De Smet, South Dakota, Laura Ingalls Wilder - Ingalls Homestead site

We drove from Brookings, South Dakota, west to De Smet at 8:30am.  And this is what we drove through!  There has been a lot of flooding this year - it felt like home, except for the snow....

And we are really here!  On the actual land where Pa built the claim shanty!  The hill here, is the hill behind the house where Laura and Mary walked at sunset.  The home was to the left where a monument has been placed.

This is the site of Pa's claim shanty.  YES, it really was this cold!  Our faces were tingling and we ran from exhibit to exhibit to keep warm.  It sure gave us an appreciation of what life was like for Laura on those cold, cold days when Pa sang the sunflower song and shoveled snow off the beds before the girls got up...

Under one of the cotton woods that Pa transplanted from the one tree in the area on the bank of Silver Lake. We came back after buying Briony-Anne this beautiful Laura dress and the boys' coon skins caps! The weather had improved a little.  You can see the home site (monument) and the hill behind the cottonwoods.