Sioux City, South Dakota

Getting close to Sioux City

We arrived in Sioux Falls a little after 6 on Tuesday, and were greeted by Wade, Evan, and his girlfriend Ashley. All three were really cool to hang out with.

We kicked back with a beer first, and did a little bit of introductions. They are all world travelers, having spent a summer in Africa, and various trips to Europe and other awesome places.

The dreaded sharp-toothed South Dakota Jackalope

Odd country art, probably 40 feet tall.

Then we made them dinner, which was ok (the canned pesto is a little salty and lemony in my opinion, but I’ve been spoiled by fresh pesto all summer). Then they took us on a walking tour of downtown Sioux Falls. Besides the great reclaimed downtown architecture, Sioux Falls has a amazing public arts program. Nearly every block has at least three or four sculptures on display, and our hosts mentioned that they are rotated fairly frequently. Its great to have a community that supports the arts.

Sioux Falls Downtown

Sioux Falls public art

We stopped into a very nice piano bar in the downtown area, and split a bottle of Gewürztraminer, which we poked fun of the name. I thought about having the Sam Adams Oktoberfest beer, but decided restraint was in order. We had a good conversation, and retired home at a reasonable hour.

10/29 Wednesday - We started off from Sioux Falls by going down to Falls park, north of downtown to see the waterfalls. The park and falls are magnificent, although at first glance Tony thought the rocks looked like fake Disneyland rocks. That was probably because the lawns are so well maintained, and the rocks are polished from eons of water flowing over them, they just look, well, fake. But upon closer inspection, it is water polished rock that is just gorgeous. We hopped around the water and rocks for a few chilly minutes before heading off.

Falls Park, Sioux Falls, SD

Sioux Falls, SD

The drive from Sioux Falls to Oregon, WI (near Madison) took us across the entire width of southern Minnesota, and not through any big towns. So it was another day to contemplate corn fields, power lines, wind turbines, and old farmsteads.

Wind turbine, Minnesota

Almost to Wisconsin

Crossing the Mississippi

Wisconsin!