Sioux Falls, SD - good sightseeing, good friends and good times

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It was great to catch up with a friend of Donna's that she worked with at the Federal Reserve Bank - Joe Holkup and his wife Greta.  We had lunch and walked the downtown area.  Thanks again for lunch, Joe and Greta.  They suggested various places to visit while we were in town.  Of course, we hiked several days too.

Sioux Falls has a bustling downtown and is being revitalized to attract residents, businesses and tourists.  They sponsor free to the public activities like music in the park, free admission to local museums, and have a terrific trail system along the river for walking and bike riding. The city hosts the largest annual exhibit of public sculptures in the world curated by local artists and art enthusiasts.  The sculptures line the streets of downtown.
Sioux Falls was settled by folks from the east coast with the intent to utilize the power from the waterfalls to run mills and factories.
View from the top of the Sioux Falls Park observation tour.
We went to a few local attractions including the Old Courthouse Museum and the Pettigrew Museum that featured local history.

Walked through the city's arboretum.  It was beautiful.
We went apple picking and found Don's favorite Cortland apples.  Donna likes them too.
We didn't realize you could buy and grow mushrooms in a bag until we went to the city's farmer's market.
We took the back roads to drive from Sioux Falls to Austin, TX in small chunks stopping in Columbus NE, Wichita KS and Wichita Falls TX.  Drove by the oldest continuously running tavern west of the Missouri in Columbus NE.
Here is the view from our Kansas hotel room on a stormy night.
We thought we'd seen it all.  However, while stopping for gas in Breckinridge TX, we couldn't believe that a man wanted to wash his hand by dipping it in the washing bucket that is used for cleaning a car's windshield.  You know the ones that have been used to clean off millions of bugs' guts and are filthy!  Yes, he did it.  He rinsed his hand in that dirty gooey mess.  We're sure that his hand was dirtier after he rinsed than before. Yuck!

We made it to Austin and are visiting with son Conor and his family.

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