Our summer vacation plans were golden. A nice, 4 star hotel in the middle of New Orleans. Booked. Walking maps had been laid out. Restaurant plans were secure. A long list of what to see and do. Done.
But then weather happened...
Our original destination was New Orleans, but I knew that planning it months ahead of time would be a risk during hurricane season.
The first thing I did was book a hotel in the heart of the city, within a short walking distance to the French Quarter and other sights we planed to see.We planned to spend a beach day in the gulf, casting our cares into the water while burning ourselves to a crisp. The Oak Alley Plantation was within reach and planned for day four.
I had everything worked out.
But a week before check-in, I began to get nervous. The forecast looked like garbage for the duration of our vacation. As the days to our visit became closer, the weather become worse. And two days before time to check in, I cancelled our reservation.
**I don't mind a little rain, but considering everything we wanted to see and do were outdoor destinations, and every day had an 80% chance of storms in the middle of the day, I didn't want to be a soggy mess, and I know my kids would've been miserable.
I always book on a refundable status for a reason, y'all. Learned that lesson in 2013 when a trip to see family in California failed and not on account of weather, but more so my family. Long story.
Since then, I ALWAYS book on refundable status considering the hotel is usually the largest chunk of our expense for a vacation or trip (having a six person family adds to a larger accommodation expense, letmetellya).
With weather being crappy, we had to think fast. San Antonio and Galveston, Texas were a BOGO option. Las Vegas was an option that I wasn't too keen on because I've been there twice in recent (adult) years. We could've gone home to Arizona and California, but we have our reasons for refraining. Anywhere on the East Coast wasn't an option due to time.
But when I thought of every duty station we could possibly be stationed at next, and the majority of them being within reach of cool places in the horseshoe shape of America, I figured why not go north and see things we otherwise wouldn't or couldn't if we lived anywhere else. And I am so very glad we did!
Destination: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Bonus: Extra stops and stays on the way there and back.
I am all for visiting the places that others wouldn't. Truth be told, I want to see the exciting, the boring, and the in between of everywhere. I did so in Europe, so why not do it in America?
First Stop:
Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines actually surprised me. It's a city full of life, hipsters, and cleanliness. I really expected the downtown area to be boring. Des Moines really isn't boring at all!
I didn't have a huge list of must see places, but I knew one place I HAD to see in person.
Des Moines is the capitol of Iowa. Not only is it Iowa's most populous city, it also has one of thee neatest buildings I've seen in middle America: The Capitol building.
It is hole wow, European awesome-ness. Totally reminds me of Schloss Seehof in Bavaria (outside of Bamberg), but prettier.
After walking around the capitol, and the especially strange sculptures and monuments near by, we jumped back into the car and headed downtown. Even though it was a Sunday, downtown areas with restaurants and shopping were bustling. It was neat to see people sitting outside on the patio between tall buildings, eating a late afternoon lunch. But it was really odd to find parking on a bridge in the middle of a city. First time for everything, I guess.
Because it was Sunday, lots of things were closed. But in a way, that made it nice to explore without loads of people up in the way. We paid a visit to the World Food Prize Hall of Laureates building gardens, walked up the street to see the skyline and made our way to Rotary Riverwalk Park. As we approached the park, I was sad to find construction cut us off and I had no patience to find our way around it. We turned around, made it back to the car, drove to the hotel and to the indoor pool we went.
The next morning we hit the road. After reading a few road trip guides, I found a giant garden gnome in a nearby state college town that I just had to see in person and was only 3 miles out of the way on our route. Cruising up the highway, we exited in Ames, Iowa and found the Reiman Gardens that was home of the gnome.
The problem: I had no idea that the garden had a nice entrance fee of $9 per person. UGH.
I wasn't about to pay $9 X 6 = $63 just to see a giant gnome. I could careless about the garden part, though the grounds did look beautiful from the outside, but we continued on our way to Minnesota.
Next Stop: Bloomington, Minnesota
Since our plans to go north were kind of last minute, finding a hotel was hard. I wanted to stay in downtown Minneapolis, but no matter how hard I tried, it didn't work out. Finding a suite for six people is always difficult in America. I'm no stranger to Air BnB, but for this trip I wanted amenities that an apartment rental couldn't provide: Free breakfast that I didn't have to prepare and a pool.
I found a modest (that's a generous word) hotel in Bloomington that was about five miles from Bloomington's biggest claim to fame: The Mall of America
The Mall of America:
This place is crazy HUGE. I studied it a bit before our trip, but there are no maps or photos online that can prepare anyone for this mall and how small it makes you feel.
There's a store for everyone and everything. It has a Nickelodeon theme park in the middle. There are two huge food courts. This mall is so large that you'll even find it has more than one of the same stores: Victoria's Secret, Bath and Body Works, etc,.
We spent the remainder of our first day in Bloomington at the mall; taking it all in and wandering every floor. Surprisingly, we only spent four hours inside and only $140.
We did return to the mall again before leaving the area, though we only went to one side of the mall the second time around. I had missed the bottom floor of Forever 21 and wanted to hit up Old Navy before rolling out of town. It's back to school shopping time and guess what, y'all? Clothing and shoe sales in the MoA are TAX FREE. Just in case you need another reason to pay a visit...
BTW: No, I didn't carry around my beloved camera (Diana Trois) through the mall. All cell shots, sorry.
St Paul, Minnesota
I was excited to visit St Paul. Online it appeared to have rad architecture that I felt I could appreciate in person, and it didn't disappoint. We parked the car downtown and hit the streets on foot, making a giant circle around the downtown area. The only thing we didn't get to on my list was driving by Fitzgerald's home, but it's all good.
The architecture of St Paul is reminiscent of Europe, in my opinion. Aside from signs and store names being in English, the streets, the street cars, the buildings and even the hanging flowers on posts throughout the city put me back in Europe, even if just for an hour or two. It kind of reminded me of an area of Munich (not the famous Marienplatz area) we've visited before. And if you ever have a chance to visit the St Paul Cathedral, it is for sure, 100% European Cathedral vibes. I loved it. Or maybe I loved the feeling of being back in Germany? Not sure.
Minnehaha Falls
I'm weird. While planning out any vacation, I try to find waterfalls in the near by area. You could say that I go chasing them even though I was told not to back in the 1990s...ha.
Minnehaha Falls sit in an urban landscape within the city limits of Minneapolis. The falls are a part of the Minnehaha Regional Park, which has other things to see and do than just the falls. But I'm not gonna lie, I only came for the falls.
The parking in this area is a real bitch. We got pretty lucky, finding a space that someone was pulling out of as we circled back around to hunt again. Once we parked, I had to jump on my phone's GPS to find where we needed to go on foot. The park is quite big and if we walked in the wrong direction, we could've walked forever.
We followed a paved path that took us around the backside of the John Stevens House Museum and led us to a set of stairs. We listened to the sound of rushing water, letting it guide our way, and after going down a ton of steps, we found the waterfall we came for.
After taking a dozen pictures, we followed the water on a dirt trail, not knowing where it'd lead. We were all surprised to find a watering hole at the end where tons of people sat chillin' with friends and family in and around the water. I'm guessing the locals were the folks we saw in swimsuits...I didn't know that I could've brought mine.
Como Park Zoo & Conservatory
The parking sucks here, too! And just like Minnehaha Falls, we got lucky and found the only empty spot in the overflow lot.
I really wanted to see Como Park's greenhouse and the sunken garden. I am one of those people who need flowers in my life. They make me happy and for some strange reason, I can relate with plants more than people.
I thought we had to go into the zoo to access the greenhouse, so into the zoo we went.
The best part about the Como Park Zoo & Conservatory is FREE admission! Donations are encouraged for upkeep and conservation efforts, but I'm glad it wasn't a nickle and dime zoo like most so often are. And to be honest, it was a decent little zoo for having free admission. Once we entered and walked toward the backside of the greenhouse area, we knew there wasn't access to it from inside the zoo, but since we were already there, we decided to walk around and explore.
Once we left the zoo, we headed toward the front door of the big, round greenhouse and much to our surprise, it was open. You may think we're dumb for assuming the main entrance would be closed, but this has happened to us 1,000 times at places around the world. Some of the most famous landmarks I've visited had side entrances while the main (or front) doors were locked. The cathedral in St Paul is a prime example. That assumption is what made us believe that the entrance would be on the zoo side! Nope.
Minneapolis, Minnesota:
This city is intimidating from a distance. Sure, it doesn't have a Manhattan or Chicago concrete jungle skyline, but it's tall buildings are numerous in comparison to any city I've seen in the Midwest thus far, to include Kansas City.
It was lunch time when we arrived to the city and I had heard that Minneapolis had a decent variety of diverse cuisine before our trip, so where we stopped for lunch was already planned ahead: Spitz
Spitz had a small menu online, but it had the one elusive thing our family hasn't ate in awhile and can't seem to find anywhere that we've been to in the states: Doner kebabs.
Although the kebabs were filling, I could've ate another. THEY WERE SO FREAKIN GOOD. I can't recommend this place enough if you ever find yourself in Minneapolis. Hell, I'd drive back next weekend just to eat one. The husband and I had the spicy doners and the kids had the Street car doners. Each meal was $10 with an additional $2.50 for drinks. Our grand total was about $80 bucks, but we all agreed it was worth it.
NOTE: If you ever pay this restaurant a visit, they do offer free fruity and lime water. If I had known, I wouldn't have paid extra for the drinks. Also, the doner with pommes is not a doner with a side of fries like it was in Europe. The fries are inside the wrap, which was bizarre to us.
The vibe of this place is super hipster. Bright paint, musicians and famous faces are painted on the walls, and the WC has a bunch of old record sleeves decorating it. The kids dug it. They also host board game nights here, which seems pretty cool.
From lunch we walked back to the car, stumbling upon a wall that gets a lot of Instagram attention: The "I Like You" wall aptly named for the store it's attached to. We found others there taking selfies, but my husband found something else I have read about before visiting the city: A mouse house door. Apparently they're peppered throughout the area and you're lucky if you find one because they disappear quite fast (people steal them when they find them).
We hopped in the car, zoomed towards the skyline and hit Mill Ruins Park. This park lives up to it's name. A bunch of creepy mill ruins sit preserved along the river. Though it was daylight and sunny, this place gave me the chills. I can't explain why.
After exploring the riverfront, we walked around downtown, stopping to take pictures with no real direction in mind. I didn't have a laundry list of what I wanted to see in the heart of the city, I just wanted to see it.
I know there are some picture worthy stops in the downtown area (like the Mary Tyler Moore statue, museums, the Foshay Tower, and the Nicollet Mall), but I wasn't super interested in them to be honest. They were things that if we got to them, awesome, but if we didn't, no skin off our backs. We didn't get to them.
Our last stop in Minneapolis was...yes, I'll say it...way overrated:
The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.
I can't lie, I wanted to see the giant spoon and cherry just to say I have. No BS philosophical or artsy reasons behind it. The sculpture garden is free, parking was $3 bucks, but worth the 45 minutes we killed in the garden, scratching our heads at the things we saw.
I LOVE art. I adore old Neoclassical, Impressionism, and even some modern stuff. Not so much contemporary. But I'm still unsure why the spoon and cherry sculpture has become a popular thing in Minneapolis.
We came, we saw, and we're still confused!
NEXT STOP:
South Dakota
We had talked about driving across the state to see Mount Rushmore, but upon researching it before our trip, we found out that half of the trail to view the famous faces carved in stone was closed for construction. We decided to do it another time because of that.
But there was something else I wanted to see in South Dakota: The Falls in Sioux Falls.
Before we left the state of Minnesota, we pulled off the road at a gas station. As we stretched our legs and loaded up on beef jerky, we heard a bunch of sirens blaring around us. When we pulled back on the road, we were highly surprised at the scene on the other side of the gas station. PIGS IN THE ROAD! Pigs everywhere. A huge livestock trailer took the on-ramp too sharp and fast, tipped over, and the pigs suddenly found themselves as free range animals. It was a first in my life and unforgettable, no doubt.
Sioux Falls, SD
I was anxious to see The Falls! And for good reason. In person, the area is so much more gorgeous than in pictures. The heavy sound of rushing water fills your ears. The power of the falls can be felt.
It is a super pretty place in the middle of South Dakota's largest city, but because of this reason, the area is surrounded by industrial buildings and road construction. I feel that the falls should've been left alone and the city built elsewhere rather than around it. It would've made this place even more beautiful. But what can they do about it now? Nada.
We spent a good hour or so wandering around, though we didn't visit any of the extras the park offered (like the observation tower, cafe, or AG building). I could've spent more time here, but it would've made the next part of the trip feel longer.
Our next stop was where my grandfather, who recently passed, grew up: Sioux City, Iowa
But at this point in our travels, we were kind of burnt out and had a kid with an iffy stomach. We approached Sioux City and made the decision to visit it another time since it's not super far from our home. Continuing past it, we found ourselves in Nebraska, where the city of Omaha looked like a promising future trip, and before we knew it we were in Kansas again.
Overall, our Midwest adventure was pretty pleasant! Being a west coast kid, I never thought that the states of Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota had as much to offer as they do.
The husband will be gone for the entirety of summer 2019, and come summer of 2020, we'll likely be moving again. Because of that, I'm happy we went when we did. Although we loved Minneapolis, I will say you won't find us there in the winter! Summer is a perfect time of year to visit and although there aren't beaches and outdoor pools are scarce, I'm glad we picked our Midwest triangle adventure!
But then weather happened...
Our original destination was New Orleans, but I knew that planning it months ahead of time would be a risk during hurricane season.
The first thing I did was book a hotel in the heart of the city, within a short walking distance to the French Quarter and other sights we planed to see.We planned to spend a beach day in the gulf, casting our cares into the water while burning ourselves to a crisp. The Oak Alley Plantation was within reach and planned for day four.
I had everything worked out.
But a week before check-in, I began to get nervous. The forecast looked like garbage for the duration of our vacation. As the days to our visit became closer, the weather become worse. And two days before time to check in, I cancelled our reservation.
**I don't mind a little rain, but considering everything we wanted to see and do were outdoor destinations, and every day had an 80% chance of storms in the middle of the day, I didn't want to be a soggy mess, and I know my kids would've been miserable.
I always book on a refundable status for a reason, y'all. Learned that lesson in 2013 when a trip to see family in California failed and not on account of weather, but more so my family. Long story.
Since then, I ALWAYS book on refundable status considering the hotel is usually the largest chunk of our expense for a vacation or trip (having a six person family adds to a larger accommodation expense, letmetellya).
With weather being crappy, we had to think fast. San Antonio and Galveston, Texas were a BOGO option. Las Vegas was an option that I wasn't too keen on because I've been there twice in recent (adult) years. We could've gone home to Arizona and California, but we have our reasons for refraining. Anywhere on the East Coast wasn't an option due to time.
But when I thought of every duty station we could possibly be stationed at next, and the majority of them being within reach of cool places in the horseshoe shape of America, I figured why not go north and see things we otherwise wouldn't or couldn't if we lived anywhere else. And I am so very glad we did!
Destination: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Bonus: Extra stops and stays on the way there and back.
I am all for visiting the places that others wouldn't. Truth be told, I want to see the exciting, the boring, and the in between of everywhere. I did so in Europe, so why not do it in America?
First Stop:
Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines actually surprised me. It's a city full of life, hipsters, and cleanliness. I really expected the downtown area to be boring. Des Moines really isn't boring at all!
I didn't have a huge list of must see places, but I knew one place I HAD to see in person.
Des Moines is the capitol of Iowa. Not only is it Iowa's most populous city, it also has one of thee neatest buildings I've seen in middle America: The Capitol building.
It is hole wow, European awesome-ness. Totally reminds me of Schloss Seehof in Bavaria (outside of Bamberg), but prettier.
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| Des Moines, Iowa State Capitol Building |
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| Schloss Seehof outside of Bamberg Germany: Courtesy of my personal photo archive. |
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| Go Iowa. Who knew the Midwest had some head scratching sculptures comparable to Versailles, France? |
After walking around the capitol, and the especially strange sculptures and monuments near by, we jumped back into the car and headed downtown. Even though it was a Sunday, downtown areas with restaurants and shopping were bustling. It was neat to see people sitting outside on the patio between tall buildings, eating a late afternoon lunch. But it was really odd to find parking on a bridge in the middle of a city. First time for everything, I guess.
Because it was Sunday, lots of things were closed. But in a way, that made it nice to explore without loads of people up in the way. We paid a visit to the World Food Prize Hall of Laureates building gardens, walked up the street to see the skyline and made our way to Rotary Riverwalk Park. As we approached the park, I was sad to find construction cut us off and I had no patience to find our way around it. We turned around, made it back to the car, drove to the hotel and to the indoor pool we went.
The next morning we hit the road. After reading a few road trip guides, I found a giant garden gnome in a nearby state college town that I just had to see in person and was only 3 miles out of the way on our route. Cruising up the highway, we exited in Ames, Iowa and found the Reiman Gardens that was home of the gnome.
The problem: I had no idea that the garden had a nice entrance fee of $9 per person. UGH.
I wasn't about to pay $9 X 6 = $63 just to see a giant gnome. I could careless about the garden part, though the grounds did look beautiful from the outside, but we continued on our way to Minnesota.
Next Stop: Bloomington, Minnesota
Since our plans to go north were kind of last minute, finding a hotel was hard. I wanted to stay in downtown Minneapolis, but no matter how hard I tried, it didn't work out. Finding a suite for six people is always difficult in America. I'm no stranger to Air BnB, but for this trip I wanted amenities that an apartment rental couldn't provide: Free breakfast that I didn't have to prepare and a pool.
I found a modest (that's a generous word) hotel in Bloomington that was about five miles from Bloomington's biggest claim to fame: The Mall of America
The Mall of America:
This place is crazy HUGE. I studied it a bit before our trip, but there are no maps or photos online that can prepare anyone for this mall and how small it makes you feel.
There's a store for everyone and everything. It has a Nickelodeon theme park in the middle. There are two huge food courts. This mall is so large that you'll even find it has more than one of the same stores: Victoria's Secret, Bath and Body Works, etc,.
We spent the remainder of our first day in Bloomington at the mall; taking it all in and wandering every floor. Surprisingly, we only spent four hours inside and only $140.
We did return to the mall again before leaving the area, though we only went to one side of the mall the second time around. I had missed the bottom floor of Forever 21 and wanted to hit up Old Navy before rolling out of town. It's back to school shopping time and guess what, y'all? Clothing and shoe sales in the MoA are TAX FREE. Just in case you need another reason to pay a visit...
BTW: No, I didn't carry around my beloved camera (Diana Trois) through the mall. All cell shots, sorry.
St Paul, Minnesota
I was excited to visit St Paul. Online it appeared to have rad architecture that I felt I could appreciate in person, and it didn't disappoint. We parked the car downtown and hit the streets on foot, making a giant circle around the downtown area. The only thing we didn't get to on my list was driving by Fitzgerald's home, but it's all good.
The architecture of St Paul is reminiscent of Europe, in my opinion. Aside from signs and store names being in English, the streets, the street cars, the buildings and even the hanging flowers on posts throughout the city put me back in Europe, even if just for an hour or two. It kind of reminded me of an area of Munich (not the famous Marienplatz area) we've visited before. And if you ever have a chance to visit the St Paul Cathedral, it is for sure, 100% European Cathedral vibes. I loved it. Or maybe I loved the feeling of being back in Germany? Not sure.
Minnehaha Falls
I'm weird. While planning out any vacation, I try to find waterfalls in the near by area. You could say that I go chasing them even though I was told not to back in the 1990s...ha.
Minnehaha Falls sit in an urban landscape within the city limits of Minneapolis. The falls are a part of the Minnehaha Regional Park, which has other things to see and do than just the falls. But I'm not gonna lie, I only came for the falls.
The parking in this area is a real bitch. We got pretty lucky, finding a space that someone was pulling out of as we circled back around to hunt again. Once we parked, I had to jump on my phone's GPS to find where we needed to go on foot. The park is quite big and if we walked in the wrong direction, we could've walked forever.
We followed a paved path that took us around the backside of the John Stevens House Museum and led us to a set of stairs. We listened to the sound of rushing water, letting it guide our way, and after going down a ton of steps, we found the waterfall we came for.
After taking a dozen pictures, we followed the water on a dirt trail, not knowing where it'd lead. We were all surprised to find a watering hole at the end where tons of people sat chillin' with friends and family in and around the water. I'm guessing the locals were the folks we saw in swimsuits...I didn't know that I could've brought mine.
Como Park Zoo & Conservatory
The parking sucks here, too! And just like Minnehaha Falls, we got lucky and found the only empty spot in the overflow lot.
I really wanted to see Como Park's greenhouse and the sunken garden. I am one of those people who need flowers in my life. They make me happy and for some strange reason, I can relate with plants more than people.
I thought we had to go into the zoo to access the greenhouse, so into the zoo we went.
The best part about the Como Park Zoo & Conservatory is FREE admission! Donations are encouraged for upkeep and conservation efforts, but I'm glad it wasn't a nickle and dime zoo like most so often are. And to be honest, it was a decent little zoo for having free admission. Once we entered and walked toward the backside of the greenhouse area, we knew there wasn't access to it from inside the zoo, but since we were already there, we decided to walk around and explore.
Once we left the zoo, we headed toward the front door of the big, round greenhouse and much to our surprise, it was open. You may think we're dumb for assuming the main entrance would be closed, but this has happened to us 1,000 times at places around the world. Some of the most famous landmarks I've visited had side entrances while the main (or front) doors were locked. The cathedral in St Paul is a prime example. That assumption is what made us believe that the entrance would be on the zoo side! Nope.
Minneapolis, Minnesota:
This city is intimidating from a distance. Sure, it doesn't have a Manhattan or Chicago concrete jungle skyline, but it's tall buildings are numerous in comparison to any city I've seen in the Midwest thus far, to include Kansas City.
It was lunch time when we arrived to the city and I had heard that Minneapolis had a decent variety of diverse cuisine before our trip, so where we stopped for lunch was already planned ahead: Spitz
Spitz had a small menu online, but it had the one elusive thing our family hasn't ate in awhile and can't seem to find anywhere that we've been to in the states: Doner kebabs.
Although the kebabs were filling, I could've ate another. THEY WERE SO FREAKIN GOOD. I can't recommend this place enough if you ever find yourself in Minneapolis. Hell, I'd drive back next weekend just to eat one. The husband and I had the spicy doners and the kids had the Street car doners. Each meal was $10 with an additional $2.50 for drinks. Our grand total was about $80 bucks, but we all agreed it was worth it.
NOTE: If you ever pay this restaurant a visit, they do offer free fruity and lime water. If I had known, I wouldn't have paid extra for the drinks. Also, the doner with pommes is not a doner with a side of fries like it was in Europe. The fries are inside the wrap, which was bizarre to us.
The vibe of this place is super hipster. Bright paint, musicians and famous faces are painted on the walls, and the WC has a bunch of old record sleeves decorating it. The kids dug it. They also host board game nights here, which seems pretty cool.
From lunch we walked back to the car, stumbling upon a wall that gets a lot of Instagram attention: The "I Like You" wall aptly named for the store it's attached to. We found others there taking selfies, but my husband found something else I have read about before visiting the city: A mouse house door. Apparently they're peppered throughout the area and you're lucky if you find one because they disappear quite fast (people steal them when they find them).
We hopped in the car, zoomed towards the skyline and hit Mill Ruins Park. This park lives up to it's name. A bunch of creepy mill ruins sit preserved along the river. Though it was daylight and sunny, this place gave me the chills. I can't explain why.
After exploring the riverfront, we walked around downtown, stopping to take pictures with no real direction in mind. I didn't have a laundry list of what I wanted to see in the heart of the city, I just wanted to see it.
I know there are some picture worthy stops in the downtown area (like the Mary Tyler Moore statue, museums, the Foshay Tower, and the Nicollet Mall), but I wasn't super interested in them to be honest. They were things that if we got to them, awesome, but if we didn't, no skin off our backs. We didn't get to them.
Our last stop in Minneapolis was...yes, I'll say it...way overrated:
The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.
I can't lie, I wanted to see the giant spoon and cherry just to say I have. No BS philosophical or artsy reasons behind it. The sculpture garden is free, parking was $3 bucks, but worth the 45 minutes we killed in the garden, scratching our heads at the things we saw.
I LOVE art. I adore old Neoclassical, Impressionism, and even some modern stuff. Not so much contemporary. But I'm still unsure why the spoon and cherry sculpture has become a popular thing in Minneapolis.
We came, we saw, and we're still confused!
NEXT STOP:
South Dakota
We had talked about driving across the state to see Mount Rushmore, but upon researching it before our trip, we found out that half of the trail to view the famous faces carved in stone was closed for construction. We decided to do it another time because of that.
But there was something else I wanted to see in South Dakota: The Falls in Sioux Falls.
Before we left the state of Minnesota, we pulled off the road at a gas station. As we stretched our legs and loaded up on beef jerky, we heard a bunch of sirens blaring around us. When we pulled back on the road, we were highly surprised at the scene on the other side of the gas station. PIGS IN THE ROAD! Pigs everywhere. A huge livestock trailer took the on-ramp too sharp and fast, tipped over, and the pigs suddenly found themselves as free range animals. It was a first in my life and unforgettable, no doubt.
Sioux Falls, SD
I was anxious to see The Falls! And for good reason. In person, the area is so much more gorgeous than in pictures. The heavy sound of rushing water fills your ears. The power of the falls can be felt.
It is a super pretty place in the middle of South Dakota's largest city, but because of this reason, the area is surrounded by industrial buildings and road construction. I feel that the falls should've been left alone and the city built elsewhere rather than around it. It would've made this place even more beautiful. But what can they do about it now? Nada.
We spent a good hour or so wandering around, though we didn't visit any of the extras the park offered (like the observation tower, cafe, or AG building). I could've spent more time here, but it would've made the next part of the trip feel longer.
Our next stop was where my grandfather, who recently passed, grew up: Sioux City, Iowa
But at this point in our travels, we were kind of burnt out and had a kid with an iffy stomach. We approached Sioux City and made the decision to visit it another time since it's not super far from our home. Continuing past it, we found ourselves in Nebraska, where the city of Omaha looked like a promising future trip, and before we knew it we were in Kansas again.
Overall, our Midwest adventure was pretty pleasant! Being a west coast kid, I never thought that the states of Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota had as much to offer as they do.
The husband will be gone for the entirety of summer 2019, and come summer of 2020, we'll likely be moving again. Because of that, I'm happy we went when we did. Although we loved Minneapolis, I will say you won't find us there in the winter! Summer is a perfect time of year to visit and although there aren't beaches and outdoor pools are scarce, I'm glad we picked our Midwest triangle adventure!
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