Mitchell and Sioux Falls, South Dakota

August 20-21, 2019:

I’m up at 6 AM and hit the ground running, getting coffee at McDonalds, downloading the camera photos, having cereal and fruit for breakfast, getting gasoline, getting a few items and ice for the cooler at grocery store, taking photos on Main Street and the park on the Missouri River and bridge.  I go the Lakota Sioux museum and end up spending almost 2 hours there. It’s 11 AM by the time I leave Chamberlain, South Dakota, this is not always a relaxing life style.

Once on the road I am able to relax and just cruise along on I-70.  It takes a while to adjust to the 75 MPH speed limit and the vibrations of the van interior which depending on the road surface can be loud.  Initially I was concerned that this noise might be a serious mechanical problem, but have since determined that it's caused by the metal wall partition between the cab and the van body that will dealt with after this trip.  Otherwise quite to my surprise nothing is falling apart in the van interior.

I make a stop in Mitchell, SD to visit the Corn Palace, or as they promote it; The "World's Only Corn Palace".  Every year they decorate the Corn Place in a different theme, this year it is to celebrate the military.  Sorry, but it’s not a very attractive look.  It’s noon time so I buy a corn dog at the small cafe inside the corn palace.  It was the worse corn dog I’ve ever eaten, pathetic.  You would think the famous Corn Palace would pride itself by having some good corn food items for sale ?

https://cornpalace.com

The Corn Palace in its military theme, they were setting up for a festival that was
to start the following day

Front view

I just gotta say it's corny 

Side view showing a submarine

Indian designs inside the Corn Palace 

The Corn Palace of old was so much more elaborate

Afterwards I take a walk along the street near the Corn Palace to check the sights.  It's a distressed looking area of Mitchell that you would expect to be nicer being so close to the famous Corn Palace.  I end up in an antique shop where I buy a few postcards to add to my growing collection.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitchell,_Kansas

Several old buildings, but nothing very exciting

The VFW and the Mitchell Bank buildings on Main Street

I liked the X-Ray sign in the window

I then drive a few blocks away to the Carnegie Library with its dome painted by famous Indian artist Oscar Howe.  He painted this mural as a WPA project in 1940.  Once inside I realize, I have been here before, but its worth another look.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Howe

Looking straight up into the dome 

On the second floor there are several other Oscar Howe paintings

Another one

  

I arrive in Sioux Falls in late afternoon and after eating go to the Falls park.  Many people are there and everyone has a camera out as the river is running high and fast and the Falls are running full bore.  I had thought that the Missouri River was fairly high back in Chamberlain and today I had noticed water laying in fields as if there had been recent heavy rains.  Sioux Falls has a very attractive developed river walk that goes for miles through the downtown area.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sioux_Falls,_South_Dakota

I wake up the next morning to rain drops and cloudy skies and decide this would a good time to visit the library.  As I arrive, I see a security man talking to a young native Indian man who appears to be under the influence, acting very belligerent.  There is a woman nearby, also Indian who is summoned to help calm the young man down and get him to move away, which she does.  I had seen another crazed young Indian man earlier standing in the road disrupting traffic, it seems that the natives in Sioux Falls have some issues.

After the library, the weather improved and I go back to the falls area to take more photos.  I am watching people who just have to go right to the rivers edge to take selfies with them making goofy hand jestures.  I must be missing something, I don’t seem to have that genetic gene that makes me want to do that ?  The Falls are way more impressive now than I remember from when we first visited back in 2012.

The waters were raging

You must have a  photo of your wife and children in front of the precipice

There are rapids and falls for about a 1/4 mile

I then went back to the downtown area which we had enjoyed back in 2012.  The biggest change is that there are breweries or brew pubs everywhere now, there were hardly any back then.  They still have a vibrant street sculpture program, with many very creative ones that have price tags.  Somehow the price tags are a turn off.

A positive statement from the State Theater ? 

A sidewalk view

The Orpheum Theater

Nice art deco details on the Coliseum built in 1917

Cimmaron can be yours for $8,000

Corkscrew will cost you $15,000

The Prairie Vane sculpture across from the old Courthouse can be purchased for $10,000

A nice street view, Gem is available for $6,900

An old Kresge Store

I had made a motel reservation for the night at the library and went there to check in at 3 PM.  I returned to the downtown for dinner at an Irish pub and had one of my favorite meals, Shepards Pie, which was excellent.  The Motel 8 was good except for the WiFi which was very weak and practically useless.  This is the first motel stay on this road tour that didn’t have good internet connection and probably my last Motel 8 stay. 

In the morning I will head into Minnesota with no particular destination.