Sioux Falls

Like most small Midwestern cities, the Olive Garden is the principal restaurant of choice when visiting out-of-town relatives come by.

If you live in a metropolitan area, you might be picking up on my snarkiness here.

Sioux Falls is a nice place. Too nice. It’s like a 50’s sitcom that’s come to bite you in the rear end. Pleasant city, but not worth going out of your way to visit.

Granted, casinos are a blast (even when you lose), but Sioux Falls is ridiculous. There is literally a casino on every corner (as with the rest of South Dakota). If you love a casino the size of a McDonalds restaurant, go here. Otherwise, go someplace else!

Travelled with a friend and was disturbed at how closed-minded the people there were. It was interesting to see how flat everything was, but I don’t want to go back.

I was born here and remember visiting my relatives. But we moved when I was 4.

It’s a good little town of over 100k people, but it doesn’t really have too much to offer the tourist. The three tourist things are Falls Park, the Washington Pavilion, and the Zoo. The Falls are small, but they can be pretty, especially if the city lights them up at night. The Pavilion has a decent science center for kids as well as the occasional concert. Lastly, the Zoo does have the Delbridge Museum which has a pretty impressive collection of mounted animals. Wikipedia has a good write up of it here.

While you’re there, I suggest getting an order of “Potato Ole’s” from “Taco Johns.” (The closest one to Seattle is in Ft Lewis, but they’re everywhere in Sioux Falls.) Sure, they’re just glorified tater tots, but there is something addictive about the spices they use.

I also suggest dropping by the Zandbroz gift shop downtown and checking out their soda fountain. (There are only two Zandbroz shops – one in Fargo and one in Sioux Falls.)

Also, it doesn’t hurt to swing by American Salvage and Surplus on 8th street. I found a great stash of Simpsons watches there once.

Lastly, if you want to see an amazing case of bad city planning, check out 41st and Louise. I think both streets are at least 7 lanes across, and it is the most dangerous intersection in all of South Dakota. (It’s one of two ways to get to the Walmart, otherwise known as “Wally World” to the locals.)