Pierre to Sioux Falls, SD – 8/13/2016 – http://fulltimetimeshare.com/blog

August 13, 2016 (Saturday)

What a comfortable bed. Michael thought he would get up early and work on the blog, but we just wanted to sleep. The bed was huge and so nice. We loved living in our old house for the night. Around 9:30 AM, we went downstairs and Jeremy was already busy working in the kitchen on our “cooked to order” breakfast of French toast, fruit and coffee with cream. He brought it out and it was beautifully presented, and delicious.

We started with a fruit compote, coffee with lots of cream and sugar.

Then came the french toast and more fruit. It was all delicious.

Jeremy sat down and we visited for awhile until another couple showed up and asked if they could check in early. By this time it was around 10:30 AM and we had to be leaving (or else we knew the police would be called on us to drag us out). We really enjoyed talking to Jeremy as he was so very knowledgeable about the area and history of the area. He told us about so many fun things to do and see in the area.

I wanted to go to the Post Office to mail a birthday card to Arla (our son’s girlfriend), and discovered the Post Office was just a little ways down the road in the Court House complex. After that we headed back up the hill and over to the State Capitol. We noticed that some of the cars from the old car show from last night were there, and more were showing up for another event. The State Capitol is a beautiful place to have a car show with all the lush green grass and lovely flowers around.

Used to be able to get these so cheap. Not anymore. (This was called a car pool.)

The coolest steering wheel I have ever seen.

Pretty sure yellow is their favorite color.

We walked around trying to get inside the building, and finally found the entrance at the far end (near the lake side). We walked down the corridor lined with pictures of judges and governors. When we entered the main area (dome) it was very lovely. We had been told that the Montana and South Dakota Capitol buildings are exactly the same as the architect stopped in Pierre on his way to Montana to put in a bid on the State Capitol. He had the plans already drawn up. While in Pierre, he discovered they were wanting a bid on a Capitol building – so he bid on both and won both but both are the same. They are the same but the interior in South Dakota (to us) was cleaner and nicer.

We came in on the ground floor which felt more like a basement.

This dome has windows, the other was solid.

The portions on the curved surface are excellent.

The floor is composed of very thick glass tiles, which add a lot of light to the first floor.

Heading back out, even the bottom of the upper stairs were clad in marble.

We enjoyed walking on the white stone floor. The dome area was lovely and we just thought it was really nicely done. The grounds were lovely as well.

We headed down towards the lake area and discovered a statue dedicated to victims of a plane crash (including the Governor) in the 1990’s. The statue was called “Fighting Stallions.” Beautiful. As we continued walking, we discovered a Veterans Memorial, a Police Memorial, Firefighters Memorial, and EMT Memorial. Lovely and very touching.

"Fighting Stallions" memorial. — “Fighting Stallions” memorial.

Lots of information about the plane crash.

I was very familiar with all the equipment, it was from my era.

I also spent a winter in Korea and had a real feel for the depiction here.

Back up to the cars, so many beautiful cars. — Back up to the cars – so many beautiful cars.

We left the Capitol and went to Menard’s. We had been told about Menard’s by Tommy and Mary Kay, as well as Jeremy. Jeremy said the Menard’s in Pierre is the largest one in the country. We found it and walked around. Sure is much nicer than our local Home Depot or Lowe’s. Huge. Had everything and then some. I said it was the IKEA for Americans. Jeremy had also told us about Runnings (a hardware type store for farmers?) but we were kinda tired and wanted to get on the road.

The place was beyond huge. A Walmart Supercenter has about half of what this place has.

The drive today was a little over 220 miles, from Pierre to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We stopped for a potty/gas break, and didn’t stop again until we got to Mitchell, South Dakota. Along the way we saw more sunflower fields, corn fields (lots and lots of corn fields), and other grains that were beautifully waving in the wind. The weather today was pretty spectacular – 80’s and blue skies.

Corn and sunflower capitols of the world, we think.

We stopped in Mitchell, South Dakota to see the “World’s Only Corn Palace.” Tommy and Mary Kay had told us about it and it just sounded interesting. Before we went into the Palace (which is free), we stopped at Bread and Batter to get a sandwich. The outside of the Corn Palace (to us at least) was much more interesting than the inside as the outside had Willie Nelson, Elvis Presley, and other large creations made only out of corn. I found it fascinating but Michael wasn’t impressed and was ready to leave after about ten seconds.

Couple sandwiches, bag of chips and two waters. Pretty good, a little spendy, but good. — Couple sandwiches, bag of chips and two waters. Pretty good. A little spendy, but good.

We got into Sioux Falls at around 5:00 PM. We finished our book on tape, a Tom Clancy book titled, “Support and Defend.” Very good book but at times had us wondering what was happening and what was going to happen. Really enjoyed it and are looking forward to more books on tape (good ole Cracker Barrel). We checked into the Microtel (Priceline for about $65.00) but were disappointed, again, that even though it was a non-smoking room, it smelled strongly of cigarettes.

That was our day. Hope yours was great!