Day Four: Feeding South Dakota

Today was the first day of this trip that I felt sad. Waking up realizing I have the whole day to adventure while Alex works was just hard. This will be my reality most days as my work is not as time consuming. The constant nag of "what will you do today to make it count?" hopefully will be a motivating, but not overwhelming, notion. That's a lot of pressure. What if I crumble beneath it? What if I lack the motivation or get sick of checking out parks and walking main streets? My goal has been to not research too much before arriving. I would like to find some normal life things like open gym volleyball or movies in the park. The challenge is not just in finding them but also the fact that it does not get dark here until after 9:15! I much prefer getting ready for bed at 9:15, not preparing to be outside for the following two hours.

As part of my desire to "live a normal life" in these new places, I plan to try to volunteer. This is something I value in my life at home - why not include it on my adventures? I think it is important to try to look for opportunities to be a helper. We all need something sometime! So in my brief research of food pantries in the areas, I was able to sign up for a volunteering event this afternoon. I found "Feeding South Dakota" - a mobile food pantry to help those in need. I ended up working alongside another travel-lover. Greg works for an insurance company and travels all over for them. He organizes his work day to incorporate volunteering when he is able. We connected over our love for travel and volunteer work. He joined Alex and I for our last night in town at "Ode to Food". The food and company were lovely but sitting outside proved to be quite the challenge as we were in a wind tunnel. Over the course of first 10 minutes, two menus, a napkin and a glass of water all blew over (or got knocked over trying to hold down the menus). Besides the windy meal, we enjoyed getting to know Greg. There are so many wonderful people in the world!

Before dinner, we checked out the namesake of Sioux Falls at Falls Park. What a breathtaking feature to have right in downtown! What is even more noteworthy is the accessibility of the falls. For those that are more reserved - there are plenty of paved paths and hand-railed vantage points to view the falls from different angles. For those that are braver and more stable on their feet - there are plenty of places you can climb the rocks to get closer, to picnic, to maybe even get your feet wet. We loved it so much, we decided to bring Piper (her first waterfall!) after we our windstorm dining experience.