Sioux Falls, South Dakota

What a beautiful time of the year to visit South Dakota! We left triple digit temperatures in Texas and have been not been disappointed with the weather here. We have had temperatures ranging from 56 degrees at night to a high of 80 today. The little town we are staying in is Yankton, South Dakota. It is on the banks of the Missouri River, separating Nebraska from South Dakota.  It's one of those cute little towns with a lovely historic downtown area. Our campground is just outside the city limits.

looking down main street

a few of the cute store fronts

memorial park near the court house

Our first actual day of sight seeing was spent in the eastern portion of South Dakota.  We traveled through some beautiful, rural areas before getting to Sioux Falls. The only thing we really wanted to see there was the area called Falls Park. It is a beautiful park established around the waterfalls on the Big Sioux River that give the city its name. At the park, there is a welcome center with a 5 story observations tower, several remains of old mills and a quarry that originally used the power of the falls to polish stone, and a series of walking paths that have several unique sculptures along them.  

The top, and widest, level of the falls and several large chunks of
Sioux Quartzite sticking out of the ground.

The beginning of the second level of the falls.

The second level of the falls.

One of many cute little critters playing in the rocks
along the falls.

The lowest level of the falls. Evidently, there were originally
3 levels; but, the lowest level was mined for stone to make
street pavers and many buildings
when the city was first settled.

This building was beside the falls. This one was originally
a prison quarry that is now
converted to a restaurant or pub.

One of the sculptures spread throughout the park.

The 5 story observation tower. Ron actually made it
up all 5 flight of stairs! But, he opted to ride the elevator
down.

Another sculpture just outside the visitor's center.

One view of the width of the falls from the tower. 

And a second view of the parks from the tower. This pic shows Queen Bee Mills, which
originally ground wheat. It eventually closed because of low
water supply in the falls and a shortage of wheat.

After leaving Sioux Falls, we drove west along I-90 in search of a few roadside oddities I had read about. We saw stone tee pee structures at the road side rest areas. 

We saw Porter's Sculpture Park from the road. It was really strange; just random metal sculptures in the middle of an overgrown field along the interstate. The metal bull kind of freaks you out because when you first see it, you feel like it is a giant bull, walking up over the hill to greet you.

Totally weird place. I felt like the bull was saying, "Peek a boo!"

 

We stopped and visited the one and only original Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. Every year $130,000 worth of corn is used to decorate the exterior of the building. This year a group of students from Dakota Wesleyan University are working on it. Their theme honors our military history and veterans. Evidently, the ears of corn are cut in half and then nailed to the exterior of the building. It is hard to believe the entire exterior is covered with parts of corn!

It was so cute seeing little birds, sitting all along the walls, nibbling at the corn!

The palace is still a functioning entertainment center. There is a concert scheduled for this weekend with Clint Black. The city was actually starting their annual Corn Fest today. We were lucky we got there early, before the midway actually fully opened. Thankfully, they didn't set up food trucks or rides right in front of the palace. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to get any pictures.

This side of the palace is still being worked on. If you look closely, you can see
the pencil lines on the plywood, waiting to be filled in with corn. 

The last place we visited this day was the city of Chamberlain, South Dakota.  Along the interstate, there is a magnificent stature called Dignity of Earth and Sky. It is made entirely of stainless steel and made so that the diamond shapes in the quilt flutter in the wind.  It is supposed to be breath taking at night when it is all lit up.  I doubt we will ever get to see it at that time of day; but, the day time view was amazing. It sits high on a hill, overlooking the Missouri River valley.

This area is also part of the Lewis and Clark Trail.  There was a small, museum inside the information building that had a replica of the keel boat they traveled in, their living quarters (tents), examples of the animals they saw in the area, and replicas of the barrels and crates they carried supplies in.

 We had a pretty full day and ended it by eating at a place along the interstate called, Al's Oasis. It's a chain of little gift shops, a supermarket, saloon, and restaurant that serves home made pie, 5 cent coffee, and buffalo burgers.

 All in all; a busy day. But, we saw everything on our list before we headed back to our little home on wheels.