South Dakota is probably one of the few states in the mid west that many American's have on their travel list. The reason for this of course is Mt. Rushmore, which I wasn't able to visit on this trip but still sits high on my list of things to see. I did make it to the city of Sioux Falls in the east and also did some hiking up north. I have plenty left in this state like the capital, Mt. Rushmore, and the badlands.

Sioux Falls is the largest city in South Dakota, and one of the largest cities in the mid-west. If you were to make the long journey from Minneapolis, Mn to Denver Colorado then Sioux Falls would be your most populated area on that trip, otherwise you'd be passing through nothing but farms and small towns. On the right is a picture of the actual falls that the city is named after along the Big Sioux River, with the city in the background. This park is an icon of both the city and the state, and is a great place to visit on the weekend. About 150,000 people live in the city, and nearly 250,000 in the area.

These surrounding photos are all from the rapids of Sioux Falls as well. The dam above was once used for electricity, but now it's a cafe. There are several trails that pass through here, so it's a good place to stroll around, ride the bike, or even go fishing like the kids above. There is also an observation tower to see the whole city. I think I got lucky when I visited and had some strong falls since there was recently a lot of rain.

Like Fargo North Dakota, Sioux Falls is quite some distance from any nearby city so for the its early years railway was also the most reasonable means of getting here. The BNSF train above which stands for Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway, runs right over the Sioux River on the right. Originally these railways were operated by the Great Northern Railway company which stopped service in 1970..

Downtown Sioux Falls is lined with many shops, restaurants and a movie theater. I had perfect weather and sunny skies when I visited here in early August! The other three photos are from the sculpture walk that they have here, random art from local artists.

The houses above are part of a historic neighborhood in Sioux Falls, almost half of these homes were built in the 1800s. This area is also know as the Cathedral historic district, because of St. Joseph's cathedral below which was built in 1915. The cathedral has been an icon for the city for around a hundred years now, and was built high up on a hill so it is visible from most places, include the Sioux falls themselves.

These pictures are completely random, but while in the city I passed by a car show and took some pictures. The event was hosted by the American Legion, and while there weren't too many cars on display they did have some several good old American cars on display.

A good museum to visit is the old courthouse museum which is pictured on the left. It has lots of history from the state, and shows how it has changed over the centuries. Above is a photo of what downtown Sioux Falls looked like in 1958.

Above is another photo of a photo I took in the museum, a meeting between a US politician and native Americans, on the right is some of the clothing they once wore.

Another museum to visit in Sioux Falls is the South Dakota Battleship memorial. I was pretty confused on how or where they would place a battleship in the city, but it's actually just a building with some of the cannons and ship parts place outside. The inside has a lot of world war two history and the specific battles that this ship took part of. Above are Japanese ammunition on the left and a nazi flag on the right..

Since I've always loved wildlife and animals, the Sioux Falls zoo was probably my favorite place to visit after the falls themselves. I visited on a Saturday so there were plenty of people here in the zoo, above is an outdoor picnic area and a guy juggling on stilts. The animals here at the zoo range from small birds to a tiger, but it also has several animals that are local to South Dakota..

Above is a large male buffalo on the left and a pair of foxes on the right. Foxes live all over the United States, while the buffalo are in various places in the mid west. In South Dakota, they mostly live in the western and central areas of the state..

These two giant bears also make their home in parts of South Dakota. The brown bear above or the black bear on the right are two animals you probably don't want to have a close encounter with while you are hiking or camping in the state..

I did do some hiking up north, and came across some wildlife that I didn't capture with my camera. These animals above were scene as I was passing by and were staying in ponds and farms close to the highway. On the left is a large swan, on the right a family of wild turkeys..

A great place to go hiking in north eastern South Dakota is Sica Hallows state park. The park's name Sica, actually means evil in the language of the native Americans that lived in the area. Some of the creeks have red tinted water due to high levels of minerals, and some naturally occurring gas escaping from the swamps led Native Americans to believe that this place was haunted by evil spirits..

I didn't find any evil spirits or find the bloody creeks, but I was impressed by the parks natural beauty. I was used to the surrounding area being nothing but plains and farmland, so being back in a dense forest was unexpected. Most of these woods had similar vegetation to what I grew up with back in Virginia. The upper left is actually a large creek, but the plans have grown tall enough to block it from the sun..

The plant on the left is called a bull thistle, it provides an attractive flower head but is seen mostly as an annoying weed by farmers. The flower directly above looks like similar to a bull thistle but I think it's a different plant since it doesn't have the large bulb under the flower.

These two were the only guys I caught while hiking, the rabbit on the left and the plains leopard frog on the right. Probably nothing you haven't seen before, but next time I plan to visit the badlands which is home to lots of large game animals like wild bison, coyotes and the most endangered mammal in America, the black footed ferret.