Our 2019 USA Trip / Part 6 / South Dakota

Flights from New York to Sioux Falls via Chicago went without a hitch.
We picked up our rental at the airport and headed out!
I guess now is the time to discuss briefly the weather we experienced during our four week stay.
The fact that it snowed on us on day one when driving from Sioux Falls to Elkton should have been a warning.

The region had experienced a lot of rain before we arrived and this continued. Some days it was very windy and cold, some were very rainy and cold and others were very rainy, windy.....and cold.
In fact it was so wet that farmers in many areas could not get onto their fields to plant and the corn crop for the year was looking to be in jeopardy. I travelled into Minnesota with Mark to look at soil conditions on the family farm there and it was obviously very boggy. Many fields in the area were virtual lakes.This is a major problem for all mid west USA.

At least we got to do a little bit of machine maintenance (well he did, I just held stuff) as well as buy seed in case conditions improved.
I had never seen the Big Sioux River so high and in flood in so many places and the Falls carrying such a torrent.

Then strangely on a few days in between it was sunny, warm and very still.
Things improved in the last week of our visit and it looks like the beans will get in the ground before the seasonal 'deadline'.

Of course our main purpose being there was to catch up with family and friends.
And this we did by moving around various locations as well as participating in family get togethers.
The Memorial Day grave run was fun as was the Christmas in June get together with both kids and adults enjoying the traditional greed game, eating good food and catching up.
The co driver caught up with a long term friend from Las Vegas, attended a Cher concert and did a quilt retreat in Canton.
We did the Sioux Falls sculpture walk and again enjoyed the diversity of work.
It is the largest and most recognized annual exhibit of public art sculptures in the country.
Our 'must do' restaurant and fast food list was mostly covered with a new find being Crave in the Hilton Garden Inn in Sioux Falls.
Caribou coffee at their dedicated store was as good as ever and their coffee bagel combo at Einstein Bros Bagels was terrific as well.
Sadly the Phillips Ave Diner and Coffea Roasterie downtown missed out this time around. 

Our date night at Morries Steakhouse was as outstanding as ever with excellent food, wine and service.The encyclopedic wine list is always a pleasure to scan.
Wine shopping was interesting as usual. Supermarket Hy-Vee had an excellent range as did the Brookings Liquor Store. Sadly higher end Australian wine was hard to find. [Yellowtail] and cheaper export brands seem to dominate the shelves.