Little Bear Does Little House

Hi Kids,

Have you read any of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books? They're really good. She tells the story of her life as a pioneer -- and she traveled even more than I do! Only she didn't get to fly or go in a car -- she rode in a covered wagon.

When she was very little her family moved from Wisconsin to Kansas where they built the little house on the prairie. For a long time no one was sure where they lived. A few years ago, a couple of ladies went on a search to find the exact spot. They looked in the census and found the Wilders house. Then they looked at land records and by locating their neighbors, they found a piece of land that had an old well on it. It was the well that Laura's dad dug. And that's all that was left. (The well has been repaired so nobody can fall in.)

Today there's a reproduction of the cabin on the site. And inside, it's just like Laura described in her book.

There was even a little girl there -- she was visiting, like me -- dressed like Laura. She climbed up in a wagon and held me. What a nice new friend.

Your friend,

Little Bear

I Choose Chattanooga -- Part I

Hi Kids,

We haven't met yet so I don't have a name. I don't even know if I'm a boy or a girl. I guess I'll find out in the fall when Mrs. Kysar's new class tells me. So for now Miss Elaine just calls me Little Bear or L.B. I'm smaller than Teddy and Vanilla but I'm going to have some big adventures.

My first adventure was in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Can you find it on a map? I got to see a lot of things so I'm going to tell you about my trip a little at a time.

One of the first things I did was visit Coolidge Park. You can't tell it from the picture, but the park is right down by the Tennessee River which runs through Chattanooga. The park is a great place to play -- especially in the fountains when it is hot. And it was hot when we visited. I like the water but I didn't want to get my fur wet so Miss Elaine let me sit on one of the animals that surround the main part of the fountain. Sometimes the animals squirt water, too.

Another cool thing in the park is the carousel. The frame is about 100 years old but the animals are all new -- carved by a local master carver and his associates. There are 52 animals -- horses, rabbits, fish -- a carousel with a variety of animals is known as a menagerie. I'm sitting on a carving of a Tennessee Walker -- a special kind of horse with a very smooth gait (way of moving).

Miss Elaine let me ride with her. I made her hold me tight -- it was hard for her to use her camera with just one hand!

Another cool thing about Chattanooga is there is a lot of art all through town. This rhinoceros is in Coolidge Park. The artist called it "Blue Boy -- Pull Toy." It's a pretty big pull toy if you ask me!

Love,

Little Bear

I'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain

Hi Kids,

I've been to the mountains of northern Georgia -- the tail-end of the Blue Ridge Mountains which are the southern end of the Appalachian range. This area -- around Dawsonville -- is where stock car racing (NASCAR) was born. I went to the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame and they let me sit in some of the racing cars. Here I'm sitting on the wheel -- when I sat in the seat Miss Elaine couldn't see me!

This is me in front of the highest waterfall east of the Mississippi. It's higher than Niagara Falls -- but not nearly as wide. It's called Amicalola Falls. Isn't is pretty? We were standing on a bridge about two-thirds of the way down the falls. There's a nice state park here -- we spent the night at the lodge in the park.

The next night we stayed at Forrest Hills Resort. We took a wagon ride behind two beautiful Belgian horses named Thelma and Louise. We went a long way to a spot by a little stream where we had a great dinner. One of the owners -- David Kraft -- fixed me a barbecued chicken leg. Brandi Littlejohn is holding me. She and her husband work at the resort.

I made a new friend. Her name is Lea Marie Littlejohn and she's five and a half years old.

I had a really good time.

Love,

Vanilla

Vanilla Loves a Little Lamb

Hi Kids,

Wow, last week was really exciting. I got to go to a dairy farm -- but, guess what, it didn't have cows. It had sheep! Kim McGarr, her husband Lee and their two daughters Sarah and Ashley live on a farm near Comanche, Oklahoma. Can you find that on the map? It's almost as far south as Texas.

Miss Kim milks the sheep and makes cheese. She makes a kind of cheese called blue cheese because it has blue-y veins in it. The blue part is actually mold -- but a really good kind. It takes a lot of work to make cheese. First Miss Kim has to milk the sheep, then she has to heat the milk -- called Pasteurizing -- to make sure it's safe to use. It takes about three days to get it from the sheep to looking like a wheel of cheese. Then it has to "age" for about 4 months. In the picture you can see Miss Kim with a young cheese and a cheese that is almost through aging. Some of the liquid in the old cheese has evaporated so it looks smaller. When it's done, it's kind of fuzzy on the outside and all crickley looking inside. Miss Elaine says it tastes great.

The McGarrs have about 300 sheep but Miss Kim only has to milk 103 (some are boys and some aren't old enough) twice a day! That takes a long time!

I got to meet a little lamb named Paco. He minds Miss Kim when she calls him -- just like a puppy. I think he really liked me.

Love,

Vanilla

Meeting a Hero

Dear Kids,

I had a really special treat today. Miss Elaine and I went with some friends from Respect Diversity to take flowers and a birthday card to Mrs. Clara Luper. Mrs. Luper is 87 years old. And she played a very important part in Oklahoma history.

Mrs. Luper was a history teacher. She wrote a play about Martin Luther King and took some of her students to New York City to present it. The students had a great time -- they saw the sights and ate anywhere they wanted.

This was in the 1950s and in many parts of the United States, including Oklahoma, black people were not allowed to stay or eat in certain places. They weren't allowed to swim with white people in public pools. Mrs. Luper and her students knew that this wasn't right -- in America all people are supposed to be equal.

She and her students decided to go to the Katz Drugstore in downtown Oklahoma City. In those days, drug stores often had lunch counters. They sat down on the stools. They were told to leave. The students were very polite, but they didn't move. The people who worked in the store wouldn't take their orders or serve them.

Even though Mrs. Luper and her students were thrown out of many places, they kept coming back and, eventually, they won.

Do you know what a coincidence is? It's sort of when two things happen that you don't think are related -- but then they turn out to be. While we were visiting, Miss Elaine got a phone call from a man she was going to interview for a newspaper article. When she told him that she was at Mrs. Luper's, he said, "Oh, she was one of my grandfather's favorite people. He threw her out of his building. But, you know what? When he died, Mrs. Luper came to his funeral."

That's another thing that makes Mrs. Luper a hero. She disagreed with people and stood up for herself but she was never mean about it. She just felt sorry of people who acted badly toward her -- she thought they just didn't know better and, with patience, she tried to teach them a better way to behave.

I felt really honored to get to meet her. And I think she liked me, too.

Love,

Vanilla

This Is The Life

Hi Kids,

I LOVE travelling with Miss Elaine. She goes such neat places! We just got back from Wildcatter Ranch in Texas. There were so many things to do I didn't have time to do them all even though Miss Elaine made me get up early. We checked out the swimming pool and hot tub early Friday morning then Miss Elaine let me sit in the seat of a surrey. It has fringe on the top -- just like the one in the song from "Oklahoma!"

Next we went down to the pasture to feed the longhorn cattle. This is me with Big Boy. He has the third longest horns of any longhorn -- they stretch 98 inches from tip to tip. He was very gentle so I wasn't scared but I had to watch out when he turned his head!

We had lunch at the Dinner Bell Cafe in Graham. That's me sitting in the big dinner bell. It looks just like the ones the cowboy cooks used to call the cowboys to dinner -- just bigger. We had a real Texas cowboy meal -- chicken fried steak with gravy, mashed potatoes, beans, a roll and fried okra.

This is me with my new friend Trey. He's in the second grade. His dad works on the ranch. Trey let me ride with him in the back of the mule -- that's a kind of ATV that holds a bunch of people and is good for work. You can haul feed or tools in the back -- or Trey and me!

Here's a picture of Miss Elaine's friends -- they're all travel writers. Do you see me up in the tree? They call this the longhorn tree because it has two big branches like horns.

After such a busy day, a good massage was just the thing!

I'll write another post soon about my horseback riding adventure!

Love,

Vanilla

Seeking Independence

Hi Kids,

I hope you got my postcard from Independence, Missouri. This town is just east of Kansas City and is important for a number of historical reasons. Lewis and Clark came through here when they explored the Louisiana Purchase territory in 1804.

By 1821, it was the beginning of the Santa Fe Trail, a trading route that went to Santa Fe which was then part of Mexico. As the trail went west through western Kansas, it split briefly into two routes. One went across the corner of Colorado then south to Santa Fe. The other was called the Cimarron Cutoff and went across the panhandle of Oklahoma. Both trails wound up in Santa Fe. My cousin Teddy went to Santa Fe last year -- if you look back in the blog, you'll find a picture of him at the end of the trail.

Later, as pioneers traveled west, they split off the Santa Fe Trail and headed northwest on the Oregon Trail. Another split happened when gold was discovered in California in 1849. Gold seekers split off the Oregon Trail to head southwest to the gold fields. But most everyone started in Independence.

While we were in Independence, we took a wagon ride. The horses' names were Ruby and Pearl. Most wagons west weren't pulled by horses. Mules and oxen were stronger and could last longer. And most pioneers didn't ride in the wagons -- they walked beside the wagons. Think about that when you take a long ride in the car. I bet the kids knew better than to ask "Are we there yet?"

We also went to the National Frontier Trails Museum where we learned about the trails and the pioneers. It has a neat area where kids can load a little wagon. They have to think of all the things they'll need on the trail. Lots of times pioneers tried to take their favorite things with them but discovered they needed the wagon space for food and tools to survive on the trail. If you were going west in a wagon and could only take one favorite thing, what would it be? I travel very light -- but I'd like to take some honey!

Miss Elaine has to go now so I have to say good-bye. I'll try to write some more this afternoon. I have lots more to tell you.

Love,

Vanilla