Sioux Falls, SD, was a pleasant surprise. Our Country Inn & Suites was very clean and large, a 1 bedroom suite. We had a relaxing breakfast and took a dip in the pool before checking out around 1pm. We had a neat experience in the parking lot. On our driver’s side window was taped a piece of paper and on it was handwritten: Slava Isusu Khrystu! (Glory be to Christ!). Wow! Ukrainians in South Dakota! No clue who it was, but it was a neat note, and we definitely are keeping it.
Then we head off to see what made Sioux Falls, Sioux Falls, and that would be…Sioux Falls. Currently, they are in a drought, so the river is considerably smaller, but the falls were still a beautiful sight to see. It was scorching hot, over 98 degrees. We decided to have a pre-lunch snack, some ice cream at the Falls café, housed in a building leftover from a early 1900’s mill that sat on the falls.
After our cooling snack, we drove around Sioux Falls to check out some of the many street sculptures that adorn the corners. The outdoor sculptures are changed every May. There are a few permanent sculptures, such as the following, who needs Florence?
Then we ate a Mexican restaurant, one of many in the area, and headed for the Badlands. Driving across Southern SD is MUCH more interesting than southern Minnesota, which you will see can be a bad thing. We stopped at the Corn Palace, a building that every year since the early 1900’s is decorated with intricate maize mosaics.
A few miles from there we took a quick look at a prehistoric dig of a village. We got there late, 30 minutes before closing, but it was enough for us to take in the amazing project. They’ve been digging since the 1920’s and one of the archaeologists there told us he has at least fifty more years to go. The kids got to wash some artifacts, mostly bison bones, and touch carbon from trees, bones, some prehistoric pottery, and petrified bones. We left at 6pm and it cooled down to 94…
We decided to not stop at any other attractions, but eat dinner around 7 or 8 and head to our hotel in the Badlands. We stopped to take in a great sight at a rest area, however, and it was worth the stop. Chamberlain, SD, sits on the Missouri river. It is where Lewis and Clark stayed and named Camp Pleasant, the first place they shot a bighorn antelope and saw a magpie, which up to then thought to be only a European bird. The sight was gorgeous, but a little scary as the sign points out:
We ate a restaurant at the other side of the river. We had some local Missouri river catfish, it was delicious. Then, drove FAST, usually over 80 miles an hour, to our hotel.
Okay, here’s the snag. We drive into the Badlands National Park after 10pm mountain time. It was eerie and exciting. We couldn’t wait to see all of this in the daylight, and couldn’t wait for it to actually BE daylight. After about 20 minutes into the park in the very very dark, we pull into our hotel parking lot with much relief. BUUUTT…the office is only open from 9am to 9pm. Yup…NOBODY, not a soul, no deer or bison or prairie dog to hand us our room keys. NADA! I had a gut feeling an hour before and asked Danko if the hotel had late check-in, and Danko said that they must, they had our credit card number, shouldn’t be a problem. Well, problem. The next town is 9 miles away, and not a big town, I think population around 300. So we called every hotel they got…booked. We decide to head to Rapid City, 70 miles away, second largest city in SD. So, we should have luck there…should is nice…but didn’t. One hotel quoted us early on $300/night for a suite. We figured if we get there and nobody has vacancy, then we’ll take it. We got to Rapid City, no vacancies, and the $300 suite was gone.
We are advised to try Elk Creek Inn ten miles down the road. So we do. We call; they have a vacancy. We drive up…I wouldn’t wish my worse enemy to stay there. It scared us all. Danko started calling international hotel toll-free numbers: basically “Does anyone have a room in SD?” Holiday Inn Express did, queen suite, in Deadwood, SD. Okay, 30 more miles, but it’s a chain we trust. We take it, not even asking how much. We drive calmly and relaxed knowing we have a room after all. Danko starts to read about Deadwood. It is a casino town. We are taking our kids to Holiday Inn/Gold Dust…a casino. This is a first. I’m a little worried, imaging a loud town with inappropriate visuals. A HUGE sigh of relief…Deadwood is a very cute town, very clean, at 1 am it was quiet, open, but people walking calmly, relaxed, and dressed nicely (not formal, but not sloppy). I saw a woman walk past in a short short skirt, got a little nervous, but then saw her shoes: flat leather Merril sandals, you can tell a lot from shoes, those weren’t “street” shoes, those were just nice “Hi, welcome to our home” shoes. PHEW. The hotel had an entrance separate from the casino, it is right ON Main street, with a neat view from the room. So, a first for Nebesh family: we stayed at a casino, and it was very nice.
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