It’s part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (America’s most visited national park), which was established in 1934. The park is free, due to a proviso written in its original charter.
More excitement to come – next stop – Disney World!
Our next stop was the beautiful Mast Farm Inn in Valle Crucis, North Carolina. We chose to visit here as it had a great write up in the Lonely Planet Guide and was tucked away in the mountains, off the beaten track. We met some Americans holidaying here, and they were quite amazed that we had managed to travel halfway across the world and to stumble on such a cosy bolthole!
The countryside is spectacular and surprisingly for us West Aussies, very hot and humid in the forest. Back home I spoke to a Canadian who said she really misses the humidity when hiking in Australia – not me, give me dry heat anyday! Flowers which can often be found in our gardens (rhododendrons, azaleas and magnolias), grow wild, making for a particularly beautiful hike when they are blooming.
Once in the cafe the dolls get their very own mini teacup and saucer (which you can take home with you) as well as to sit at the table with the “grownups” on their very own highchair. The whole experience really did live up to our expectations!
My personal favourite! The doll holders in the toilet where you place your dolls while you go to the toilet and wash your hands.
