A Day on the Prairie

We haven’t been to the plains center in quite a while. I learned today was a free day and they were offering special activities. Marina was excited to go back. She wore the Dorothy costume from The Wizard of Oz with a pink bonnet and boots.

The center is not far from our house. When we arrived, we started by checking out the teepees while we were looking around, we saw wagons pull up by the visitor center. One was going to the homestead area and the other was headed for ride through the prairie. Since the prairie tour only went out once an hour, we decided to do that first.

While we were on the prairie tour, Marina spent time playing with the little boy next to us. While we were out we could see pronghorns in the distance and the two eagles that have been nesting on the property were flying nearby. We were even able to see the eagles’ nest. During the tour we had helicopters and military jets flying overhead from a nearby air force base. That was fun to watch as well.

When we got back we saw the wagon to the homestead was waiting with people aboard. So we got onboard. It was a few minutes before we left, but we were grateful for the ride.

At the homestead we looked at the first sod house and the blacksmith shop. There we went to the second sod house which had a woman baking cookies and serving hot cider and tea. She asked Marina to help her with the cookies and she happily agreed. Then she learned hoe to play checkers with two younger children who were there. It was a long game but she ultimately won.

We looked around at the schoolhouse, then we caught the wagon back to the visitor center.