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| Breakfast before heading on our way. |
The Original Plan
The original plan for the second of travel involved driving from Minneapolis south to Des Moines, Iowa and then west to Omaha Nebraska before heading back north to Sioux Falls, South Dakota for the evening. Once we took a look at the travel times and what there was to do, we altered this a bit. We still needed to get to Iowa and Nebraska for my husband to add to his state total but we found a little more efficient way to go about it.
The New Plan
The new plan was to drive Southwest in Minnesota to Sioux City, Iowa and head to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. We would then cross over into Nebraska at South Sioux City and then continue our trek northward to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. |
| Windmill farms were very common across Minnesota |
Off We Go!
Now that we had a plan, we set out to follow it. Driving from Minneapolis to Sioux City, Iowa was interesting. We saw many small lakes, lots and lots of rolls of hay, a crop duster in action, and windmill farms. The sky was blue and our ambitions high. We kept driving into Iowa and we saw more rolls of hay, lots of cornfields, and more blue skies. About four and a half hours after we left Minneapolis we found ourselves in Sioux City, Iowa!
Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center - Sioux City, Iowa (Free)
This was a quick but enjoyable stop for us. It was nice to get out of the car and move around a bit by this point. We found rather quickly that we didn't know a whole lot about Lewis and Clark and their Expedition. Now we have seen signs along our many travels indicating that we were in areas explored by Lewis and Clark but this was the first time that we actually took a few minutes to learn a little more about the expedition itself.
The center is open Tues-Friday 9 AM - 5 PM and Sat and Sunday Noon - 5 PM. Admission is Free
There are a few statues outside of the building. Once you go inside, they do not allow any photography. (I did sneak one picture to give you the idea of what the exhibits are like. Shh....)
Inside there are several exhibits following a timeline of the expedition. There are also interactive stations where kids can get their "passports" stamped or decide what kind of a position they would have held in the expedition. The tour is self-guided and there is a short (15-20 min) film that you can watch to get an overview of the expedition. It held our attention and again gave us a little rest from the traveling.
We spent about 1/2 hour looking around. I would recommend an average stop of an hour if you have children who would like to explore a bit more and take part in some of the interactive displays.
Nebraska
Nebraska was a very quick stop for us on this trip. From the Interpretive Center we headed across the bridge from Sioux City, Iowa to South Sioux City, Nebraska. At this point it was time for lunch so we stopped for a quick bite to eat before heading North to South Dakota.
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
From South Sioux City, Nebraska it was a little over an hour drive to get to our stopping point for Day 2. Once we realized that we had cut quite a bit of time off our original schedule by taking a shorter route through Iowa and Nebraska than planned, we decided to tweak our schedule once again.
Since we were heading through Sioux Falls right about check in time, we decided to check in to our hotel first and then head to a stop that we originally had planned for Day 3....The Corn Palace in Mitchell South Dakota.
The World's Only Corn Palace - Mitchell, South Dakota (Free)
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| The World's Only Corn Palace - Mitchell, South Dakota |
The Corn Palace in Mitchell was just a little over an hour west of our hotel in Sioux Falls. While it involved a little back tracking, we decided it was worth it to check it off the list on Day 2 since our Day 3 was going to be action packed.  |
| Corning Around! |
The Corn Palace is open most weekdays from 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM year round. They are closed on major holidays. Be sure to check their website for the hours during the time you are planning your visit as it does vary.
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| The inside of the Corn Palace |
Cattleman's Club Steakhouse - Mitchell, South Dakota
For dinner, we decided to stop at Cattleman's Club Steakhouse in Mitchell. We arrived just around 5:00 PM on a Saturday but happened to just beat the crowd. By the time we left, the parking lot was full and there was a line out the door so I would suggest you try an early dinner to beat the crowd.
The atmosphere was casual and had a "western" feel. The service was good and the staff friendly. We had the Prime Rib which was the house specialty and it was very tasty.
Hilton Garden Inn - Sioux Falls, South Dakota - South
After our visit to Mitchell we returned to our hotel for the evening. This hotel was located very near to I-90 and had easy access to the highway. The lobby was very nice and the staff friendly. Since my husband has diamond status (How important the loyalty rewards are!) we were upgraded to a suite for the evening.
The suite was very nice....very spacious. It had a separate bedroom and sitting area, microwave, refrigerator, Keurig and Sink as well as 1.5 bathrooms! Very nice for getting ready in the morning! Our room was very quiet. Parking was on an outside lot and free.
I would recommend this hotel for location and convenience as well as hospitality and quality.
It was time to get some rest. Day 3 was going to be the start of our long days of travel so it was nice to have a great room to relax and rest up before the next morning!
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