Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls

More pictures of Sioux Falls.  I touched the quartzite...

Big Sioux River Falls

 Every time we drove by the Big Sioux River, I would sing "BIGGGG SIOUX RIVER" a la "Old Man River" from Show Boat.  Don't you think Lizzie deserves some sort of award for patience?  Because I do.  Anyway, yesterday, while we were driving in East Sioux Falls, we learned from a historical marker that a stone called jasper and quartzite was quarried here, and workers got horrible consumption from inhaling the dust.  This stone that you see here is quartzite, and though it brought prosperity to the area for a while, the advent of concrete, a national depression, and a plague of grasshoppers killed the boom in the early 1890s, and while East Sioux Falls completely disappeared, except for some old rail road spurs, Sioux Falls proper eventually regained prosperity via a meat packing plant, an airbase, the interstate system, and agricultural industry.

These are the Sioux River Falls, carving their way through the quartzite.  There were tons of children around, but unfortunately none fell off the cliff into the swirling waters below.  I mean fortunately.

Entry to Falls Park, Sioux Falls

 On  October 14, 1899, William McKinley became the first President ever to visit South Dakota.  In 1901, McKinley was shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz, and a bunch of doctors poked their dirty fingers in the wounds, and the poor man died of blood poisoning.  I find anarchists annoying because they're all like "OMG LET'S ABOLISH THE GOVERNMENT." but then they're the first people to complain when someone touches their stuff.  Just saying.  For the record, I am a fan of garbage pick up, road maintenance, and clean tap water, so while I think revolution can be useful, anarchy is so not my bag.

This morning, after visiting Mr. Bendo, we drove toward Falls Park.  We weren't sure what to expect (water falls?) and then our GPS tried to make us traverse a closed, dug out road, so we just parked Mustang Maude and wandered around the construction until we found this park, with these fun sculptures to play with.
We kept walking, and we eventually found what we
were looking for!

More Sculpture in Sioux Falls

Thomas L. Fawick is a famous innovator/inventor from Sioux Falls, SD, who liked himself some peen art, so he gave this replica of Michelangelo's David.  He also had two Stradivarius violins.  I just thought you'd want to know that.

Mr. Bendo

 GREETINGS, HUMANS.  IT IS I, MR. BENDO!  I LIVE IN SIOUX FALLS, AND I LOVE ALL HUMANS, EXCEPT FOR THAT ONE WHO DROVE HIS CAR INTO MY LEG AND BROKE IT.  THAT HUMAN INCURRED MY WRATH, AND ONCE MY CREATOR HAD HEALED ME, I LEFT HERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, FOUND HIM, AND BROKE HIS LEG.  AND THE REST OF HIM.  HUMANS ARE SO FRAGILE....

BUT THESE HUMANS...THESE HUMANS ARE MY FRIENDS.  MR. BENDO LOVES HUMANS...

Iowa has Excellent Murals

It took us about 3 hours, but we made it to Iowa!  We decided upon Rock Rapids, because it was on the way to our final destination of Sioux Falls, SD.  We drove down Main street looking for likely candidates for dinner, and found Sully's Grill.  GOOD LAWD.  It was kind of weird demographically, in that Lizzie and I were the youngest people by about 50 years, and I am old  (MY BIRTHDAY WAS YESTERDAY!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME, WITH NO VOMITING THIS TIME--SEE ITALY TRIP.)  The waitress told us to get the ribs, and so we did.  AND THEY WERE DELICIOUS.  We got the super baby portions, because otherwise it'll put the hurt on us (the hurt=when food does bad things to you.  any kind of bad thing, from heart burn to powering through your digestive system in 35 minutes which is poor form on a road trip) but it was cheap and delicious--exactly what we expected from Iowa.  After using the restroom (PEE IN AS MANY STATES AS POSSIBLE) we took off for South Dakota, stopping at the Wal-Mart for supplies (see picture below) avoiding the oodles of casinos on the way, and now we're hunkered down because there are tornado warnings.  If I die, someone needs to go to my apartment and scrub the tub because I didn't get a chance to do that before I left, and I don't want people thinking I'm a slob.  OH SHIT, I DIDN'T MAKE MY BED EITHER.  SOMEONE GET ON THAT FOR ME.  Off to the badlands tomorrow, should the tornadic activity pass on by.

Ride, Maude-y, Ride

Hi!! Guess how many states Lizzie and I peed in today?  FOUR!  FOUR STATES! (MA, MN, IA, SD)  My journey this morning began on the bus, because I am an old lady, and love that I can get to the airport for under $4.00.  On the bus, I saw people wearing scrunchies, a young man looking at porn on his iphone (it was only 8:30--isn't that a little early for porn?  I guess not.) and an old time-y prospector!  Old time-y prospector looked like he had boarded the bus in his floppy hat and galoshes thinking it was a time machine back to 1849.  Once, when the door opened to let on passengers, he hocked a loogie straight through the door onto the side walk.  I think he had a pick axe in his pack, and was going to pan for gold in the Charles River.  Good luck, Prospector Pete!  Anyway, everyone was creepily polite on the bus and on the subway, until I got to the Silver line, where it was like Lord of the Flies and you had to yell "YOU NEED TO LET PEOPLE OFF BEFORE YOU GET ON" and order was restored.

Note--on the bus, this woman asked a rando stranger if she could use his phone, and he said yes (I would not have) and she was apparently late to work, and lied that our bus was broken down.  DON'T JINX US, WOMAN.  Also, I found it odd that she didn't feel awk lying in front of a bunch of people.  I digress.

So due to a wacky mix up, Lizzie had to fly first class or not at all, so she paid for the upgrade, and I sat back with the riff raff, next to this stuffy couple that scoffed in my general direction.  At one point, however, a flight attendant came back with a cookie (and a fork) and said "Shannon?" and I assumed Lizzie'd been arrested, so I looked up and said "Yes?" and she gave me the cookie!  AWW YEAH!  Lizzie hadn't wanted it, and sent it back from first class.  THIS IS HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES!  My neighbors were like "HUH?  SHE MUST HAVE A FRIEND IN FIRST CLASS!" which clearly baffled them, but then I ate my cookie with the fork to show them how classy I actually am.

We flew into Minneapolis, grabbed our rental car, which happens to be that lovely, subtle red mustang (Mustang Maude) you see with the equally fabulous Lizzie, and headed toward Iowa.  And of course, there were killer storms.  Because that's how we roll.  We passed Butternut, MN, Butterfield, MN, and Butterface, MN, before stopping for gas, where I was extra chatty and had a fun convo with a guy at the adjacent pump and learned about his sweet 1990 Caddy which he was going to restore for shows (it has air ride and whatnot.  I prefer our mustang, but I respect the Caddy.)  Lizzie implied that something bad was probably going to happen to him for interacting with us, since bad things often befall the friends we make on our trips, so I hope Mr. Caddy doesn't get trapped in the leather seats of his car and suffocate, because he was friendly and I liked him.  Anyway, on the trip we discussed how so much of America looks the same (lots of farms and cows) and how different that experience is from ours, even though we grew up near cows.  The remoteness terrifies us a little--I feel safer in a big city than I do in a tiny town, which leads us to---Rock Rapids, IA!