John and I stayed in a beautiful, historic bed and breakfast called the Queen Anne. Our room was on the left side of the home and overlooked the garden and gazebo. We were hoping that the home was haunted, but it unfortunately was not.
John in front of a small home made of bousillage, which is a mixture of Spanish moss, horse or deer hair, and clay.
The downtown area was very clean and pretty, and was situated on Cane River Lake. The weather was beautiful. Sunny and in the 70's.
John and I were able to tour some Pre-Civil War plantation complexes. These are the remnants of slave cabins from the Magnolia Plantation, which is now part of the Cane River Creole National Historical Park.
A horse-drawn hay baler from the 19th century.
This was the Melrose Plantation Home. Many writers and artists would visit this home in the late 1800's for inspiration and solitude.
Fort St. Jean Baptiste was a fun place to visit and learn about French colonial life. The fort included a chapel, barracks, a blacksmith shop, and officers quarters.
John and I hard at work, stoking the fire and getting supper ready for the little'ens.
A pretty view of the Cane River Lake.
Oakland Plantation was also part of the Cane River Creole Historical Park, and still had 17 of its original outbuildings still remaining, including 2 pigeonniers, and a carriage house.
My friend Julie Rosenbaum is a new bee-keeper. She really knows a lot, and agreed to give a tour and presentation about bees to the local Audubon Society.
Here, Julie is showing the honey extraction room and equipment.
Outside, Julie really captured the audience's attention! We had 15 people at the field trip, and they all were curious and had great questions. Here, Julie is showing them a solar-powered beeswax melter.
Julie is decked out in her special bee-keeping jacket. It protects her from stings to her arms, face, and torso.
Julie described the anatomy of the hives, and the social system of the honey bees. By using pheromones and a mental map of their hive location, all the bees know which specific hive they belong to. Amazing! Do I have awesome friends, or what? Thank you Julie!
Here is John in his lab at the Schaub Food Science Building. He is so smart and always hard at work making food safer for everyone to eat.
My favorite part of the trip to see John was our visit to the North Carolina Railroad museum. We got to experience the lovely forested landscape of North Carolina while riding in an open-air train car. It was really fun. John always has great ideas! We were able to tour cabooses, luggage cars, and an old mail car.
John and I had a fantastic time during our trip to Rocky Ridge Farm. From Muncie, we drove 8 hours to Springfield, Missouri. The next morning, we made the 1 hour drive to Mansfield, where Laura and Almanzo Wilder lived beginning in 1894. They built and expanded their home over a 20 year period, and lived out the rest of their lives here.
Laura and Almanzo grew apples and raised chickens, among many other things. Not until Laura was 65 years old did she write and publish her first book, Little House in the Big Woods. Seven more books followed during her lifetime, making Laura Ingalls Wilder an internationally recognized author. During the 1940's, Laura received approximately 50 letters a day from loyal fans of her books! Eventually, Almanzo had to install an industrial size mailbox to accommodate the fan mail.
At the Wilder homestead, John and I walked a pretty 3/4 mile trail called Laura's pathway, which led to the Rock House, that Rose Wilder Lane had built as a gift to her parents in 1928. Laura and Almanzo lived there from 1928 to 1935. When Rose moved away, they moved back into the farm house. Originally a Sears cottage design, the Rock House cost Rose $11,000 to have built, and had every modern amenity except air conditioning.
Before leaving Mansfield, John and I stopped by the local cemetery where Almanzo, Laura, and Rose are buried.
John and I also made time that evening for a ride on the Branson Scenic Railway. It was lots of fun! We got to ride in a vintage multi-level observation car, and coach car as we headed through the Ozarks and into northern Arkansas.
Below is the beautiful bed and breakfast John and I stayed in. It was built in 1894, and was supposedly haunted (John and I did not see any ghosts, though)
John and I visited Indiana's first state capitol last weekend. Above is the historic Kintner House Inn where we stayed. It was built in 1873 as a hotel. Corydon was Indiana's capitol from 1816-1825. 
This is the original capitol building that housed the Indiana House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Indiana Supreme Court.
Here is the inside of the capitol building. The first floor first served as the chamber for the house of representatives, and later as Corydon's official court house until the 1920's.
This is the second floor of the building, which housed the state senate chamber and the supreme court across the hall.
The murals and gold and nickel plated fixtures are original to the building. They are so detailed and beautiful. Click on the picture above for a better look at the detail.
The entry way to the hotel lobby is quite grand. The marble floors and walls were once covered up with wood paneling and linoleum in the 1960's as a "modernization" effort. Can you believe that?!
View of one of the murals from the second floor. The Brazilian Rosewood used here and throughout the dining room and lobby areas is very beautiful, and today is on the the endangered species list. 