Falls Park, Sioux Falls, SD

We're here in Sioux Falls for one night. Had a delightful dinner at a restaurant overlooking the Big Sioux River. Afterward we walked around Falls Park which continues to be one of the best urban parks in the US, in my opinion. I am not sure there is anything quite like it anywhere else! This is the second time we have seen it. Really great place with acres of green grass, old preserved mill and power plant buildings, rocks and water, all tied together with walkways, bridges and picnic areas. 

Badlands, SD

We had a wonderful two days in the Badlands National Park, SD. The grasses and other plants are so green and otherwise colorful right now that this was a real treat!

We did one hike of about six miles our first day there. Wonderful. 

 We also drove the Badlands Loop Road the next day which provided additional lovely views. 

Last night we had a pretty good thunderstorm at our campground, but nothing like those to the south of us.  This morning we reviewed the overall weather pattern and forecast for the Black Hills, which was to be our next destination. 

This trip has been full of changes. The reunion part was great and went off without a hitch. Wonderful campground - Oahe Downstream Recreation Area. We got cancelled at the Badlands Park campground due to asphalting. No problem. Stayed at a really nice KOA just outside the park. 

We had a reservation at the KOA at Mt Rushmore but we cancelled this morning.  It was to have been our next stop. This weather pattern persists and the forecast for the Black Hills is bad - hail, super cells, damaging winds for the next several days. Foolish to deliberately drive into that. 

So we headed east today on I90, going to Sioux Falls. The forecast is for thunder showers but not super cells. We are staying in Sioux Falls tonight and then will evaluate our options. We got cancelled at Blue Mounds State Park in MN due to flooding. That was to have been our last stop. 

Pierre,SD

We are in Pierre, SD, one more night. We've been here since our Thursday drive across western Minnesota where we almost could sail across - so much standing water. But it is lovely and green here. 

We attended the wonderful reunion of Gary's cousins on the Kennedy/Paine side of his family. More than 50 people were there. Really fun. 

A grat pontoon boat ride on the Missouri yesterday below the Oahe Dam. We are ataying in the Oahe Downstream Campground - really beautiful!  

Scenes from yesterday:

Gary's dad's headstone

The cousins who were at the 1946 reunion in Ree Heights, SD

Archival photo of Gary's mom (seated left) and her four sisters, taken at the reunion in Minneapolis in 1992 or 93. Sadly they are all gone. 

Reunion photo, 2014

Final photos from Viking Trip

I have so many photos from the trip that it is hard to know where to begin in posting. So I have decided to post a few of the most memorable sights there, and a couple of my favorite photos. 

I had previously posted some through Nuremburg. We saw so many castles, cathedrals, medieval towns with walls, that it is hard to keep everything straight, which is why I should have done this as we were traveling, but that was very hard. So I will post captions when I can remember. 

Some of our shipmates.

Some of our merry crew

In Prague, eating a pigs knuckle. Delicious!

Opera house in Budapest

Opera house in Prague

Parliament in Budapest. 

Other castles, cathedrals, residences, buildings, etc. Too many to post and enumerate. 

Our ship

Confession: Some of these are not my photos, some are. We bought the photo CD of photos taken by our Program Director and other staff. Some are from the Viking Website. But I hope this gives a snapshot of what our wonderful river cruise was like.