Road Trip: Up The Middle Of The Country

Day 16: Sunday, May 19, 2024 - Pierre, SD

Day's statistics:
Weather: upper 60°s, breezy
Steps: Steve 9,942; Linda 6,850
Travel: 31 miles

Today's breakfast was full buffet.
I believe it took fifteen breakfasts before I neglected to get a picture of the breakfast layout.
Linda had a bagel, and I had eggs.

There aren't too many government buildings, no less state houses, that are open on the weekend, no less on a Sunday. But the SD state house defied expectation. We had learned during research, and because the capital was open in Austin on a Sunday too, that the capital would be open this day. So we took advantage of it so that tomorrow morning we could leave right away rather than after the capital.
So we went the five blocks down and four blocks up to the capital.
The parking lot was essentially empty. We headed in.

On the way in, we took our selfie.

And Linda did this.

We entered, and passed through security.
We got our stamp, and according to the sign-in book, relative to the two security guards, we doubled the oocupancy of the building.


We began our self guided tour.
Right outside the security room was this (in a hallway so it is stitched).

We were in the basement / lower level, and down there was a display of SD First Lady Gowns / Gentleman Suits. The display comprised of doll size replicas of the outfits.



"Look at my crappy outfit. I mean, why can't my dress be as nice as this one?"

We headed to the first / main floor, and headed to the rotunda first.












These four statues in the corners are Courage, Integrity, Vision, and Wisdom.










We eventually walked up a flight of stairs to the second floor.




We came across the House Lobby.
The door on this side was locked, but there was a window that was tilted open, so we were able to see inside. A little. Very little.





We passed a multi-page posted document about Legislative Axioms For The Beginning Lobbyist on our way across the capital to the Senate side.



We made our way to the Senate Lobby.




We eventaully made it all the way to the other end, and went up another flight (behind the sofa).

We were [obviously] still on the Senate side. And we happened upon the gallery door. And it was OPEN!.
So we got an unobstructed view - though from above - of the chamber.







Again we crossed the capital to head to the House in hope it was open too.


It turns out it WAS open too!







One thing we noticed in the gallery - that may not be perceivable in the picture - is how close the seats were to the railing. There is essentially NO WAY someone can scootch around someone else to get an inner seat. Not gonna happen.

After the chambers, we headed out via the basement.
We were back by the dress display. A couple items included here are a pin and a couple dresses - one from a former national javelin champion, and the other was just interesting.



We happened to read on the wall a plaque about the floor. In the past, there were cracks in the marble floor. When the masons fixed the cracks, they placed little heart shaped markers in the spots. There were four - and we found them all (though they aren't all pictured here).
Here is about a quarter to a third of the floor section - it contains TWO hearts (I think).

Here is where they are.

And close-ups of the two of them.


The picture with Chelsea helps show the perspective of how small the hearts really are.

We made a quick pit stop on the way out. In the hallway near the restrooms were a couple vending machines.
I don't ever recall seeing Cheese Curds in a vending machine before...

After our tour, we started talking to one of the security guards.
We had asked him about the memorials. He tried explaining where they were, and then said to his parnter that he'd be right back, and he walked us out.

He was then able to point out where the memorials were as they were "right over there."
But we talked to hime for about a half hour outside about a wide range of topics.
He did mention that he is one of the only two people living in SD that doesn't like to fish OR hunt.
But he told us about some of the sights in the greater area, including the Oahe Dam.
Linda asked about the location of the Libarty Bell, and he told us about that too.
We walked over to the car and moved it to the end of the next parking area, in case we didn't feel like walking all the way back to where it was originally parked after our walk - not knowing how long we would be walking for.
There were a few different war memorials.
We walked to the left, and then along the lake.







Each statue represented a different branch of the military.






The guard had told us that if we could smell sulfer, then the flame in the water was out. We did, and it was.

The steps around the waterfall, near the flame, had military branch emplems in them that resembled this (I did not get them all).

The memorial park is in the shadow - at least a late afternoon one - of the capital.


After the war memrials, we continued along the lake to the Fighting Stallions Memorial, a memorial to "eight South Dakotans who perished in an airplane crash April 19, 1993, wtih five state employees, including the Governor, and three Sioux Falls corporate leaders."



A gradutate and his partents arrived to take some pictures while we headed back along the lake toward the car.


On the way to the car, we passed through a pavilion which had rest rooms, a meeting space, and some brochures.
There were some non-employee people setting up for an [family] event too, perhaps a grad party of some kind.
As we got closer to the car, we noticed a couple statues spaced apart along the roadway, though we had no idea what they were.
As the guard recommended, we decided to give Oahe Dam a visit since it was also just a few miles away.

Before getting underway to the dam, we wanted to see the Liberty Bell because we didn't know where we would be whenever, and we didn't want to forget about it. So we drove around the capital to the front, and found the bell.


Next to the bell was a statue of someone whose name I did not recognize - and I didn't get a picture.
On the way to the dam, we passed by the church from last night's Mass.

It was a good thing we spoke to the guard because he told us of a couple things to do while in town.
This was relevant because the Cultural Heritage Center was closed until 2025, and the State Historical Society Museum was closed for renovation.

Perhaps it was a fifteen minute drive to the Oahe Dam.
We started on route 1804 - numbered in honor of the beginning of the Lewis & Clark expidition.
We arrived at a parking lot that provided some historical information, as well as a overlook.






After the overlook, we continued to the powerstation.



We returned to Pierre on route 1806 - numbered in honor of the end / return of the Lewis & Clark expidition - rather than going back down 1804.




We returned to Pierre via the roadway that passed through Fort Pierre.

After we crossed the Missouri River, the roadway took us pretty much back to the hotel - but we turned right.
A couple blocks later we were on a roadway that took us to La Framboise Island - an island in the middle of the river between Fort Pierre and Pierre. There were some fishing peirs, picnic pavilions, and biking and hiking trails.
We weren't going to do too much walking, but some.
The primary path was more like an unpaved roadway along the shore. While we could have walked through some of the woods, we didn't know how far that would be, and we didn't want to have to try to deal with the bugs and other insects.
There were even a few information plaques on the trail too.





We walked to the end of the straightaway, and came back to the first pavilion.

I wanted to do a little more walking on the other side of the island, so I continued on for a little while Linda returned to the car.






After the island, we drove along the river front - parallel with the island - for a little - so little that we didn't even get to the end of the island while on the mainland.
But we did arrive at Griffen Park. But Griffen Park was a campgrouond / camping sort of park, not a strolling park. So we drove past, and continued on.

It was afternoon and time for lunch. But where to go...
I remembered seeing a pizzaria on the left on the way to the hotel. So that's where we went. We pulled into the lot and went inside, and viewed the menu. Within a minute, another customer came in, picked up their order, and was told [paraphrasing] "Bake at 350° for twenty minutes."
Wait, what? "Excuse me, do you sell already made pizza, or just bring home to bake style?"
"Bring home and bake."
"Oh, well that won't work too well in our hotel room. Is there another pizza place anywhere?"
"There's Pizza Ranch and Red Rossa Italian Grill, but that might be closed because it's Sunday."
What Italian restaurant closes on a Sunday?
It turns out that Pizza Ranch is a buffet that also includes pizza.
Rossa was next to our hotel, which was only a couple blocks down the road. Sure enough, it was closed.
Still no luck on where we wanted to go... so we just went to the Chinese restaurant almost across the street from the pizza shop we first visited a few minutes prior.

It was called "China Super Buffet", but I think it should have been "China Mediocre Buffet". It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't that fantastic either. The variety wasn't that vast, and they had a tray for dumplings but they did not have dumplings.


We had a very filling lunch. Which would mean no dinner, but maybe a snack, like a cookie. And wine - have to have wine.

It was late afternoon and we pretty much did whatever we could based on what we actually did, and what was closed. Plus it was Sunday and how many places are open late on a Sunday evening.
So we took it easy to wrap up the day by playing Pinochle, watching TV, and having a couple cookies with wine.

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