We drove to Sioux Falls, South Dakota on Friday, August 1, 2008. We called our friends Fred and Mary Raiche. John and I flew with Fred and Mary over the years and we had a great time sharing old memories and the fun times we used to have flying. It was a most enjoyable evening. A little wine, a little beer and lots of laughs!!!! We all agreed that we had the best of the flying in the 60' 70's and 80's....before it became a JOB!!!
On Saturday John and I did some sight seeing here in Sioux Falls. We began down at Falls Park. This 121-acre park is home to the namesake of the city, the Falls of the Big Sioux River. The very first town of Sioux Falls was laid out on this site before its abandonment in 1862. Falls Park features many informational displays throughout the park that tells of the history and geology of the falls and other fascinating facts. They have a free
trolley to see the downtown area. Designed int the style of the Streetcars that operated in Sioux Falls in the early 1900's.
There is a narrative of the down town area. We begin by passing by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Passenger Depot. the depot continued to serve passenger trains until 1965 when "The Arrow" became the last passenger train to leave Sioux Falls. We continue past the Old Court House Museum, the Old Minnehaha County Jail, Orpheum Theater and the Raven/Aerostar Industries ( they manufacture nearly half of all the hot air balloons produced in the United States. They have also produced most of the famous balloons displayed in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade).The round trip takes about 30 minutes and is a narrated ride.
From the Falls Park we went to the South Dakota Battleship Memorial. The South Dakota was the most decorated battleship of WW II. When the South Dakota was decommissioned they could not bring the entire battleship to South Dakota so they built an outline of the ship and did manage to obtain two of the three 16-inch turrets, a 16-inch gun barrel ( length - 63 feet and weight - 94 tons). This gun barrel was brought to this site in one piece. It took a great deal of money and effort to bring the barrel in one piece. The propeller is on display, it weights 18 tons and is 17 1/2 feet in diameter. The anchor cast at the navy yard in Norfolk weights 13 tons along with the anchor chain. The outline of the battleship is 680 feet in length and the beam is 108 feet. The deck of the battleship was used at the ceiling in the museum building.
The battleship was in Tokyo Bay at anchor while the final surrender negotiations were going on aboard the neighboring U.S.S. Missouri on September 2, 1945. Remember that the President of the United States at that time was Harry S. Truman....he was from Missouri.
We left South Dakota on Sunday, August 3, and drove to Minnesota. We are at a campground in Maple Grove...near the grand children.
More on that later.... that is all for now.. hope all is well with everyone....
Candy and Johnny
