Wow!
What a total and complete whirlwind. I can’t even believe that I just got back to California now after ten solid days. Thank you all so much for being so patient with me during the past crazy week and a half. I loved Texas, but it’s good to get home and back into my routine. I’m looking forward to salads, exercise and lots of water after a pretty meat heavy ten days. Despite it all, I’d say it was a pretty good trip. Lots of laughs, random Texas road trips, great friends and fantastic eats.
I want to do more of a recap post tomorrow, with my favorite foods from the trip, but I can’t wait any longer to show you these photos that we took on the way back from Fredericksburg a couple days ago.
I may or may not have squealed in delight when we passed these covered wagons while driving back from Fredericksburg to Austin. Those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile know my obsession with Laura Ingalls Wilder and I couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps Laura herself rode in one of these. It was all just too much to take in.
Now I was just going to take an innocent photo of the wagon but, naturally, my pioneer spirit got the best of me…… again. Oops.
If anyone asks, Almanzo made me do it.
That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.
I know what you’re thinking and yes, I did attempt to actually sit on that cute little wooden bench but……..my behind apparently is a wee bit larger than Laura Ingall’s and I had a feeling it was one of those “you break it, you buy it” type of deals.
I have no idea why Almanzo wouldn’t want one of those wagons in his backyard.
And please don’t tell me I’m the only one who had a covered wagon tent when they were little. It’s okay. You can admit it—-this is a safe place.
Someone help me….I’m desperately trapped in the wrong era and can’t seem to find me way home.
grocery goddess jen
September 12, 2010 at 2:22 pmYou’ll just have to get one for your house when you grow up, so you can feel at home anytime you want 🙂
Jessica @ How Sweet It Is
September 12, 2010 at 2:30 pmThat is okay – it is a great era to be trapped in! And I still can’t get over how much I love your boots.
Adam
September 12, 2010 at 2:31 pmI think i might have been born in to the wrong generation as well… When you invent a time-machine, let me know!
Teresa
September 12, 2010 at 2:34 pmI thought I was the only one obsessed with Laura. Ingalls. Every time we drive by a land full of open grassy fields I always tell my husband how I wish I can run in those fields wearing my floral bonnet and prairies dress and 2 cute braids……..he laughs and always teases me about that. I LOVE Laura Ingalls !!!! You look so happy in those pics with the wagon !!!!
Laine
September 12, 2010 at 2:35 pmThat is like my dream! :runs off to find The Long Winter to begin reading immediately:
Natalia @asideofsimple
September 12, 2010 at 2:39 pmThis might just be my most favorite. post. ever. by you.
I try to read Laura’s books yearly and in 5th grade I dressed up as her and gave a presentation to my class all about her life. Should I add that dressing up for the report was optional? This 10 year old did it, bonnet and all. And I LOVED it.
Maria @ Oh Healthy Day
September 12, 2010 at 2:39 pmHaha. Jenna you HAVE to check out Bodie, CA. We went there last weekend and that ghost town had Little House on the Prairie written all over. Not only that, it’s a photographer’s dream…
I will admit that I’m also a huge Laura Ingalls Wilder fan – she’s kind of my hero. I used to read and re-read the books in order all through my childhood. My favorite was The Long Winter.
Allie (Live Laugh Eat)
September 12, 2010 at 2:40 pmHahaha I remember reading a diary/book of some girl’s adventures across country to Oregon maybe? I SO wanted to LIVE in a wagon…not just ride it.
Natalia @asideofsimple
September 12, 2010 at 2:42 pmps. I so called the “Laura Ingalls Wilder post” from your photo journey post =)
Kathleen
September 12, 2010 at 2:45 pmI now want my mom to send all my “Little House” books to FL so I can reread them.
isabel
September 12, 2010 at 2:57 pmok, maybe not a covered wagon tent, but i definitely ran around in a sunbonnet for like two years straight. i also *may* have reread these happy golden years last month because i was determined to find a passage from it to read at my wedding (don’t judge). didn’t find one, but it sure brought back a lot of memories.
Chels @ Just Gotta Tri
September 12, 2010 at 2:59 pmWe took some fun wedding pictures in mock covered wagon in one of the playgrounds in town. No judgment here.
On a side note, can you believe my husband didn’t know Laura Ingalls Wilder was a real person? We passed a LIW historical site somewhere driving across South Dakota, and I had to convince him that indeed she was once a real live person, not just a fictional character.
AngelaOSG
September 12, 2010 at 3:02 pm‘You break it you buy it’…bahah. I wonder how much those wagons go for these days?
Suzanne de Cornelia
September 12, 2010 at 3:12 pmHave you read the overland diaries–so interesting. Just read Bo Niles ‘A Window on Provence’ loved it….and it in she describes a woman who had a Gypsy wagon that would leave parked at a friend’s in Provence and then come and pull it to a spot that had running water for her vacations…she’d barbeque, take showers at her friends and live in some scenic place for a few weeks. Little too rustic for me, but her wagon was quite stylish…and she loved the simplicity & getting back to nature.
Glad you had a great trip, that Almanzo’s better, and hope Dexter’s happy your home.
PS: Today is the last day to enter drawing for free trip to Carmel to the Film & Art Festival. (Info on my site–hit my name.) Clint Eastwood & the Director of Sundance film festival are two behind the scenes making sure it’s a terrific event.
Tina
September 12, 2010 at 3:13 pmHow cool! I loved Laura Ingalls Wilder too growing up. There’s something so special about past artifacts like that.
Julie @SavvyEats
September 12, 2010 at 3:17 pmI didn’t have a covered wagon tent, but I WISH I did. I loved Laura Ingalls Wilder!!
Jillian @ Reshape Your Life
September 12, 2010 at 3:19 pmHaha these crack me up. I’m not going to lie the old school Oregon Trail game is to this day my guilty pleasure so I feel you on the covered wagons. 🙂
Krystina
September 12, 2010 at 3:19 pmYou’re adorable 🙂
Nancy @ The Wife of a Dairyman
September 12, 2010 at 3:20 pmWell, welcome home! I’m sure it feels really good to get back into your normal routine…no matter how fun your trip was:) Love the covered wagons, were there any people with them? Were they wearing bonnets and prarie dresses? What a find!
Alyssa
September 12, 2010 at 3:22 pmIt’s like the Oregon Trail! Except without the cholera, snake bites, and diphtheria 🙂
Lindsay @ Pinch of Yum
September 12, 2010 at 3:27 pmCute! 🙂 Looks like fun. Good thing you had your boots handy!
Rachael
September 12, 2010 at 3:58 pmAh, I love the covered wagons! I used to go to a Girl Scout camp in New York where you got to spend the week sleeping in them! Best.thing.ever!
Jessica
September 12, 2010 at 4:08 pmWelcome home, m’dear! Can’t wait to read the recap and see more pics!
Lauren at KeepItSweet
September 12, 2010 at 4:09 pmhahaha totally makes me think of Oregon Trail
Stacie @ Imperfectly Healthy
September 12, 2010 at 4:09 pmI love your dress/cowboy boots combo! So cute!
Jessica @ The Process of Healing
September 12, 2010 at 4:14 pmAHHH that would have SO been me too!!!!!!
Amanda
September 12, 2010 at 4:18 pmOh my goodness I totally know what you mean about feeling like you belong in another time. Give me a castle or a colonial house and I’m like a kid in a candy store!
steph@stephsbitebybite
September 12, 2010 at 4:25 pmI love your boots!!
Kati
September 12, 2010 at 4:33 pmI do miss reading those Laura Ingalls Wilder books…good stuff. And I want to visit Fredericksburg too!
Elise
September 12, 2010 at 4:44 pmI’m with Jessica. I LOVE your boots. I want them.
And I LOVE the pioneer era. I am probably as obsessed with Laura Ingalls Wilder as much as you are. When I was 11, my mom and I went along the Laura Ingalls Wilder trail from Wisconsin to Iowa. And the entire time I was like a kid in a candy shop. I think you should do it, if you haven’t already. Its pure pioneer delight.
Cara
September 12, 2010 at 4:46 pmIt’s a cool era; I think you’d fit right in!
Especially with your boots on.
Ellie
September 12, 2010 at 4:50 pmFeel your pain. My little brother was once told he was born 50 years to late. . . Let’s just say we never had a play station, built forts for fun, and basically only came inside to eat. I
Whitney
September 12, 2010 at 4:58 pmSo reminds me of Oregon Trail. ha! Glad you didn’t get dysentery. (Hopefully I’m not the only nerd who grew up playing Oregon Trail.)
Allie
September 12, 2010 at 5:25 pmhaha. love this! you are totally not alone. you should have seen what i dressed up in (bonnet, braids) to pretend i was laura. all i wanted was a slate chalkboard. i can’t believe i just wrote that. i was pretty obsessed.
stacey-healthylife
September 12, 2010 at 5:37 pmI love your cowboy boots, so cute.
Tay
September 12, 2010 at 5:51 pmNo worries – I was obsessed with all things Oregon Trail, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and stuff of that era. And most things history. I would LOVE to see a covered wagon in person.
Laughter-Loving Stacy
September 12, 2010 at 6:08 pmlol fuuuuuuuun! I would of been really excited to see them, too! I just like looking at historical pieces. 🙂
Paige @Running Around Normal
September 12, 2010 at 6:51 pmHey it’s probably a healthier era to be trapped in than say, the 70’s? haha
Cute pictures:)
sherri
September 12, 2010 at 7:07 pmjenna!! when i was 10 i went to a summer camp where you could sleep in either a teepee or covered wagon. was there really any choice?? i wanted to stay in that wagon 24/7!! my camp name? half pint, of course! when the camp decided to replace the teepees and covered wagons with cabins (i was 22 and away at school), i pleaded with my parents to buy a covered wagon to use as a guest house on their property. quite as few years later, i’m still a bit miffed that they didn’t close the deal!
Chelsea @ One Healthy Munchkin
September 12, 2010 at 7:24 pmI loved the Little House on the Prairie books when I was young too! I would always play games with my friends where we pretended to be just like them! 😛
Hillary [Nutrition Nut on the Run]
September 12, 2010 at 7:24 pmJust a ‘pretty good trip’!? It seemed EPIC to me!! You have high standards, missy ; )
Heather
September 12, 2010 at 7:50 pmone of my favorite things about texas is the crazy random road trips and being welcome in every town you go to! love it 🙂 i bet it feels good to be home though!
Chelsea
September 12, 2010 at 7:51 pmdo you know your new writing style sounds exactly like Joy the Baker?
Camille
September 12, 2010 at 8:04 pmI can totally see you living on a farm somewhere 🙂
kelsey@snackingsquirrel.com
September 12, 2010 at 8:26 pmthis prairie girl is loving these photos 🙂 🙂 !!!!
now if only you could hitch a ride back into town 😉
xoxo
Alexa @ The Girl In Chucks
September 12, 2010 at 8:45 pmThose are so cool…and yes, the desire to sit on the cute wooden bench seat is so great. I was obsessed with Little House too…though I must admit, it was more the TV show than the books. I even bought bonnets at the bonnet shop on trips to Knott’s Berry Farm as a kid. I thought they were cool like no one’s business….
I was (and am) a nerd.
Sana
September 12, 2010 at 8:48 pmAHHHHHH! I was OBSESSED with the Oregon Trail! Yes. I have played the game a MILLION times and I love every book about the Oregon Trail. Sigh. I kinda wish you could giveaway a covered wagon.
Averie (LoveVeggiesAndYoga)
September 12, 2010 at 10:59 pmWelcome back to CA! We have missed you in this great state!
I love that you are in love with a bygone era…that’s pretty cool. The era I wish I could recapture would be the 70s/early 80s. What I wouldnt give to trot around in a leotard and leg warmers and wrist warmers, oh, that would rock 🙂
polly (mary ingalls)
September 13, 2010 at 3:47 amLove you love you LOVE YOU!
I would have been on that wagon with you. This is Mary you’re talkin’ to, little sis Laura. 😀
Welcome home, sweetie. Hugs to Adam too! XO
Sarah (Running to Slow Things Down)
September 13, 2010 at 5:43 amYES! You are not alone. I had a covered wagon tent when I was small too.
Love these pictures and I love that era. I don’t blame you for soaking it all up. 😀
cathy b. @ brightbakes.com
September 13, 2010 at 6:18 amknow what you mean about a time warp! I feel that way every time I head back to central PA where I grew up…pie….local specialities like bbq ham…..I’m a goner!
Jenny
September 13, 2010 at 6:18 amwagons! makes me think of the oregon trail 🙂
Miranda
September 13, 2010 at 6:44 amLove it!! I am actually just 30 minutes from the official site of Little House on the Praire in Independence KS, I haven’t been there in years, can’t wait to go back but I need to go back and take my kids!
Liz @ Tip Top Shape
September 13, 2010 at 7:50 amHaha, this post was adorable!! Those wagons are pretty awesome. Don’t know if I would have had the gumption to actually climb up on one, though. Definitely admiring your adventuresome spirit!
Amber K
September 13, 2010 at 9:15 amLiving in Oregon I was overdosed in having to learn all about covered wagons and the Oregon trail and I think it has ruined any chance of me ever being interested in it!
kaila
September 13, 2010 at 11:13 ami act proffessinally and was in a play at a local theatre a few years ago that was based off of Little House on the Prairie….it was called Little House of Christmas! I played laura!!! and this year they are doing it again but seeing as I have grown up lol, i am going to be playing mary! such great stories!