Sioux Falls South Dakota

Sioux Falls was a city that I just did not know much about. It was on our route back home and a decent sized city, so we scheduled a 4-night stop over. It did turn into an interesting but stormy city for our visit. We enjoyed it, but not the severe thunderstorms and a tornado! Here’s a recap…

We have experienced many thunderstorms, some high winds, a snowstorm, but this was our first closeby tornado. Most definitely do not want to repeat. Link here for our update.

Sioux Falls has a population of 182,000 people and is the largest city in South Dakota. At an elevation of 1,470 feet, we have certainly moved down from our summer mountain elevation and the humidity is also back.

The Drive

From Custer SD to Sioux Falls SD it was 284 miles, a little farther than I like to travel, so we picked an overnight stop at Oacoma, a small town right on the Missouri River. It was all interstate driving on I-90.

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Downtown sculpture walk

One distinguishing feature is the sculpture walk through the downtown area. Started in 2004, SculptureWalk is the largest and most recognized annual exhibit of public art sculptures in the country. This year they have 59 statues and they are new each year with prize monies going out to the top voted pieces. This might even top the Hokie Birds of Blacksburg!

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Irish Pub Lunch

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Falls Park

This is the city’s #1 attraction and has been very well presented with bridges and walkways all around. Today, the park covers 123 acres. An average of 7,400 gallons of water drop 100 feet over the course of the Falls each second.

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Art Museum

If a town has an art museum, we see it. And usually a history museum as well! I especially liked an exhibit by Paul Boerboom who just started painting after he retired from an architecture career. He has been painting for just four years. Maybe hope for me!

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Arc of Dreams

This is a brand new sculpture that the city claims will be their signature. From their website: We’re calling this idea the Arc of Dreams, a massive stainless steel sculpture that will span across the Big Sioux River downtown nearly the length of a football field between 6th and 8th streets. At the center of the Arc of Dreams is a 15-foot gap, 85 feet above the river, representing the leap of faith dreamers take to see their dreams come true.

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Brewery

This place was just 100 feet from our campsite, just across a small road. So, we had to take some samples. Fernson Brewery has a core beer selection that is always available and then several “seed” brews that are small batch just to test the market. If they like it, then it might make the core brews. Nice idea.

Thanks for following along! Take care and God Bless.