Milnor, DeLamere, Lisbon & Lake Elsie

June 1-14 - Family Time

"For the Fishermen" in memory of Clayton Severson. Not every family spends their memorial money on an outhouse. This was one of my Dad's favorite local lakes to go fishing and he always complained that there was no bathroom. So Mom remedied the situation.

This is what's left in DeLamere, where the grade school I attended used to be. There was even a high school there when I started first grade. The church I went to is now an antique store.

This is the bar my folk's owned. We lived in the back and upstairs. The bar is still running, but it's a dying town.

My Mom and my nephew in front of the Veteran's Home in Lisbon. Andy took us to Gordy's for ice cream. Mmmm! John's favorite treat. Thanks, Andy. See you again soon.

Then we went for a drive out to Fort Ransom, where there is a quaint little village, campgrounds, downhill skiing and, of course, this viking on the hill.

Go Milnor Bison!

We got to see two of my niece's softball games. She is a really good pitcher and pitched two games back to back, except for one inning. Go Moby! We enjoyed it very much. Seriously, Goettle!

After a few days at my Mom's, we spent six days at my little brother's new lake lot on Lake Elsie near Hankinson. This is the little pile of rocks we picked off the beach to earn our keep. Now there is a nice sandy beach at the bottom of the hill.

This is a view of another little lake to the rear of their lot. I've become an artist. Note the little trailer down by the hedge. I painted it all be myself. Well, maybe artist isn't the right word.

Another view to the rear of the lot.

This brand new Veteran's Memorial is on the south side of the lake and there is a paved bike path from here into Hankinson, about three miles. We rode into town three times. The last time was to watch Moby play softball again. A storm blew up about half way into town and I felt like the wicked witch in the "Wizard of Oz" pedaling like crazy to beat the storm. John said I looked like her, too. No more omelets for him in the morning. Nothing but cold cereal. We got soaked before we made it to the park shelter, but we dried out and it was worth it, when we got to see the awesome hits Moby made in the game that night.

The shot above was taken from the south side of the lake toward little brother's lot on the north.

The birds were on the little pond east of their lot.

A sunset shot on the little lake behind their lot. Thanks for letting us stay guys. We enjoyed it very much. Seriously Goettle!

Westward bound toward Montana & grandkids.

Tarra

Brookings, SD. & Camden State Park, MN.

Thur & Sat - May 27th & 29th

Our RV is in the background across the street from Mc Crory Gardens at Walmart in Brookings. At one time McCrory Gardens was one of the top ten gardens in the country, according to a show I saw on TV. Maybe it still is. It is a beautiful place to go for a walk, spend time with a friend, take a lunch break or just sit and read a book and enjoy the surroundings.

The little cottage garden is quaint and serene. There is also a hedge maze for the kids. They do weddings and garden concerts. Every year there is a garden party in August for the public, with music and free SDSU ice cream cones.

There are many different types of gardens with walking paths and benches to sit and relax. Some include pharmaceutical and medicinal gardens, gardens of all one color, or all one type of flower in many different colors.

Columbines & Irises. If you walk through all the gardens to the north end, you will come to the arboretum where there is a walking/jogging path through the trees.

This is near the corner of 6th Street and 22nd Avenue as you enter town from I-29.

This is a house made of straw bales with a sod roof in the gardens.

Just a few blocks further down 6th Street in Hillcrest Park is the new swimming pool complex.

A cowboy and his dog in front of the old depot on South Main. In the center of the newly redone downtown is another nice statue entitled "The Little Professor". It is right across the street from Ray's Corner Bar, which used to be the Title Office where Pa Ingalls walked from De Smet to file his homestead deed.

This is the SDSU Campanile on Medary Avenue near the southwest corner of campus. Just north of here is the Memorial Art Museum and the Agriculture Museum. There are new buildings going up all over campus.

This was the view out our door while we camped at our friend, Rich's, just outside Brookings. Very peaceful. Thanks Rich!

There are hundreds of these wind towers for miles along Buffalo Ridge just over the Minnesota border. It is one of the first places where they put up lots of them, because it is one of the windiest places in the country. We were on our way to Camden State Park (six miles south of Marshall on Hwy. 23) for the weekend.

This is Redwood River in Camden State Park.

Old friends, good times and a margarita or two or
three? It just doesn't get any better than this.

Some of my readers may recognize a few of these old farts from the Coast to Coast days.

After a few refreshments, the kids convinced me to get my first tattoo, a ladybug. What do you think?

We had our own live band around the campfire, harmonica and guitar. Keep on jivin' Andy and Ron. We loved it.

We're off to North Dakota to visit Mom and my brothers. Then on to Montana for a few weeks to watch our grandson's baseball games. We plan to be back in Brookings in September before we head south again.

Have a great summer!

Tarra

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

Sioux Falls, SD.

Thur & Fri - May 13th & 14th

We stopped at Sexauer Park (city campground) in Brookings, before we left town to visit our trophy daughter (quoting Tim Fletcher, when he heard that she works for a trophy company) in Sioux Falls. Of course, she said, "I always liked Tim". There are a dozen or so campsites in this nice little park.

I thought this little story about the history of cigar manufacturing in Sioux Falls was interesting. It is on the corner of 8th Street and Phillips.



We walked over here from our trophy daughter's house to do the downtown sculpture walk.





There are over fifty sculptures on both sides of Phillips Avenue from 8th Street to 12th Street. This one is called "Lord Grizzly".






John liked this one. I think it reminded him of growing up on the farm.





This one is entitled "Melt" and was John's favorite.











"Tiger and Cub"

This building was started in 1892. A third story was added in 1910.

In the foreground, kitty corner from the government building, is an interesting sculpture made from bicycle handlebars.

This one is my favorite, a playful combining of a wooden shoe and the "Yellow Submarine" of Beatles fame.

"Flower Dancing in the Wind"

If you look closely, you can see the "Katrina" sculpture to the right of the fountain, another one behind that and a couple more across the street.

I included this one just for my special friend, Julie.

This is one of several outside the library, which is a block or two west of Phillips on the north end of the sculpture walk.


Tarra