Holiday Inn Sioux City

... De Soto found it way back when. We had lunch in an original ice cream parlour that had the original decor and fittings dating back to the 1800's. Hot dog was great, the coffe we sniffed then left on the table. We then made our way to Sioux City, Iowa after a few stops at Webster and Rockwell where ther was a threat of a possible twister. No such luck. We had a drink in the bar and started to bond with some English sisters. We laughed SO much.

We started the day with a journey through the Black Hills via a winding road through Spearfish Canyon on our way to Mount Rushmore. On the way, we passed through Lead, SD, where the Homestake Mining Company found the largest single vein of gold in North America. Just before Mt. Rushmore, a tourist village sprang up. But we thoroughly enjoyed our visit at Mt. Rushmore and then we fired up the RV and ...

Total Miles: 1537 Total Hours In The Car: 28 Hours, 15 Minutes Total States: 5 Quote Of The Day: "I love the smell of asphalt in the morning" Bob Travis Tourist Activities: Badlands National Park SD, Wall Drug, Wall SD, Corn Palace Mitchell SD Cultural Differences ...

Have any of you been to the Mall of America? Well, we stopped there for lunch today. I was so excited to experience the materialism of America. You know, I walked around that thing for 2 hours. It is just a mall, only bigger. Yeah, they had some neat stores, but it was just a mall. And yeah, they did have a roller coaster in the center, but I wasn't about to get on that thing with all the screaming kiddies. So needless to ...

... also a bit cleaner than it's southern counterpart. It was actually started in the 30's by a couple as a small drug store. To drum up business during the depression, the wife suggested advertising free ice water (and later 5 cent coffee) and when her plan worked her skeptical husband began going crazy placing billboards all over the state and beyond. Wall Drug has now grown into a whole Western themed town filled with tourists, but the water is still free and the ...

... After that we drove on up I-29 North towards Sioux City through more water-logged fields which seemed odd as it was blazing sun at 86F. At one point the highway went down to one lane as the other lane was pure mud. Apparantly St Louis may now be in danger of some flooding. Usual stop at McDonalds for a late lunch - there are lots of them, they are very cheap and the food is ok. I had a chicken wrap and the best strawberry ...

We woke up to 6" of new snow this morning. I went out and started shoveling, thinking about 90 degrees in Rio. Our neighbor did most of the drive with a blower so it did not take too long. We would not have been able to get the car through the berm the snow plow had left at the end of the drive, so I ...

... Christmas party!). Last night I went to see the Lights Festival at Old Market. I hope you can see the beauty of the lights in my photos - I am not a skilled photographer so I don't do the scenes any justice. Tomorrow I am off to Washington D.C. before getting the train to Richmond, Virginia to stay with a good friend - Carol-lee Aquiline and her son, Aeden. I am looking forward to seeing them again. Hope you all are well and I wish you all a very merry Christmas. Leonie

... and it has made it so much cooler. We've seen such pretty parts of the state, things I never saw when my Dad and I made our first trip to Montana. SD is farms, ranches, tons of open green space. Very beautiful. <br>Allison suggested that we dip into the NE corner of Nebraska, to get another state under our belts. We were both so happy we did that! We crossed the Missouri River to get to Nebraska. Then we found it again in Ponca State Park, where we spent the night ...

... least, a nice drive. After that we had a long drive across South Dakota ahead of us. Not much other than straight roads, grassland, and some rain. We did, on the advice of three people, stop in Mitchell to see the Corn Palace. This is a building that gets decorated with corn every year. Never really thought of corn as an artistic medium, but it actually worked here. Two sides of this large building have murals of ...