When an email came through my inbox a few months ago about working with Sioux Falls, South Dakota in the winter, I honestly couldn’t totally place it. A lot of vacation places, you know what to expect weather-wise, activity-wise. This east coast girl couldn’t quite figure out what Sioux Falls was all about. My midwesterner at heart husband (born and bred in Evanston, and still claims Chicago as having the nation’s greatest food. Please… has he never had a good Philly cheesesteak?) was somewhat familiar with Sioux Falls, definitely familiar with South Dakota as a whole, and said eagerly, “Let’s go!” And so we did. If it’s not already clear, this is in collaboration with South Dakota Tourism. So, come along with us to Sioux Falls!
We started the way all good vacations should… FOOD. Well, nearly. First we started with a four-hour delay at Logan. If you’re not already aware, Logan is about the last airport one would want a travel delay at. It’s bare bones, man. Logan makes all other airports look like palaces. So that delay meant we would not make a connecting flight in Minneapolis. Bummer. It also begs the question–will our bags get the memo that our flight’s been delayed?
(One bag did, one bag didn’t. 50% success or 50% failure. My bag wasn’t the missing one, so we’ll go with the first! Selfish.) Back to the food. After arriving late at night to Sioux Falls, we got to our hotel, crashed, and woke up ready to take it all in the next morning. The temperatures were pretty similar to Boston’s, so no big shock there. We headed straight for M.B. Haskett which we were told was the place for breakfast in Sioux Falls. 
Predictable as ever, the boys got yogurt with granola and fruit, I got quiche (I will never say no to a delicious piece of quiche), and Steve got a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich. I’m told that Mike, the owner, grows a lot of the produce at his farm outside Sioux Falls. I love those little details. And the food was really delicious. Plus downtown Sioux Falls (from here forward, referred to as DTSF!) has some really cute buildings, and a nice neighborhood feel to it, perfect for strolling and window-shopping. And art! Art everywhere. Statues outside (see above) as well as art lining so many of the shops. We were told that there’s an art walk and the town votes on which statue to make a permanent structure along their city streets.
Next, a drive around Sioux Falls to get a “lay of the land.” This beautiful cathedral is on the top of a hill a short walk from the downtown and you can see it from almost everywhere–even four miles outside of town at the Great Bear Ski Valley. Without much reason to go back to our hotel–missing bags meant no clothing changes (luckily we had squirreled away some diapers in other bags!)–we headed to Brookings, SD. Bonus: perfect opportunity for a good nap for the three-year old who was up far too late traveling the night before.
This is where I insert the part about my Midwest roots husband waxing poetic on the roads! seeing for miles! how straight! fly over states are so cool! (Catch him singing along to Jason Aldean? You still can. It’s in my Instagram highlights!) And this is where I note that Massachusetts simply does not have the same sort of billboards-along-the-interstates game that SD has. So many billboards!
Hellooooo Brookings! Steve had major barn-envy with this house. It was a reeeeeally pretty barn. 
And hellooooo Nick’s! We’ll come back to you.
First things first: the Children’s Museum of South Dakota (in Brookings–about an hour outside of Sioux Falls–straight shot north on i-29). I have the potential to get really excited about a great children’s playground/museum/activity and this was no exception. What a well done museum design and activity-wise. 
There’s different rooms–water, air, painting, a grocery store, a farm. The boys would have stayed all day (all weekend).
I love those two pictures.
And this series. Getting Anders to slow down long enough for a picture was an impossible task. He literally went from activity to activity in this room at a full sprint. He was so earnest and so endearing and gahhhh that boy. I can’t begin to describe how cute three-year old Anders is to me. It’s high levels of cuteness every single day.
See? Shutter speed clearly couldn’t keep up with him. Try harder next time, Bridget.
This farm activity was so clever. Corn, carrots, potatoes. They’d pick them, and then load them into the conveyer belt to then be dropped and sorted at the “grocery store.” Parker did it like his life depended on it for about 20 minutes straight.
Little boys busying themselves so seriously makes my heart burst a little bit.
Hi Parker!
Okay, that was a seriously large amount of photos for one children’s museum, and I only captured two of the rooms. Do yourself a favor and if you’re in the Sioux Falls area–heck, if you’re in a few-hours radius of it–visit this museum. Your kids will love it. And love you for it. And work up quite the appetite too. Which is precisely when you head around the corner to Nick’s where the motto is, “Buy ’em by the bag!”
They’re the perfect thin-patty burgers–small enough that you should definitely get a double (and still have room for chips and a milkshake). 
Where’d Parker’s face go?
Tissue-paper plates (why do I find these quirky little things so charming?), bags of different flavored potato chips, and simple no-fuss toppings. We really liked Nick’s and could’ve eaten there a few more times. The record-holder for their burgers is a woman and she ate, I believe, 26 of them. (They’re on the smaller side. Parker ate two. But they’re not “I’m-gonna-put-down-twenty six-of-these small.”)
Kids loved sitting bellied up to the counter in swivel chairs.
Back in Sioux Falls! This is the park that Sioux Falls gets its name from: Falls Park. Wouldja click that link and look how beautiful it is in warmer temps? It’s sprawling and has some really cool old mill buildings like the one above, that’s now a cafe.
Brrrrr!
Because we weren’t sure we’d get our luggage in time and thus have a chance to change out of clothes some had been wearing for over 24 hours, we didn’t make a reservation at Parker’s Bistro (we’re told it’s one of the nicest restaurants in DTSF). But alas, our luggage did come that afternoon so, after cleaning up at the hotel, we crossed our fingers and tried to go for an early dinner.
It wasn’t meant to be. All booked up! But since we liked the name of the restaurant, I got a picture anyway.
Onto Bros. Brasserie. The whole of DTSF is really walkable–comprised of a few streets all close together, so it’s easy to hop from place to place should you want to! 
Steve with a local beer! This was the Lion Paw Lager and he really liked it. Boys in the background playing with forks and knives, nbd. We started our dinner there with a few of their appetizers and Steve loved his acorn squash. (Why don’t I roast acorn squash more? Even with something simple like maple syrup? It was really good.) There was a definite foodie flair at this place–sous vide egg over winter vegetables, their own signature roasted nuts. We loved this dinner! 
Wagyu pot roast. And let me just tell you the gravy was next level. I could’ve had a mug of that gravy. Just roll me home. It’s fine.
Ok, back to the hotel to sleep for the night and we’ll pick this up soon with part 2 of South Dakota!!
Wow, what an adventure packed trip! The children’s museum looks so fun! 🙂
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Looks like a fun time!!
I love this packing idea from this blog I read –
Pack suitcases by days. Allow me to explain once again: Let’s say you’re going to be gone a week with your family of four and you decide to take three suitcases for the seven nights. I would pack a third of everyone’s stuff in one suitcase and then repeat with the other two suitcases. So, in this scenario, when we arrive, I would immediately put away suitcases two and three (probably under the bed to get them out of sight) and only unpack or open suitcase number one which has everything everyone needs for the first two days. Then after two days, I put all of the dirty clothes back in suitcase number one and shove that under the bed while at the same time removing suitcase number two and opening it for days three and four. And then I repeat with the last suitcase for days 5, 6 and 7. Make sense?
I love this method for several reasons:
1. If your luggage gets lost, at least all of you have one suitcase with half of your things in it. (Speaking as a travel agent, let me assure you, suitcases do get lost.)
2. You’re not cross-contaminating dirty clothes with clean clothes.
3. People aren’t rifling through all of the suitcases, getting everything out and creating a lot of chaos/lost items/big mess where you’re staying.
This packing method always comes in handy for us. https://mixandmatchmama.com/2018/01/lessons-first-snowboarding-trip/
This is sort of genius, Alice. Now to actually implement it…
I do sort of a version of this. I designate one suitcase for extra shoes, coats, toiletries, toys, diapers, snacks and random stuff. Then we fill this suitcase with dirty laundry as we deplete the stuff we use up, mainly package snacks and diapers! I pack both kids together in another suitcase. Their clothes are so much smaller than mine and my husbands! And after losing a suitcase we only do carry on. I basically just use the stroller as luggage cart to the gate, gate check the stroller and load everything on to the plane. Having small kids and usually getting to board first means bin space!
Cool! If we drive back to WI from CO we usually head through Omaha, but we are totally going to take a new route sometime and head through Sioux Falls, SD. Cute place.
Sioux Falls would love to have you!
I’m originally from Sioux City, IA (an hour south on I-29), and it’s SO bizarre to see an east coast blogger in my old neck of the woods. I’m in the NYC area now, but I still share Steve’s midwestern love of open roads and wide open spaces. Thank you so much for being open to visiting a flyover spot. It definitely put a smile on my face today!
You’re so welcome. Thanks for reading, Emma!
My husband is from SD and we lived in Sioux Falls and Brookings for a period of time before moving to Denver. Its great to see it through someone else’s perspective. I’ll have to try those places to eat the next time we are in town – they look great. Our kids were really small when we lived in Brookings but I would definitely take them back to that museum now. Thanks for sharing – its great to see it through someone else’s eyes – I’m a big city girl at heart but this post has Sioux Falls growing on me 😉
You must’ve gone to Nick’s though, yes?! Next time… Brookings! Your kids will love it.
My home state (Colorado is now)! I’m even an SDSU alum (South Dakota State in Brookings). My own 2 boys have been to that children’s museum many times….one of the best in my opinion! And I love Steve’s viewpoint on the Midwest. Something about being raised there makes those open fields poetic. What a treat to see this post today. Thanks for a trip down memory lane.
Always love reading your blogs! You were right next door…well, almost. — Michelle from Minnesota
You went to South Dakota?! and to Brookings? Deep into reading the Little House books with my 9 year old and Brookings gets menionned a few times. I loved those books when I was a kid (and the TV series) and I am getting fascinated all over again with the Ingalls family as I revisit them. My son is also REALLY into them…for a boy…so much so that I actually googled DeSmet, SD yesterday! I was thinking of visiting..is that in Part 2? But ah….we’re on the East Coast of Canada so…..it’s not a quick trip…there’s Logan equivalents up here too!
I grew up in Sioux Falls, attended SDSU and live in Brookings with my family. If you get a chance to visit I highly recommend it! You could use Brookings as your base to visit the Ingalls homestead in DeSmet, SD (about 45 mins to the West) and Sioux Falls is 45 min South. My kids are 9 and 12 and still love the museum and both love the Ingalls homestead. Brookings is also home to the South Dakota Art Museum and Ag Heritage Museum on SDSU’s campus. SDSU has a dairy bar, where, if you’re lucky, you can watch students making ice cream while you eat your ice cream. Our downtown has some wonderful shops, coffee shops and more to explore. Since you are traveling so far, I recommend taking a week or so and visiting more of SD. There is so much to see and experience across the state, most famously are the Badlands and the Black Hills. Can you tell I love my home state! 🙂 I’d be happy to offer additional suggestions or help if you’re interested!
next time– laura ingalls wilder house for sure!!! i have actually been to the western side of SD once–several years ago now–but loved it! even wall drug 🙂 thank you for all the ideas for future trips!
I live in Mpls, born and raised here. About two years ago I mentioned to a friend (originally from Sioux Falls) that I had never actually been to South Dakota. He said that had to change! So we planned a weekend in November, loaded up the cars, and headed with friends to stay with his mom in Sioux Falls. It was such a pleasant city. It’s clean, welcoming, not too small, not too big. We went to First Lutheran Church’s annual Scandinavian Festival, such a delight. We even did a bar crawl on Saturday night through the downtown. So glad you enjoyed your time in the Midwest! Come again!
Love all the pics!!! So wish we could’ve met up! But looks like you had a blast! Loving your ode to my hometown and current city! DTSF! Whoop Whoop!! 🙂 xo
LOVE South Dakota. It just has that charm. The white house with the barn – gorgeous.
So happy you enjoyed your visit! Can’t wait to read part 2. It’s fun to read someone else’s perspective of the city I’ve called home for 23 years now. Born and raised in SD and wouldn’t have it any other way!