Day 4: Socially distant summer (7/29)
SIOUX FALLS SD - Chad surprised me with his choice of breakfast downtown: BernBaum’s, which appeared to be a socially progressive place, given the headshots on the wall of African-Americans who, we’ll say, fell victim to alleged overaggressive policing. I ordered the Romainian sausage+egg; unsurprisingly, Chad did not.
After tracking down a mural of teen activist Greta Thunberg in an alley - she had been in-state supporting the Standing Rock pipeline protests - we headed south toward another piece of busywork for the local artists: Wahpper, a 40-foot-long catfish sculpture on the shores of the Red River.
While heading further south down I-29, Chad secretly enjoyed listening to South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s lunch-hour rebroadcast of Sheryl Crow’s 2013 appearance as the Sioux Falls JazzFest.
Chad’s normal MO on vacation is to pick up university T-shirts. Since, on my previous visit, I had picked up UND and NDSU shirts, his first opportunity on this trip was in Brookings, home of the South Dakota State Jackrabbits, a unique mascot indeed. (Just don’t call them “San Diego.”).
While in Brookings, we had a late lunch at Cubby’s Sports Bar & Grill, welcoming the NHL back to action watching the region’s team, the Minnesota Wild, in a warm-up for the bubble Stanley Cup tournament.
From there, it was just another hour to Sioux Falls where, finally, our Red Roof room was perfectly accessible.
Having eaten lunch just a couple hours earlier, we opted for a pre-game dessert at the Cherry Berry Yogurt Bar, then stopping by the namesake falls of the Big Sioux River before settling down for the evening at the Birdcage, home of the Sioux Falls Canaries. Visiting the Birdcage was the non-Brewer baseball team from Milwaukee - the Milkmen(?!) - who won 8-6.
After tracking down a mural of teen activist Greta Thunberg in an alley - she had been in-state supporting the Standing Rock pipeline protests - we headed south toward another piece of busywork for the local artists: Wahpper, a 40-foot-long catfish sculpture on the shores of the Red River.
While heading further south down I-29, Chad secretly enjoyed listening to South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s lunch-hour rebroadcast of Sheryl Crow’s 2013 appearance as the Sioux Falls JazzFest.
Chad’s normal MO on vacation is to pick up university T-shirts. Since, on my previous visit, I had picked up UND and NDSU shirts, his first opportunity on this trip was in Brookings, home of the South Dakota State Jackrabbits, a unique mascot indeed. (Just don’t call them “San Diego.”).
While in Brookings, we had a late lunch at Cubby’s Sports Bar & Grill, welcoming the NHL back to action watching the region’s team, the Minnesota Wild, in a warm-up for the bubble Stanley Cup tournament.
From there, it was just another hour to Sioux Falls where, finally, our Red Roof room was perfectly accessible.
Having eaten lunch just a couple hours earlier, we opted for a pre-game dessert at the Cherry Berry Yogurt Bar, then stopping by the namesake falls of the Big Sioux River before settling down for the evening at the Birdcage, home of the Sioux Falls Canaries. Visiting the Birdcage was the non-Brewer baseball team from Milwaukee - the Milkmen(?!) - who won 8-6.