u/cybah

Still makes me chuckle that until recently I didn't know the dark haired girl in this meme was our dear sweet Alicia on the show. Even though this meme has been around for decades now.

So coming off the heels of a pretty awful vacation a few weeks ago, I decided my next vacation I want to do something that I actually want to do that was out of the ordinary.

I've always wanted to go to some of the show's filming sites, as some of them are so pretty. So I thought I could plan some trip(s) around some of these filming sites, as you can actually visit many of these places today.

I already plan on going to Old Tucson Studios outside Tucson AZ over the coming winter (Feb/Mar) as its own trip. This is where "Meet Me at the Fair" "Gold Country" and related early "Mankato" scenes were shot. But was looking for other sites.

So far I've figured out these places that I can go to and visit:

Railtown State Park in Jamestown, CA (near Sonora) - This is where "Runaway Caboose" and related train station shots. This is where the #3 "hardest working train in showbiz" lives also (I'm also a train nut so I'll eat up this place)

Stanislaus National Forest which includes Donnell Vista, Donnell Lake, Clark Fork River, and Kennedy Meadows near Sonora, CA - This is where the mountain scenes for "The Lord is my Shephard" was filmed. Looks like the mountain top scenes were shot at a lookout off a road so its very accessible. The pilot was shot near here in the valley somewhere. And "The Hunters" and probably "The Campout" were shot nearby also.

I know there's a few other places in and around Sonora that I could go. I think the "court house" that appears in later episodes ("Family Tree" being one) is in that area. I'd also love to know the newer Sleepy Eye outdoor shots are (think "A new beginning" and "A silent cry" episodes). I think there is also another town set that is up that way too. Plus all of this is near Yosemite so I could do a side quest there too.

Anywhere else I should go? Not opposed to any place outside of Sonora either, so happy to entertain other areas that are within driving distance.

Yes I can google, and probably will but wanted to ask and see if anyone else has done this here first and had locations or tips. You're also welcome to tell me this is a dumb idea too :-)

And yes, I plan on bringing my camera(s) along to video the trip so I can post clips here :-)

PS - Fwiw, I am coming from New England, if that matters.

PPS - Don't worry book fans, I plan on hitting the real sites in the next few years. The logistics are harder/costlier on that trip because I want to do it in an RV.. the modern 'covered wagon'.

I was watching this last night and realized two things about this episode:

1. What did Julia Sanderson actually die of? I mean what made her decline so fast.. with in a week?

2. Whatever happened to the puppy that Laura gave Alicia. You never see the pup again.

Did I miss something?

PS - I also realized how awful the print (color) is of this episode is. Musta been a PAL convert. The whole episode looks so 'flat' or 'speckled'

Every time someone talks about the new movie "The Odyssey" I keep thinking of Steve's lil trip on Little House.

I watched this episode last night and it always make me giggle b/c that is exactly what happened between Nellie and Almanzo a few seasons later, except it was chicken not pies.

Supermarket this weekend had some girthy carrots. Bananas are for scale.

Saw this elsewhere but for movies. But thought it applied also to Little House also with a modification. I can't tell you how often I turn up and down the volume while watching because some of the dialogue is so hard to hear.

(esp freakin Michael Landon, I swear he mumbles and whispers in many scenes. I swear the sound guy was high in many episodes.. awful awful audio levels)

If you need a reason to cry... watch this episode.

I do not know why.. but out of the 204 episodes in the series, this episode makes me cry every single time without fail. It's just so... sad.

This is probably one of the best episodes out of the horrendous Season 9 too. Vera Miles is superb in this episode, and so is David Friedman who played Jason Carter. He's so freakin adorable in this episode.

I used to shop here when it was a Super Stop & Shop. Stop & Shop didn't move far, just to another spot in the Plaza (where Zayre/Ames was). This happened in 2005ish.

Slide 2 and 3 are examples of this style building as a Super Stop & Shop (complete with 1990s era logo).

This was a once thriving small indoor shopping mall in the 1980s, 90s and early 2000s built out of an old mill from the 1800s. It maintained much of the original architecture when it was converted to a mall. It occupied 2+ floors and about 40 stores in its prime, mostly all small local stores. The mall featured The Toadstool Bookshop & Synergy as the main anchor on one end, with the food court placed on the opposite end. There were also a few mainstream mall stores such as Ritz Camera and Electronics Boutique (later GameStop) There was Zenus is Jewelry, several clothing stores, an antique shop, a NYC style newsstand, a pet store, a salon, The Kitchen Store, Mill Toy Works, Ingenuity Gift Shop, Ye Goodie Shoppe Chocolates, Pub Brewery Restaurant, and much more. The place was absolutely magical at Christmas time and packed with people. The mall began to sharply suffer into the late 2000s and stores began to fold left and right. By the mid 2010s the mall had become a ghost town and was shuttered and eventually renovated into an upscale apartment building soon after