Missing Minnesota!

After we toured Betsy and Tacy's houses, we just drove around Mankato.  So much green, so many trees.  Not quite what we see in the West.  Once I told Harry that my high school looked so different, and he replied, "Well, all the trees are 50 years older!"  In the stories, Betsy talks about the trees, so maybe these are replacement trees or maybe they are just pretty old now.  Whatever their age, they are beautiful.

 

We had a little map, so we found the cemetery.  And then we sleuthed a bit and found Maud's grave.  There seemed seemed to be a large, lush, tree-filled cemetery in every town we passed through.  And a number of monument businesses!

 

Such lovely neighborhoods - no wonder Maud Hart Lovelace could write so glowingly of growing up there.  (This one is in Minneapolis.)

 

When I was choosing photos, I thought this was the chocolate colored house that was the model for Tib's house.  This is a house in Minneapolis that our tour guide pointed out to us - it features a lot of wrought iron work. 

We had ourselves a nice mini-van and had a good time driving around finding things!!

 

I'm thinking this is the chocolate colored house that Betsy refers too - they point out that unlike Tib's house in the books, the inspiration for it did not have a tower - there was a tower on the house behind it - and the author just added it on.  All the details in the Betsy Tacy books have been gone over carefully - by many people!!  Maybe that's what makes them so memorable.

 

This is a church in Mankato - or maybe the city hall?  Anyway, it's pretty representative of what we saw.

 

At Maud's grave.  Maud's last years were spent in Claremont, California - we will have to see what's there in her honor - because apparently there are some memorials to her there.

 

A memorial plaque next to her grave.

 

Always looking for the photo ops!

 

Many of our views as we drove looked like this!

 

At Tacy's house - home of the gift shop!!

It was just a week ago that we were there - time does fly when you are having fun!

Betsy's House!

The Betsy Tacy houses were opened up for us to tour - our guide was a spunky 86 year-old woman with a genuine love of Betsy Tacy and all it entails!!  She had even met Maud Hart Lovelace years ago!

 

In Tacy's house there is a lovely gift shop - we are all in "hog heaven" as they say!

 

A local person made these great signs for the houses.  What a treat it would be to live in this neighborhood.

 

Where Mr. and Mrs. Ray slept - and baby Margaret's crib!!

 

Tacy's house.

 

The parlor - and the bamboo curtains.

I am re-reading the books now - and just envisioning everything in light of the things we saw - talk about immersing oneself in the story!!

Watch for more!!

"And just why are you visiting Minnesota?"

So we just got back late last night from our very fun weekend in Minnesota.  Believe me, it takes a lot of explaining.  And I've been doing a lot of explaining.  But the Terrill girls have long loved all the Betsy Tacy books.  If you have never read them, you really should.  It will bring you joy - trust me!

They all own multiple copies of all the books in the series.  They have Betsy Tacy tote bags.  They can quote whole passages from the books.  Eliza was fond of saying that everything she knew about WWI came from the Betsy Tacy novels.  All things Betsy Tacy bring them joy.

They have all long dreamed of going to the annual Betsy Tacy Fan Club conventions.  They have talked about trekking to the birthplace of Maud Hart Lovelace, who wrote the somewhat autobiographical books.  The buildings and locations in Mankato, where Maud was born, all figure prominently in the stories.  I have been re-reading them since we went - and having been to the real place adds quite a dimension to the stories.

Finally Eliza just up and organized a long weekend away where we would visit all things Betsy Tacy/Maud Hart Lovelace.  She did a great job of researching and organizing.  Hannah got Robbie on board and we had some deluxe accommodations at the Minneapolis Westin Hotel in downtown Minneapolis.  The rest of us juggled our schedules and pulled it off!!

To add to the fun, we took a side trip to Walnut Grove and were able to enjoy some Laura Ingalls Wilder moments.  Some photos below show you the fun we had.  

But first I have to tell you how delightful it was to chug up Hill Street - the very same Hill Street that Betsy, Tacy, and Tib had chugged up - to the very spot where there is still a bench - probably not the original bench, but a bench nonetheless.  When the girls saw Betsy's house and squealed with joy - and then let out another collective squeal of joy when they saw Tacy's house across the street - both houses have these great signs in front of them - I was glad to be in on the joy!

They collectively raced up the little hill to the bench - an important part of Betsy's story - and all sat down together.  Well, maybe you had to be there - but I was there.  And it was great.  (Aren't you ready to read them now, so you can know what the lure of the bench is??)

I will post more pictures, but I'm still fighting fatigue.  It's the last week of school for me, and there's lots to do before I lock the doors for the summer.  So here are a few to get you started!!

 

These are from the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum.  It's not anything they'd feature in Sunset magazine, but it sure was fun.  (The town of Walnut Grove has 871 residents - it is a small town!)

 

Here I am in the little one room school house!!  (feeling right at home too!)

 

My girls could not resist posing with the cut outs!!

 

Phoebe and Bonny were ready to ride!!

This trip was so much fun - watch for more installments!!