Downtown Sioux Falls

One of my favorite places to visit is my home town of Sioux Falls, SD. I moved away 20 years ago, but it still feels like home when I get back there.

Here are some photos from my most recent visit:

A Cold Morning at the Falls of the Big Sioux River

A mid-April blizzard brought wind, snow and misery to the State of South Dakota, but left behind tranquil, frigid beauty that only Mother Nature can produce. Behold, the falls of the Big Sioux River:

I hope the falls are at least half as beautiful when I encounter them again later this year.

Tarzan and Jane Tie the Knot

When my childhood friend Steve introduced me to Jane, his future wife, he pounded his chest and said "me Tarzan, she Jane".

On April 14th, Tarzan and Jane came down from the trees, but only long enough to tie the knot:

A good time was had by all, but nobody smiled bigger than Tarzan and Jane.

Summer Trip to South Dakota Part 3

One of our favorite things to do when we visit Sioux Falls is to patronize our favorite restaurants. A new discovery made on our last visit was Lam's Vietnamese Restaurant. Hands down the best Vietnamese food I've ever had, and that seemed to be the consensus view among our entire group.

We'll definitely be visiting Lam's again on our next trip back to Sioux Falls.

Hanging with the Home Boys

While in Sioux Falls a week or so ago, I met up with some of my childhood friends for some beers and shots. No shots for me though, I learned to avoid shots 20 or so years ago.

Andy, Don, Scott, Ron, Rene, Shane, Jane, Steve

Jazz Fest

Just returned from a week on the road that included stops in Iowa and South Dakota. A highlight of all that traveling was the Sioux Falls Jazz Fest. The crowd was huge, the food was delicious, and the bands were bursting with energy. Here are some photos of a few of the bands we liked most:

Samantha Fish

Gary Clark jr

George Thorogood

The Demolition of the Hilltop Water Tower

A landmark that brings back a lot of fond memories for me is the Hilltop Water Tower located at the corner of 18th and Bahnson in Sioux Falls, SD. In the early 1970's, I attended 1st through 4th grade at the Cleveland Elementary Annex, which was a group of houses located just to the West of the tower on South Point Drive. I lived on the East side of Bahnson, so I passed the tower each day as I walked to and from school. Since the tower sat on the highest point in Sioux Falls, I can legitimately say I walked uphill both to and from school.

At the base of the tower was a merry-go-round, and my friends and I never missed an opportunity to get it spinning as fast as we could. In the winter, we spent endless hours sledding down the steep hill on the tower's West side. Those days were fun, and innocent.

Years later, when I sought out fun that wasn't so innocent, I found myself climbing that tower with a friend, and an older brother. I was probably 16 at the time, and the three of us thought it might be neat to shoot bottle rockets from the top of that tower. We didn't fall off or get arrested so, I guess it was our lucky day. Not a smart day, just a lucky day.

This past summer, the city of Sioux Falls decided it was time to bring the old water tower down. It hadn't been used for many years, and so its time had come. It made me sad to know that it was gone, that corner will never look the same, but hey, progress happens.

Luckily, I was able to get a hold of some photos of the tower's demolition:

In the first photo, workers have cut away a section of the base, and are in the process of marking other sections that will be cut away. What this does is weaken the structure, which will make it easier  to topple the tower. Also notice that there is a steel cable attached to the top of the tower. The other end of the cable is attached to a tractor to the right of the area pictured.

Hilltop Water Tower in Sioux Falls, SD is prepped for demolition

In the next photo, you can see the ladder used by authorized, and unauthorized :) personnel to climb the tower. You can also see the tractor that will be used to bring the tower down.

Tractor prepares to topple Hilltop Water Tower in Sioux Falls, SD

The collapse begins. The skyline of Sioux Falls is about to be altered, forever.

Hilltop Water Tower being demolished in Sioux Falls, SD

Crash! The Hilltop tower isn't much of a tower anymore.   

Hilltop Water Tower crashes to the ground in Sioux Falls, SD

Here you can see the concrete slab the tower rested on, along with the underside of the tower's base.

Hilltop Water Tower after it is toppled in Sioux Falls, SD

Here the twisted metal that was once the Hilltop tower, is flattened under the weight of the tractor. Goodbye Hilltop tower, hello scrap metal.

Twisted metal that was once the Hilltop Water Tower in Sioux Falls, SD



This last photo is an aerial view of the Hilltop area in 1960. On the right side in the middle of the picture is the Hilltop Tower. Also included in the picture is Cleveland Elementary school, Saint Lambert's church, and towards the top is the East Park outdoor drive in theater. The house I grew up in wouldn't be built for another couple years after this photo was taken.

Aerial view of the Hilltop neighborhood of Sioux Falls in 1960

Summer Vacation - Downtown Sioux Falls

Downtown Sioux Falls is a rich environment for buildings made of Sioux Quartzite. For information about Sioux Quartzite, follow this link here, and this one here.

Washington Pavillion.

 

Old Courthouse Museum.

 

Saint Joseph Cathedral.

 

Not everything I photographed is related to Sioux Quartzite, for instance, this is the Statue of David in Downtown Sioux Falls, and is one of only a few actual size replicas of the original. The statue did not come to the city without controversy .

 

 

The Minnehaha County Courthouse.

 

 

We checked the time on this sundial, and it was right on the money.

 

Summer Vacation - Must Stop Places

Whenever we visit Sioux Falls, we have a list of places we have to stop at. Most of those are restaurants, and a few of those are pictured here. This is by no means an all inclusive compilation.

On this day we drove over to Mr Goodcents, which serves up some very good sub sandwiches. Here is Grandma Rita and Josh as they disembark from that boxy looking, red, four wheeled, motorized, vehicle.

 

Here is the hungry crew waiting impatiently for me to take the picture because they are convinced they look ridiculous posing in front of Mr Goodcents (which they do, but don't tell them I said so).

 

Grampa and Grandma's house, notice the stork over the right side of the house.

 

Probably my favorite stop, The Keg. They serve the best fried chicken I've ever had. This place usually qualifies for two or more stops while we're in town, no kidding, it's that good.

 

Summer Vacation - Hot Harley Nights Part I

For the third consecutive year we attended Hot Harley Nights in downtown Sioux Falls. This years bash was every bit as good as the previous years, which means we'll probably be back next year. I took a ton of photos this year, so I'll break them up over a few separate posts.

This is a shot looking South on Phillips Avenue as the bikes approach the end of the parade route.

 

Shane and Michele standing among some of the bikes lining the streets downtown.

 

Looking back to the North at a never ending river of bikes.

 

One very talented gorilla.

 

A Great one from Seasons Past

I came across this post card the other day and couldn't resist posting it here. We found it to be funny and creative last year when we received it, and definitely deserving of being displayed again this year.

Featured behind my Brother Mike and his wife Lu is the leaning tower of zip in downtown Sioux Falls. Demolition experts tried to bring it down, but failed miserably while thousands looked on, and laughed. Here is another view, and yet another.