Newton Hills State Park, Canton, South Dakota
Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there too. ~ Genesis 31:25 Jacob had to have seen Laban coming. Do you think he was scared? Or did he trust in God? What do you do when you see confrontation on its way? Especially when you know you’re in the right? Do you trust in the Father? Or do you cave in to fear? Or maybe a bit of both?
The Big Sioux River flows through the middle of the city of Sioux Falls. It’s the same river we saw yesterday at the State Park. It’s 419 miles long, and is a tributary of the Missouri River.
Sioux Falls has this remarkable Park! Of course it wasn’t always a beautiful place to be. Anywhere there’s water to be harnessed, industry built up for a while. Most notably here, there was a flour mill. That mill was built by one of the Pettigrew brothers. The one who didn’t draw the map displayed at Good Earth State Park. The mill didn’t stay in business long because drought caused the wheat fields to perish, which meant there wasn’t much wheat to process.
This was taken from the observation tower above the Visitor Center.
we drove right passed one, so we’re thinking it’s the one they built.
Looks really nice for a penitentiary!
So nice, we didn’t even know what it was when we first saw it!
One of the things we noticed here at the Park was the look of the rocks. They looked like they were built by Disney. 😊
We’ve never seen rocks like this anywhere else. Strange. . .
There are remnants of the mill that they seem to be trying to preserve.
And they have a great biking/walking cement path that takes you into the city. We started walking. So nice!
We were really enjoying the morning, until I started developing a blister on the back of my left heel. I’ve had these shoes for several years, have walked many a city street in them, and they’ve always been very comfortable. I don’t know what happened.
But here’s a random poem I came up with a few days ago. Seems appropriate to share it now. 😊
I want to go to Heaven with no shoes upon my feet So I can feel the soft green grass and cool water on my toes I want the freedom barefoot brings No confines, no sweat, no pain A gift to run and jump and play And dance on streets of gold
I want to go to Heaven with no shoes upon my feet And climb the highest mountain with no boots to drag me down The Book says there’s no hurting there Surely that means corporal too No heels when I go to worship Him No weight of any kind
I want to go to heaven with no shoes upon my feet The ground in Heaven’s Holy Ground and covered with His Love No eye has seen, no ear has heard The full awesomeness of God Moses was told to remove his shoes So I think I should too
I want to go to Heaven with no shoes upon my feet And prostrate in awe and reverence before the One Who brought me there
Besides taking in the river walk, once we got into the city, we discovered that the Hotel on Phillips was right there on the corner. I had read on atlasobscura.com that it used to be a bank (built in 1918), that’s recently (four years ago) been converted into a hotel. They’ve actually only been open for two years because it took two to get it renovated and up and running. They kept the bank vault and the lighting, as well as the safety deposit box faces (which form a decorative wall mount behind the front desk), and turned it into, not only a tourist attraction and unique features of their lobby, but the vault is also the entrance to the bar on the other side, which was once the actual vault. Very unique place! And the owner was there to tell us all about it. If you’re ever in town, you should look into staying here.
We checked out a few things, before turning around and heading back to the Jeep – a distance of probably close to a half mile. No way I was walking that far with my shoe rubbing, so the bare feet came out and I carried my shoes.
Wanna know how nice this place is? My feet weren’t black when we got to the Jeep! Is there any other city that can boast such a thing? Blaine dug out the first-aid kit, and I found and applied a cheap band-aid, which worked wonders – when it stayed on. You know how heels, shoes and band-aids work together . . .
We drove to all the other sites we wanted to check out.
The Pettigrew House was first. It just sits in the middle of an historic neighborhood, where all the homes and lawns are well cared for. This home was built in 1890, and purchased by the mill-building brother (who eventually became a Senator) in 1911. He will dictated that the house and his extensive collections, be donated to the city upon his death; which was in 1926.
We arrived just a few minutes before a private tour was to take place. The tour took us through much of the house and was informative. Once the guide was done, she dropped us off in an area that housed some of the collectibles.
The back of the house, and our entry point boasted a façade of petrified wood! So unique! And beautiful!
but we’ve never seen a desk that opens up like that. Great space saver!
Next, we made a quick stop to look into the Cathedral of Saint Joseph, built in 1919. It’s had several renovations and additions since then. It was added to the register of National Historic places in 2010.
On down the road, we stopped at the city’s Courthouse Museum. Mostly, because Blaine wanted to check out the clock tower in hopes of getting to the top. Unfortunately, that option is closed now, but the museum itself was very well appointed! We very much enjoyed it, because it had some unique things we’ve not run across before. It was built in 1890, and was the Sioux Falls seat of government until 1962. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
Didn’t own any, but I remember them. : )
I figured since I mentioned it earlier, I should include a picture to go along with it. : )
We didn’t understand until we discovered later that it’s South Dakota’s State Bird.
When we were finished, I asked the woman at the desk for a dinner reference, and without hesitation, she sent us to the Bread & Circus Sandwich Kitchen. I have no idea where they got their name. Because of the type of listings on their menu, it’s not the kind of place we’d normally choose to go, but we tried it and it was delicious! We were very pleased. Blaine wasn’t quite as adventurous, and got a burger, but I had a Hawaiian Plate with something called ‘kalbi ribs’. Korean flavor with rice and macaroni salad. They also served something called ‘spicy water’, which I poured over a small portion of my sticky rice. Didn’t care for it. Very spicy!
Our last point of interest was locating a replica of Michelangelo’s “Moses”. It took some doing, because it was located on the grounds of the local college campus, but we found it. The city also has another replica of “David”, but that was in the opposite direction of home, and we were done for the day.
None other than the car guy we just learned about!
See the next picture for the entire creation.
It was the Latin translation of the Bible used at that time. Moses is described as having “rays of the skin of his face.” Jerome translated it to horns from the word keren, which means either radiated or grew horns.
Horns were a symbol of wisdom and rulership in ancient times.
Hopefully maintenance will spot it and take care of it.
When we arrived home we discovered a bundle of unopened firewood in our parking space. We were certain it was delivered to the wrong site, but after looking the tag over, we realized it came from our Bahaman neighbors, left for us when they checked out. Isn’t that the sweetest thing??
Got home just as the rain began, and it rained and stormed all evening again, and well into the sleeping hours.