Home » Midwest Ruminations: A road trip, family vacation and four-state photo journal

Midwest Ruminations: A road trip, family vacation and four-state photo journal

by Ashley
Published: Last Updated on 2 comments 189 views 9 minutes read

Dakota Confusion

My 7th grade geography teacher assigned yet ANOTHER diorama, and while I usually relished a fun, creative, easy project like that, I did not relish not getting to choose the state. I wanted to do New York (Broadway!) or Tennessee (Nashville!) or Florida (Disney!). I would have taken Georgia (Peaches!) or Texas (Cowboys!) or California (Hollywood!). Plenty of states that had interesting attractions for me to create out of cardboard, throw some glitter on, and get an easy A.

But I was assigned North Dakota.

BORRRRRRRRRING.

I was so annoyed by the whole thing that I put off doing the assignment until the night before, procrastinating longer than I ever had before. I mean, how hard could it be to put together a box full of boring crap from a boring state? I grabbed some of my brother’s farm animals, drew some mountains on the background and printed out a picture of Mount Rushmore. Done.

The next morning, I dragged my uninspired project into class, totally prepared to wing (and ace) my five minute North Dakota presentation. But then my friend sitting in front of me pointed out something I hadn’t realized:

“Mount Rushmore is in South Dakota.”

She turned her diorama around to show me. Lo and behold she was right. Mount Rushmore was in SOUTH Dakota, not North Dakota. I groaned, ripping from my shoebox the one interesting thing about my state. Now I had plastic farm animals and…. that’s it.

Twenty years later I find myself married to a man from South Dakota and sometimes still question WHICH Dakota has the majestic mountain of our founding fathers. (Kidding! I know it’s South Dakota!)

And this year, thanks to our remote jobs, we were able to spend three weeks with his family in Sioux Falls, SD and Lake Okoboji, IA. We packed up the car with what felt like half of our possessions – twice as many clothes as we took for our six-week European adventure; my Soda Stream; two desktops, two laptops, and extension cords; yet we managed to forget tons of stuff like Justin’s bar tools, a coffee pot, and sunscreen. And we drove from Nashville to Sioux Falls, making a pitstop in Indiana to visit a college friend of mine. On the way home, we stopped in Madison to visit an old college friend of Justin’s.

Screen Shot 2017-08-06 at 4.33.36 PM

Without further ado, below you’ll find my photo journal, detailing the stuff we did, the places we ate, and the fun we had with family 🙂

 

 

Photo Journal

 

Bloomington, IN

We drove from Nashville to Sioux Falls, stopping to visit my friend Charlotte on the way. She took us to the Cardinal Spirits distillery, where we sampled many types of delicious alcohol (and bought some to take home), and Malibu Grill, where we had good food, good drinks and good conversation. It was a short visit but fun nonetheless.

We drove right past another Nashville, so of course we had to take picture 🙂
Cardinal Spirits in Bloomington. Definitely worth a stop!
On our way from Indiana to South Dakota!
We made a quick pitstop in Rockford, IA where they had a tower for photo opportunities! Absolutely beautiful view of surrounding farmland.

 

Sioux Falls, SD

A quiet boom is happening in Sioux Falls, driven by the rapidly developing healthcare industry; supposedly it’s the fourth fastest growing metro area in the country. Everything all new and orderly, from the commercial areas to the residential neighborhoods. Some of it is so new that you’ll drive down dusty unpaved roads that take you into Harrisburg and other suburbs where neighborhoods don’t yet have the luxury of mature shade trees. While the winters are bitter cold and snowy, the summers are hot and the oft-clear blue skies means you better slather on sunblock (but at least you don’t have to deal with the humidity of the South).

After a few days of living at my brother and sister-in-law’s house, it hit me what most of Sioux Falls reminded me of: Brentwood, a suburb south of Nashville. Once I saw it, I couldn’t unsee it. New construction; beige and tan strip malls of regional chains, paint/wine classes and gymnastic studios; walking trails and plenty of family-friendly establishments.

We stayed with Justin's younger brother and his family in one of the many new neighborhoods of Sioux Falls
Houses for miles.
Why is there so much hay?
Justin_SiouxFalls_SD_Basement_WorkRemote
After a few days, Justin's brother kindly printed out some motivational posters for our workspace.

 

I’ve been to this part of the midwest half a dozen times, for summers and Christmases, and one thing that’s always struck me is that a polite community of simple pleasures: nature, beer, family. Though the vast number of restaurants is not particularly diverse (mostly ‘bar and grills’), it’s not hard to find good food at super affordable prices. We found ourselves surprised by the quality of our meals more than once. Our favorite establishments during our visit were Camille’s Sidewalk Cafe (fresh, healthy salads and killer smoothies), Barrel House (the best gluten free pizza of my life), Pho Quynh (family-owned traditional Vietnamese fare), Chevy’s (a medium-sized Tex Mex chain similar to Chuy’s), and Tinner’s Public House (unexpectedly excellent meals including tender, tasty souvlaki that Justin inhaled).

Son and dad at Beef O'Brady's
Found some Schwartau jam at the World Market!
Barrel House has crazy cheap flights of nice whiskeys! (Also the pizzzzzzzza.)
Husband's pho
There were some neat statues and photo ops right by the Woodgrain Brewery
Giant margaritas at Puerto Vallarta family mexican restaurant

 

The point of the trip was, of course, to spend time with family but I wanted to see what Sioux Falls had to offer! We explored the downtown area, enjoying the sculpture walk and finally seeing the David statue replica and a local brewery. We stopped by the Falls that give the city it’s name (beautiful as ever!), checked out the Butterfly House and Aquarium (even though I freaking hate butterflies), splashed around in the Beresford pool, and took in a minor league baseball game (something we like to do in Nashville from time to time). And we spent a lot of time enjoying the summer weather with Justin’s family.

#streetart #DTSF
Very cool shop in DTSF
Loved the sculpture walk in DTSF!
Beautiful old building in DTSF
Great question!
Crawford's offered some decent cocktails (though overall, there is not a craft cocktail scene in Sioux Falls)
The aquarium!
Husband let butterflies get on him!!!
Our niece enjoying a baseball game
Take me out to the ball game!!
The new Beresford pool was really nice and great way to spend the hot afternoon. (Also, excellent form there brother-in-law!)
A full replica of the David statue! (Now I've seen the real thing and this one!)
The Falls
Save money when traveling by doing free things
Taking in he Falls of Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Husband Loves Wife at Sioux Falls

 

The best part, out of everything, was having enough time to spend with everyone without feeling rushed, like we often do when visiting for the winter holidays. Spending a couple weeks in one place allowed us to pretend we lived there,  and fall into a semblance of a routine, working during the day and spending the evenings with family.

Three generations of Bonnemas
The Bonnema Brothers
Greta and I had too much fun taking selfies
Uncle Justin reads to Greta
Hanging out with Grandma

 

 

Lake Okoboji, IA

Ever year, Justin’s mom’s side of the family spends a week in West Village at Lake Okoboji. I’m in love with this beautiful family tradition and so happy we go to spend a few days on the lake (in the middle of cornfields! literally!) with everyone.

Family game night
Cousins + spouses selfie!

 

Though we did have to spend one of the days working, we were able to take a couple days off to relax, get in some (shaded!) beach time, compete in a floating beer pong tournament and take in some of the local attractions including Arnold’s Park, which has the the 13th oldest wooden coaster in America. It was exactly what we both needed!

Hanging in downtown Okoboji, on the strip with all of the bars
The beach, never too crowded!
The Boji Bandits
Mink!!!
Arnold's Park
Arnold's Park
Our Okoboji office

 

Madison, WI

After saying goodbye to Justin’s family, we headed out to a place I’ve never been but have heard Justin rave about since I met him. He went to school for a couple years in Madison and made lots of good memories in this liberal hippie town. We had less than 24 hours to explore but in that short (and very rainy!) time, we did go to the local co-op, an old bar he used to frequent, had a fantastic dinner at Graze and tasted some libations at the Robin Room bar. It poured most of the evening but I still feel like I got a good feel for the place and look forward to returning one day! I loved our AirBNB, which was just off of Willy Street in a hispter-y neighborhood full of old houses, large trees and cool spots for drinks.

Our AirBNB was an old house in a hip neighborhood
I loved the welcoming feel of Madison!
#Streetart
I loved the bright, airy ambience of Graze
The capitol
Cool architecture
Old friends <3

 

 

Final Thoughts

It had been a long time since we’d done a road trip together so I loved that aspect of it. While Sioux Falls is not a place I could live being so far north, away from a big city and major airport, I am grateful our job allowed us to temporarily move in with family and be part of their lives even for a short time.

One side of the family
The other side of the family

It was hard being away from our cats for 22 days (only the second longest time we’ve been away from them) but we did find our third furbaby during that time, getting to meet him as soon as we got back to Nashville just days before we jetted off for a short work retreat to Vegas.

IMG_20170723_202726_917

 

Have YOU spent time in the midwest? What’s your favorite thing to do/see/eat in Sioux Falls? We need to compile a list of places to try for the next time we visit! 

2 comments

Las Vegas Photo Journal – No Place Like Anywhere August 11, 2017 - 8:34 am

[…] in the fact that we had to fly out only days after returning from our three-week trip to South Dakota, had just taken off a few days for vacation and didn’t want to miss anymore, and I was coming […]

Reply
Why I Love Cities - No Place Like Anywhere February 1, 2023 - 10:47 am

[…] road trip, we had a conversation with his mom, who lives in a farming community outside of Sioux Falls and who loves road trips as much as I do. We showed her our planned itinerary, all of the cities we […]

Reply

Leave a Reply

[script_16]

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Read More

%d bloggers like this: