The good news… my daughter’s soccer team won the state championship (4th time in a row).
The bad news… now we go to the regional tourney in Sioux Falls, SD.
It is about a 12 hour drive, and since my wife can’t get the time off it looks like I’ll be taking my 11 and 12 year old boys along as well. This is a single elimination tournament so we could be there from anywhere from 1 to 5 days. Of course there will be a soccer game in the middle of the day each day somewhere so I can’t plan any full day activities, but is there anything that we can do to entertain ourselves for a few hours here and there?
Also, any good food recomendations would be welcomed. I don’t know exactly where we’ll be staying, but I think the soccer complex is on the south side of town.
We’ll be getting there on the 19th of this month just in case there may happen to be any festivals or anything like that going on.
Worse than I thought… more than 24 hours and not even a single suggestion of something to do in Sioux Falls. I had hoped at least someone would chime in with a “we have a mall with a Sears” or “there is a park… it even has swings.”
Sioux Falls is actually not that bad. I’m in the southwest corner of Minnesota and we go there often for shopping and such.
Some ideas include Falls Park, Great Plains Zoo, Sertoma Butterfly House, and the Washington Pavilion.
There is a decent mall, the Empire. There are a bunch of other stores as well, including a large Barnes & Noble, Best Buy and Scheel’s (sporting goods).
In terms of restaurants, Minerva’s is a longtime institution, though I can’t vouch for current quality, not having eaten there since the late '80s. I think Bill Clinton stopped in during one of his Presidential campaigns. Maybe it was the waitresses.
If I had to drive for twelve hours and the ultimate destination was Sioux Falls, I’d be depressed. It could be worse however (i.e. Pierre, Yankton).
Or Vemillion. I lived there too. There was no place decent to eat or stay. It’s home to the University of South Dakota, for whatever amusements that might offer (not a whole lot during the summer).
Falls Park was nice, I thought. It’s pretty during the day, and in the evening we went to some kind of laser show about (I think) the settlement of the area.
Washington Pavilion has an IMAX theatre, I believe. I’m not sure what else it has - the wedding reception was held on the stage in the auditorium there.
All in all, it seemed like a pleasant place to live, with most of the sorts of places to shop and eat that you’d find anywhere - all of the major stores, stuff like that. Beyond the two “fun” things I mentioned above, though, I just didn’t have a chance to see much else.
Wow… a slow start, but now we’re getting somewhere.
I just got info about our hotel and we’ll be right next to the Empire mall. The Falls park looks like it could kill an afternoon.
Kalhoun… I think I’ll try the pickle fork idea instead.
ShibbOleth… I’ve got lots of experience with kids and long trips. Why do you think DVD players are now pretty much standard equiptment in mini vans. Also it looks like the girls on the team will be riding together in a few vehicles so I’ll probably have my boys and the sister of another girl. She just happens to be a good friend of my 12 yr old’s “girlfriend” so he’ll be too busy being cool to pick on his brother.
Thanks everyone… things aren’t looking quite as bleak.
I also forgot about the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota, which is about 90 miles from Sioux Falls. It’s worth it if you want to take a bit of a road trip
The Corn Palace is pretty neat. There’s also a gigantic Cabela’s store in Mitchell. They have an amazing big game display that could qualify as a “wildlife of North America” museum.
I have vague memories of the corn palace from a vacation when I was a kid. Not sure if it is worth a 3 hour round trip drive though. I have always wanted to go to a Cabela’s though.
I just got back from Sioux Falls, but we only overnighted there on our way north and back. I saw signs for the zoo and a mini-golf place. We took the hour and a half to two hour drive up to De Smet to see the Laura Ingalls Wilder place. They have done an amazing job on the Homestead, turning it into a “living prairie” Granted the kids in our group were all 7 and under, but we saw plenty of older kids, boys and girls, having a blast with the animals and making rope and taking wagon rides and all that stuff. We even spent the night in a covered wagon on the prairie! (Walnut Grove, MN, is 2 hours from De Smet. I think it’s about 2 hours from Sioux Falls too.)
I just saw this thread and thought… “hmmm someone else is getting stuck going to South Dakota.” Turns out it was my own thread.
We made it there and back safely. My daughter’s team didn’t do great in the tournament, but we really didn’t expect to this year. Three of the starting players were out with injuries, and two more (including my daughter) were just back recovering from injuries (it was a tough season). All of the teams in this tournament are their respective state’s champs so you have to be at the top of your game to do well. Plus we were the defending champs so everyone was gunning for us.
Anyway, we did see the mall… I can probably draw you a map of everything in there since we saw it quite often. The mall and the pool at the hotel is where the boys and I spend most of our time. The girls went as a team to the falls park and a festival downtown as well as a few other places.
Overall, not a bad trip… I’m now fascinated by the wind farms in Western Iowa and Minnesota. I may have to start a new thread asking how they put those monster windmills together (huge cranes, helicopters…???)