Mansfield

I was just reading this NPR story and realized i hadn't posted anything about our trip to Mansfield last fall.  

Here is a cave on the property where we stayed in a cabin.We didn't have a marvelous experience, but the cave was cool. We saw a cave salamander too.  

Tromping through the wet woods we stumbled upon a grave?

 It was quite cold, so i was surprised to find all of the reptiles that we did.

Laura Ingalls Wilder settled here and i know why she did.  It is pretty even in the bone-chilling rain.  It really did rain nearly every minute we were down there.  So we didn't do a lot of outdoor exploration. 

For anyone who thinks they don't care for the series, please try the audio books.  Farmer boy is the best! We all love love those books even Justin (especially Justin?) and Cherry Jones is a delight to listen to.  

Here is the house their daughter built for them, which was on the property as well.  They lived there for a little while and then moved back into the farmhouse that Almanzo built.

Almanzo and Laura's grave is in the Mansfield Cemetery

For something to do in the rain, we drove to Ava twice to get ice-cream cones, which are $0.05 each. 

Here is a NY Times article on it. 

On the way, is a park that even in the cold drizzle begged to be explored.  It rained so much that the road was covered in water.