South Dakota, Sioux Falls - Saturday, May 05, 2018 - Tower Campground

On Wednesday we went in to renew our driver’s licenses.  We had appointments so the whole process was over in about 20 minutes and we are good for another five years.  The good news of the day was I could truthfully say I weigh 15 pounds less than I did five years ago.  The bad news was that during that five years I had at one time lost an additional 22 pounds that I have since regained.  I’m going to have to have another go at this, maybe I can be down another 15 by the time renewals come around again.  Too bad I enjoy cooking and eating so much.

Thursday was spent cleaning out some of the dust we accumulated in our trek through Kansas and Nebraska.  I got a real burst of energy and decided to dust the insides of the cabinets in the bedroom and bath and while I was at it I rearranged a few things.  Afghans and throw pillows either got tossed in the washer or run through the dryer to shake out the dust we accumulated during the dust storms we went through in Nebraska.

By Friday we were set to get out and play.  We started off our day at Five Guys.  Neither of us had ever been there so we decided to check it out.  Great burgers and fries (note to self: this will not help me lose weight).  For those of you who haven’t been to a Five Guys, I would advise ordering the “little” burger and the “little” order of fries.  Greg and I decided to split a “regular” order of fries, a “little” one would have been enough to split.

Falls Park in Sioux Falls is a must see.  I was mesmerized by it the last time we were here and couldn’t wait to see it again.  The Big Sioux River runs through a bed of Sioux Quartzite.  Quartzite “pink rock” is the hardest rock second to diamond.

The Queen Bee Mill ground its first flour on October 25, 1881.  At the time it was one of the most advanced in America. The remains of the seven-story mill, lay on the east bank of the river.  The mill closed in 1883, a victim of inadequate water power and a short supply of wheat.  In 1956 fire destroyed the wooden roof and interior floors.  The upper floors were knocked down to prevent them from falling.

A millrace and dam were originally constructed to provide power for the Queen Bee Mill.  The dam was razed in 1908 to supply power to the hydroelectric plant.

What is now the Falls Overlook Café was once the Sioux Falls Light & Power Company.  The quartzite building that opened in 1908 housed three 500-kilowatt hydroelectric generators.  The plant was abandoned in 1974 and later donated to the city.  The Café retains a lot of the original industrial look of the electric plant.

The Visitor Center is attached to a five story observation tower.

View of the park from the observation tower.  Notice the quartzite that is exposed throughout the park.

Spring flowers are starting to pop up.

This is home, or at least home to our mail.  Dakota Post has been a great help to us in the fulltiming adventure.

Our last stop of the day before going to square dance this evening was a stop at the Strawbale Winery.  We visited this winery five years ago for a wine tasting.  We liked most of the wines we tasted except for the black current wine.  So, we made a special trip back this year to get black current wine.  You see, what we found out from them on our first trip was that even though we wouldn’t drink the wine straight, it was fabulous in their wine slushy recipe!

Their tasting room is small but very nice.

This outside area is crowded during the summer when they have local bands in, that starts in a couple of weeks and we will be gone by then.

On Friday evening one of our favorite square dance callers, Jerry Junck, was calling for the local square dance club so we decided to spend a couple of hours dancing.  Some of the local dancers remembered us from five years ago.  I think we made an impression riding in on a big Harley to square dance.  We danced with them again on Saturday morning.

We will be leaving tomorrow morning making a couple of stops before we get back to northern Indiana to have our refrigerator repaired.

Indiana, Pendleton - Monday, July 20, 2015 - Trip Down Memory Lane

We didn’t have anything planned for today so we decided to head into Pendleton which is where we both grew up.  Although Pendleton has grown because of its proximity to Indianapolis it still retains a lot of its small town charm from the days we remember growing up.

 

 

We were hoping to be able to visit the Pendleton Museum in Falls Park but found out it is only open Saturday and Sunday from 1-5, so we’ll have to make another trip in for that visit.

We weren’t the only ones out enjoying the beautiful day.  I don’t know when the bridge in the background was built, but I remember it being there before I was in high school (a long time).

Doesn’t look like this huge tree that came down stream in a recent storm caused any damage to the bridge.  Although the park is still a very beautiful park we noted that it could use a little more maintenance.

This is the area where two diving boards were located when this was the town swimming pool.  The stone from these quarries was used for culverts on the National Road.  We also noticed that the years haven’t resulted in a lot of erosion to the stone.

There was a slide right next to where the little deck is built now.  I don’t know how high it was but I remember I was never allowed to go down it by myself because it was “too high”.  Compared with what they have in parks now it would probably look like a kiddie slide.

This island wasn’t here when we were growing up.  The water from the falls kind of circles into this area before continuing on downstream.  Over the years rocks and dirt have swirled into a small island.  At times after hard rains the water can rush through here up to and over the bridge covering the rocks from one side to the other.

Falls Park has always been the town’s center for activities.  The lighthouse has been there as long as I can remember and ducks swim in the pond.  The building on the left is a shelter house that was the place to be for summer dances when we were in junior and senior high school.  It was lit up with lights and a DJ played all the latest records.

We decided to forego a stroll down lover’s lane today.  Now days I think about ticks – that never crossed my mind when I was younger – guess I’m older and wiser J.

If you are from the Pendleton, Indiana area you know where we went from the park.

Jimmies Dairy Bar at 7065 S. Indiana 67 has been in business since 1954.  It started out as a summertime walk up soft serve ice cream stand.  It has expanded over the years to include a dining room and drive thru window and it is open year round.  They definitely do make the “best Bar B Q in Indiana”.  The tangerine soft serve is highly recommended also.

 

 

We did have a storybook-like small town upbringing and it’s so nice to look back on it and reminisce about how lucky we are.