Booking It Across The Country

Midwest
Just north of Pepin, Wisconsin, stands Little House Wayside, a historically accurate replica of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s childhood cabin. Before visiting, read all about the cabin—and the Ingalls family’s Wisconsin days—in Little House in the Big Woods, the first in the author’s famous series of novels about frontier life. Thirsty from all your time traveling? Pump your own water from the well, just as little Half Pint once did. In town, check out The Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum and its memorabilia from pioneering days. Call 715/442-3011 for more information, or go to the town’s Web site, pepinwisconsin.com.
Samuel Clemens—better known to the world as Mark Twain—grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which was also the hometown of his two most famous characters, Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. Follow in their footsteps at the Mark Twain Cave, then explore Twain’s boyhood home and the museum next to it. For information on the Mark Twain Cave, cal l 573 /221-1656 or go online to marktwaincave.com. For the Twain Home and Museum, call 573/221-9010 or visit marktwainmuseum.org.

West
There are plenty of adventures to be had at Jack London State Historic Park in Glen Ellen, California, where the author of White Fang and The Call of the Wild wrote, farmed, and experienced many an adventure of his own. Visit London’s grave site—sealed by a red-lava boulder—atop a hill, visit the Pig Palace and the Stallion Barn, and trace the ruins of his home, Wolf House, which burned down in 1913. For details, call 707/938- 5216 or go to parks.sonoma.net/jlpark.html.

Go with an appetite to Salinas, California, and the Steinbeck House, a gourmet lunch spot where Nobel prize-winning author John Steinbeck grew up. At the National Steinbeck Center, kids can hop on a placid recreation of The Red Pony. For information, call 831/424-2735 for the Steinbeck House; 931/796-3833 for the National Steinbeck Center, or visit steinbeck.org.

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