Since beginning our full-time journey to discover the country, we have found something to appreciate in every city and town we have passed through. We hope you enjoy reading about them as much as we have enjoyed discovering them!

No person, business or attraction has paid us for an endorsement.

Sioux Falls

Population: 180,927
Founded: 1857
Average income: $34,931
Average price of housing: $311,800
Median age of the population: 34
https://www.siouxfalls.org/

Geographically Sioux Falls is in the very southeastern corner of South Dakota, on I-90. It lies on the Big Sioux River.

Home Base: The Campground

For us, a campground is not our destination. Our RV is self-contained. Rarely do we use campground services or amenities. We are explorers, not campground reviewers! We stayed on site E21 at the Sioux Falls KOA. The campground was clean and well maintained. The staff was friendly. Our full hook up (water-sewer-electric) site was on level crushed stone. Our pull through site was long enough to leave the Jeep hooked up and still have both vehicles off the road. 30 and 50 amp service was available. There was good cell phone coverage (Verizon) and a good open southern sky for our satellite. Easy off and on I-90, however that means you will hear traffic. It seems to quiet down some overnight. The road noise was not enough to keep us awake. The KOA is also close to the airport, so you will hear airplanes coming and going. It doesn’t seem to happen much, but it does exist.

Downtown

We are always drawn to quaint, unique downtown areas. The downtown area is very nice. With 180,000 people in Sioux Falls, they have done a very nice job with making the downtown area convenient to get around and a pleasant place to be. Parks abound. The only complaint is the lack of parking. See food and drink heading below.

Food and Drink

While we certainly acknowledge there are good chain restaurants, for example, Mission BBQ, we always prefer small locally owned restaurants. There were many restaurants we wanted to try in Sioux Falls, but either found none that were open (Sunday and Monday) or we had to park 8 blocks away in 100 degree only to find no seating was available. According to information at the Courthouse Museum, parking in downtown Sioux Falls has been a problem since 1972!

We ended up going out to eat at a couple of local chain restaurants. Not bad places, but nothing exceptional either.

What Sioux Falls did have that was exceptional was pastries!! Crumbl (yes, this is the correct spelling) takes cookies to a whole new level. We have never had cookies better than this! They are expensive, but you get what you pay for. We have since learned Crumbl is a chain and there are locations in many of the larger cities, for example, Denver and Houston. I can understand why they have a 4.9 rating with over 4 thousand reviews.

The other pastry place we put on our exceptional list is Oh My Cupcakes! Two sizes of cupcakes, in probably 20 different varieties. The buttercream frosting was sweet, but not too sweet. A must try.

Attractions

There were many free places to visit in Sioux Falls. There were a lot of very lush, green, beautiful parks to visit. It was wonderful to see so many people taking advantage of all the wonderful outdoor spaces Sioux Falls has to offer.

Falls Park. One of our favorite parks was Falls Park. The Big Sioux River runs through the city. The park is well maintained and clean with lots of walking paths along the river. There is an observation tower from which you can look around the area.

USS South Dakota Memorial. This is a free museum dedicated to everything pertaining to the USS South Dakota. Outside is interesting. There is a foot high cement wall that is an exact replica of the length and width of the battleship. It gives you a sense of the size of the USS South Dakota! In the grassy center area lies the museum that has been built to resemble the top side of the battleship. There are many artifacts for the ship, including the ship’s bells and flags.

Courthouse Museum. This is an amazing building! It was built in 1890 at a cost of $135,000. At the time it was designed to be the biggest courthouse between Chicago and Denver. It covers a total of 47,00 square feet and has a bell tower that is 165 feet tall. Everything has been redone inside. Two of the original murals are on the walls between the first and second floor.

The Outdoor Campus of the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks in Sertoma Park. This was a total surprise. We thought is was just another beautiful Sioux Falls park, but this was so much more! The SD Game, Fish and Parks Department leases a large section of Sertoma Park to offer free hiking trails and free classes in hiking, kayaking, canoeing, archery, etc.! There are a few rescued animals including Wally, the painted turtle who has been at the Outdoor School since it opened. As a matter of fact, the day we were there, Governor Kristi Noem was going to be at the Outdoor School commemorating 25 years of the Outdoor School. Lynn, who greats you at the door, has a lot of knowledge and a lot of passion for the Outdoor School.

Fun Facts

In 1958, Sioux Falls was the 10th biggest stockyard in the country. By 1981, the Sioux Falls Stockyards became the biggest stockyard in the nation. The stockyard complex was 49 acres and had pens for hogs, cattle, and sheep. The stockyard stayed in operation until 2009 when the last stockyard closed.

Summary

We were only in Sioux Falls for a few days, but we very much enjoyed our time there. It is a must see city. We didn’t get a chance to see everything we wanted to see, or explore everywhere on “our list”. Easy How to Guide For Exploring. Sioux Falls has a wonderful vibe to it. It does not feel like it has 180,000 people. The city is laid out well, the driving was not congested, and is easy to get around. There are lots of free parks and museums. Our only complaint we had about Sioux Falls was the downtown parking.

Your partners in travel,
Kathryn, Dave and Lucky
RVing Nomads

It’s a lifestyle

Thank you so much for reading this blog. If you enjoyed the content, please check out other blogs at:
https://rvingnomads.com
https://relationshipsrelearned.com

To be notified of future posts, please enter your email address and click on the Subscribe button.

If you haven’t checked out our Great Service and Value page, please do so. If you are in their area, you may find these places as enjoyable and rewarding as we did!