Friends and Family Tour: South Dakota and Minnesota

8/5/24 – On this day we stopped at Wall Drug on our way east to Pierre, the capital of S. Dakota. 

For anybody who has gone to Wall Drug before, yes, the signs along the highway are still there in abundance!

Started as a drug store in 1931, it is now a huge tourist trap!

We arrived at our RV park by the Missouri River after dark so we had to enjoy the sights the next morning. 

8/6/24 – We joined an 8am tour of the capitol building in Pierre, South Dakota.

We learned they constructed it using the same plans as the Montana State Capitol, which we had seen in July 

They have a miniature recreation of each first lady's inauguration gown (and now, the first gentleman's tux), usually made with some fabric from the article of clothing

It didn’t take us long to close up the RV and head east.  We stopped in Mitchell (S. Dakota).

We saw the window ad of our Encanterra friend, Chris Nipe, who has a law firm there

Chris reminded us not to miss the Corn Palace (adorned with different colored corn cobs - inside and out!)

Truly unique and the only one in the world

We drove a few more hours to Sioux Falls (S. Dakota) where we parked the RV and stayed with Encanterra friends, Steve and Alice Kary.

We met other Encanterra friends for dinner in Sioux Falls before a round of drinks at the RV (Carrie / Chris Nipe, Alice / Steve Kary, Paul / Julie Schnaible)

8/7/24 – Since Steve and Alice had shown us around Sioux Falls a year ago, our road trip on this day went to her brother and sister-in-law’s hobby farm. 

We enjoyed meeting their friendly menagerie! 

A bit of relaxing in the afternoon before a fabulous dinner at Steve and Alice’s.

8/8/24 – After driving halfway across Minnesota, we stopped in St. Peter, MN, to see the microbrewery that Greg Melchoir (friend/old Green Bay neighbor) is building in an old fire station. 

We caught up over one beer down the street before finishing the drive to Winona, MN, to stay with friends from Encanterra: Joyce Woodworth and Ed Carolan.

We had dinner on the patio of Joyce’s cottage / shed

8/9/24 – Joyce gave us the grand tour of Winona…she was born there, ran the Winona Knitting Mill with her husband, and did history broadcasts for the local news in the 2000s. 

Joyce's knitting mill was the biggest in the US before NAFTA. They made the sweater that "The Dude" wore in "The Big Lebowski"

Joyce has a collection of High Wheel bikes and Pat and Ed were brave enough to give it a try!

In the afternoon, Ed navigated Joyce’s pontoon on the Mississippi to get us to Trempealeau, WI, where we docked the boat and had a wonderful dinner before motoring back.