Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Jun 07 - Jun 13, 2020
Sunday, Sioux Falls South Dakota was only a little over an hour away so we were moved and all settled in at our new campground by 2 pm. Tower Campground is definitely not a resort, but it has all that we need. We had lupper (Lunch/Supper) and planned a little exploration for this week. It was too hot to go for a walk so I broke out the aerobic step instead.
Monday, there is a very unusual memorial for the USS South Dakota Battleship. I guess they couldn't bring the whole ship inland so they created a concrete outline of the vessel and installed some of the guns, one of the propellers, and an anchor. It was cool. Next we drove downtown to the Falls Park. Beautiful walking trails along the Big Sioux River. At the top of the falls we saw a family of ducks, the babies were getting a real workout trying not to go over the falls. We ended the day with a shopping trip to a meat market. You know the steak here has to be good.
Tuesday, we visited the Butterfly House and Aquarium. It is small but mighty! I've never seen so many sea horses and such large starfish. The butterflies were very active and you could purchase a feeder so that they would land on you. There were several kids who were absolutely fascinated by the butterflies that landed on them. Well who wouldn't be, right?
Wednesday, road trip! I have seen Facebook posts from fellow quilters of the beautiful statue called Dignity for several years now. I had to plan a trip to see it while we are this close. She is stunning. She is located on I-90, at a rest area overlooking the Missouri River near Chamberlain, South Dakota. The sign said that the triangles of the quilt should move with the wind but I think they are stuck because they weren't moving. We drove into Chamberlain for breakfast and a visit to The Quilt Shop. Next we visited The Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. The entire face of the building is recovered every year with all parts of the corn plant. It was cool. The first one was done in 1892 and they've continued ever since. There are miles and miles and miles of fields here in SD and in Nebraska so they have plenty of corn to put on the building. It was interesting. Our final stop of the day was the Porter Sculpture Park. This guys has been creating sculpture for years and has moved them all to a cow pasture along I-90 about half an hour west of Sioux Falls. It was definitely interesting. They are also members of Harvest Hosts so you could stay here in your RV overnight if you like. I wouldn't want to drive our motorhome down the dirt road and over the cattle guard but I think it would be fine for a smaller RV or travel trailer. It has been a beautiful week so far, I love the sky here, not quite as "big" as in Montana but close.
Thursday, we visited several state and local parks. We started at Palisades State Park. It is a narrow park along Split Rock Creek with some beautiful views of rock formations. We crossed a bridge built in 1908...made me a little nervous. We saw a guy climbing one of the rock formations. The next park was another small park called Split Rock Creek a little farther up the creek. This one was built during the depression by the organization that preceded the WPA. They built a weir dam that created a beautiful small lake where people can fish and just enjoy the sound of rushing water. They also built a bath house that is now used as the visitor center. Next we visited the Devils Gulch. Made famous by Jesse James who reportedly jumped the chasm on his horse to evade the posse hot on his trail. There was a nice hiking trail around the chasm and a small water fall. Next we crossed over into Minnesota (Indian for weather sucks big wampum) to the Pipestone National Monument. It is a sacred place for the Indian tribes who quarry a rock formation called pipestone to create pipes. It has a beautiful paved trail around the quarrys. We saw dear and flushed a pheasant. He was too quick to get a photo. Unfortunately there were no demonstrations going on but we did see that one of the quarries was being pumped dry so we suspect they were getting ready to dig out some of the pipestone. We were getting hungry by this time so we returned to Sioux Falls for a photo of David and to have a late lunch. We chose a local chain called MacKenzie River Pizza Grill and Pub that was really good. They had a good selection of local brews and we even bought a growler of Plains Beer Pilsner brewed by a local brewery, Fernson.
Friday, we needed to get our front wheels re-torqued now that we've drive the new tires for a bit over a hundred miles. The Boss Shop here did it for free since we bought the new tires and had them installed by them down in Omaha. It only took 5 minutes, I wish we could have done it on Sunday on our way out of here but they aren't open on the weekends. The rest of the day was spent doing laundry and taking naps.
Saturday, I intended to be at the local Falls Park Farmers Market this morning when it opened...that didn't happen LOL. But we did make it there while they still had some good stuff. I got a beautiful fresh flower arrangement, some yummy asparagus, and a head of lettuce. I'm cooking old fashioned chicken and rice for dinner and the asparagus should be a good accompaniment. Getting photos ready for the blog post should take up the rest of the day.
Make Life an Adventure!
