More Sioux Falls & State Parks

Sun & Mon - May 23rd & 24th



Taken at Newton Hills State Park 25 miles south of Sioux Falls (6 miles south of Canton). This is a beautiful park with over 120 campsites and lots of hiking and biking trails. They have a terrific Folk Festival/Concert here the first weekend in August. I have been to it a couple of times in the past, but quit going when I started riding the MS 150 bike ride, as it was on the same weekend.






These next few were taken at Palisades State Park.






We had lived so close to the Palisades for thirty years and we had never been there. It is very beautiful, with very nice hiking trails. There were lots of families and children enjoying the swimming beach.





Here a young couple is getting ready to do some rock climbing.

Here they are shown from above. Yikes!

A bee getting a little nectar from a wildflower.

This bridge is at Devil's Gulch near Split Rock Park in Garretson where Jesse James supposedly jumped the river on his horse while trying to escape a posse after robbing the bank in Northfield, Minnesota. A very nice park with a few campsites.

This is a side view from the bridge to give you a better idea of what a feat it was. There are 45 minute back-to-nature guided pontoon tours past majestic red Sioux quartzite cliffs and the cave where Jesse James hid in Split Rock Park.

This is a sculpture at the entrance to Falls Park on the Big Sioux River in Sioux Falls. It is entitled "For Which We Stand". The free downtown trolley is in the background. It will take you to the sculpture walk and the museums and Falls Park.

Falls Park is 123 acres. Each second, 7,400 gallons of water drop 100 feet over the course of the falls. In the park there is an old horse barn with art galleries and a gift shop, a visitor center with an observation tower, a restaurant and ruins of an old mill. The 27 mile city bike path loop runs through this park and along the river.

Pettigrew Home & Museum is on 8th Street two blocks west of Minnesota Avenue. It is free and an excellent museum. Pettigrew was the first senator in South Dakota. The home was built in 1889 and he bought it in 1911 at a price of $12,000. It had plumbing, electricity and a telephone which he used to keep track of the 25 different businesses he was involved in. Besides the home there are museum rooms with 1800's artifacts, photographs and videos. In 1860 there were 37 people in the entire county. By 1890 there were over 10,000 in Sioux Falls and almost 22,000 in the county.

I ran out of time, so next time I will go to the Old Courthouse Museum at 6th & Main which I have heard is very good, and also free. The Butterfly House is also nice. We took our grandson a couple years ago.

In Brookings Tuesday (May 25th), Wednesday and Thursday.

Tarra