This book is basically a diary of letters from Laura to Almanzo. It is during a Trip Laura took to see Rose in San Fransisco, California. Laura took the train from Mansfield, Missouri to San Fransisco, California. Laura left on August 21, 1915 - October 22, 1915. With them living in Missouri and by Almanzo's family Laura was called Bess this is a nickname Almanzo gave Laura while they were courting. The reason for her being called Bess is because of Almanzo's oldest sister Laura to not confuse the two of them.
Rose was really homesick to see her Ma. Rose wanted to see her Ma so bad that she paid for Laura to take the trip there. Laura didn't need any money except for her food on the train. Rose told Laura that she would give her Ma spending money for out there. Rose really wanted Ma and Pa out there but she knew one of them had to stay home with the farm. So Almanzo stayed home with the farm.
Laura met some really nice people on the train on the way there. The first night on the train she sat next to a German man he was really nice. He layed his coat on her while she was sleeping because it had gotten cold in the train. The first train went from St. Louis, Missouri to Kansas City. Laura's next stop is in Denver and with the rain there was a wash out of four hundred feet. So the train is four hours late into Denver. Then the next morning she went from Denver to Salt Lake City Utah. Then the next train is from Salt Lake City to San Fransisco.
Laura's letters on the way there basically tell Almanzo what she was seeing while on the train. She said the lands out west was brown and dry. Then all the hills and the flat lands. All the animals she is seeing and the trees and there was a dust storm. There was one farm she seen on the way that must have had two hundred or more of cattle.
Laura got to San Fransisco on August 29, 1915. When Laura was walking from the train to the ferry Rose was there. Then Laura and Rose got on the ferry it was really foggy that night. When they got off the ferry Rose's husband Gillette was there and he took Laura's suitcase. They had to take the streetcar from the ferry home. Between the train, ferry and the streetcar it took a whole day to get the motion of all that out of Laura.
Then the start of going and seeing everything for Laura. She went to the beach and went wading in the ocean, then they saw the ship named Gjos that came from Norway, they saw Niles flying a plane, the Tower of Jewels, the fireworks from the fair, the forbidden gardens, Chinatown, Little Italy, from the beach she seen the prison Alcatraz,California's Fruit Cannery,The Palace of fine Arts, Muir Woods, Rose's work the Bulletin and the Exposition.
The Exposition Laura went and had a great time. There was so many different things in there to go and see. Like people making different kinds of foods from different countries and they are making different things that they make. Laura bought a wood carved chest to take home with her. There was a lot more that she had seen in there.
Laura wrote to her newspaper back home about the Exposition. The paper was called The Ruralist. They asked her to write about it while she was there and send it to her and they would pay her for it. So Laura started to do that while she was there. But one thing happened and slowed Laura down. She fell getting off the streetcar and hurt herself. She was with Gillette and he rushed her to the hospital she had to stay there for a couple of days. She was fine in a few days.
In the back of the book is some recipes that Laura had gotten from the people at the Exposition. Here are the names of them Russian Forrest (Like a deep fried cake), Mexican Tamale Loaf, German Honey Cake, Italian White Tagliarini ( It's a noodle), Croissants ( French Crescents), Chinese Almond Cakes. I did write these down for myself if you would like any of them let me know and I can send the recipes to you.
Sorry this is long but there is still a lot more information in the book to read. This was really nice to see how much they really loved on another. I hope to hear your comments about this one.
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