LauraPalooza - a year late...or a year later.

Over at Beyond Little House, there's been a LauraPalooza 2010 reunion of sorts going on for the past week or so. Today is my turn to share my memories and hopefully other attendees from last year will chime in with theirs. Don't know what LauraPalooza is? Head on over and check things out. I'm already planning to go to LauraPalooza 2012! *Did I provide you with enough links? I want you to be well informed!*

Today, because I've been meaning to for a year, I'm going to share the pictures from our trip. Now, mind you, I have over 20 pictures here. I have about 160 from the whole trip. I didn't include them all.  ☺

The Masters Hotel in Burr Oak, Iowa. Laura never included Burr Oak in the Little House books but they lived there for about a year. They moved there in 1876 to help run The Masters Hotel for a time.

 

The Visitor Center in Burr Oak

If you read Farmer Boy, then you know the Wilder family. They moved from Malone, New York to Spring Valley, Minnesota in the 1870's and Almanzo, Laura, and Rose lived with them for a year in 1890 to 1891.

The Methodist Church in Spring Valley (attended by the Wilders). They have a wonderful historical museum there. It was definitely worth a stop.

I know I shared this already. My "Laura" friends and I with LIW biographer (and presenter at LauraPalooza) John Miller. Yeah, I'll point out again - Dean Butler (there in the background). Yes, the Dean Butler of the tv show was there. I was never into the tv show much, but I greatly admire this man for what he has been doing.

I'm just so in awe of these women - Jonni, Sandra, Rebecca and Sarah Sue (I think Lauri may be in there too). They know their Laura (Ingalls Wilder)!

I would like to think that, even though I wasn't named after LIW, that it was somehow the reason that my parents gave me the name.

Amy Lauters is making the opening remarks. And so begins the conference.

 There were so many speakers that I can't name them all for fear that I would forget one. I enjoyed listening to the scholars and authors, the panels, and...who'd a thunk that you would ever see a physics professor talk about the seed wheat trip that Almanzo and Cap took and to listen to a meteorologist who did research on the long winter that Laura wrote about. My goodness, I could go on and on!

William Anderson, Laura Ingalls Wilder biographer and expert. I have now heard him speak three times and I learn something new about Laura every time. And he's from Michigan!

Panel of Laura homesite representatives. I believe all of the homesites were represented. :-)

Panel of authors, William Anderson, John Miller, Pamela Smith Hill and Amy Lauters.

Dean Butler and me. He was so gracious about signing autographs and having pictures taken.

Sometime after the trip, my mother-in-law complained that we were spending money on luxury vacations. While I'll admit that the college dorms we stayed in were excellent, I wouldn't call them luxury accommodations!

Neither Jim nor I ever had the "going away to college" experience so the whole thing was kind of fun.

Though I'll admit that I never would have roomed with him in college! The scandal!!

 

Panel: Wendy McClure, Erin Blakemore and Sandra Hume - Loving Laura in a Lindsay Lohan World.

There was even a spelling bee. I was too chicken to partake. Several attendees dressed the part of Laura, however this was one of my favorites...as Mrs. Wilder, the author.

Our last event...the tin pail luncheon. I miss my old, but new friends!

And, if you've heard of Maud Hart Lovelace, the author of the Betsy Tacy books, you will know that she grew up in Mankato. I became a Betsy-Tacy convert a couple of years ago so this was another must see before we left town.

And then the trip became all Jim's. He picked our stops for the whole way home. It's the least I could give him in appreciation for coming to this conference with me (and even sitting in on several of the speakers). Plus he took the many pictures!

Remember to check out my post over at Beyond Little House. I would have loved to go on and on! If you have any questions or are interested in more reading about Laura, check out Beyond Little House or send me an email! :-)