Sioux Falls Summer Vacations

Summer vacation was predictable when I was a kid. It consisted of four weeks of camp followed by a family road trip. The trip lasted, maybe, 2½ weeks or possibly three. When one is a kid, time has no meaning.

Anyway, this wasn’t just any ole road trip. It was the yearly visit to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to visit Mom’s parents and other assorted relatives. It went something like this.

Day 1

Mom woke up my two sisters and me around 4:30 or 5:00 a.m. Dad wanted to get an early start on what would be a long, hot day in the car. My earliest memories are being stuffed into the back of our beige and red Dodge sedan. A few years later, that car was traded in for a green Dodge sedan with “fins.” Neither had air conditioning. Boy, was it hot in those cars!

“Stuffed into the back” doesn’t begin to describe how uncomfortable we were. The three of us had zero legroom since Mom packed at least two very full grocery bags of “stuff,” snacks perhaps and things to do? Next to one of the bags was the large, round, red water cooler filled to the brim from our kitchen faucet. Dad claimed drinking anything but Baltimore water upset his stomach.

Who knew from bottled spring water in the 1950s and 1960s. Dad made his Baltimore water last for the three-day drive.

Being the youngest, I had the “privilege” of sitting in the middle seat. That meant sitting on the hump designed to accommodate mechanical parts, such as the driveshaft. It was many years before I demanded my rights to have a window seat!

Destination #1

Wickliffe, Ohio, a Cleveland suburb, was our first stop. That’s where Aunt Sylvia (Mom’s sister), Uncle Al and cousins Kathy and David lived. Unlike us, they did not keep kosher. I vaguely remember my aunt and uncle making a big deal out of having to go to a kosher butcher in Shaker Heights, Cleveland, to buy kosher meat for our dinner. They didn’t like living in a Jewish community, which Wickliffe was not. For lack of a better term, the neighborhood was very “goyish.” Ironically, their house was a few minutes from one of the country’s largest Orthodox yeshivas, Telshe Yeshiva. No one there complained about driving to Shaker Heights for kosher food!

I don’t recall staying overnight at their house. We must have stayed at a nearby motel, all five of us in one room. Naturally, I always had to sleep on the rollaway cot.

Day 2

After breakfast with our aunt, uncle and cousins, we were back on the road. The day’s goal was to drive approximately 575 miles (about ten hours or more) to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Once past the Chicago metro area many of the roads were two-lane country ones. The going was slow. Inevitably, we’d get behind by a lumbering truck or tractor. Like day #1, the ride was hot and boring. Drive-ins with nice bathrooms weren’t on our route! Instead, bathroom stops took place at a grungy gas station in the middle of nowhere.

I suspect Mom and Dad were thrilled to finally reach the motel in Cedar Rapids. Again, all five of us slept in one room. Of course, I got the rollaway cot.

Day 3

Our destination was Sioux Falls, about 360 miles from Cedar Rapids. First, we had to cross Iowa. While driving through Indiana and Illinois was flat and boring, driving across Iowa was more interesting. The state is hilly, so the scenery changes. However, Iowa is also known for its large hog farms. Stinky! We had to roll up the car windows in the already hot car.

I forgot to mention the bugs. They were everywhere, including mosquitoes in our motel rooms. By the time we got to our final destination, the car’s windshield was covered with smashed bugs. More of them met their demise in the car’s grill.

Sioux Falls!

We made it! After unpacking the car, five of us had to find a place to sleep in a house with three bedrooms. Adding Grandpa, we were six in a house with five beds (three singles and one double). Then, Uncle Ira (Mom’s brother) would show up from Kansas City, making us a household of seven. When he left, her other brother, Uncle George, drove up from Rock Island, Illinois. Someone, probably the uncles, slept on the screened-in porch. Grandpa must have slept in the front room he called the sun parlor.

The house had one bathroom. Needless to say, no one lingered there. Even though Grandpa had a plumber’s license, the toilet always backed up. I can still hear Dad complaining about that! The only “relief” was a stand-alone toilet in the basement that he would use after breakfast, taking the newspaper with him.

Sioux Falls Activities

How did Mom and Dad entertain three kids during our stay with Grandpa? When it was hot, and it often got very hot, we went swimming at Drake Springs. This large community pool was a short ride from the house. I wasn’t much of a swimmer, but the shallow end was huge and ideal for me. Sometimes, Mom bought us Milky Ways from the concession stand. And we could set our watches by the freight train that went past the pool every day at 4 p.m. sharp.

Fishing was another activity we enjoyed. Grandpa, Uncle Ira and Dad often went fishing by themselves to catch enough fish, mostly carp, for dinner. But when Dad and Grandpa took us fishing, we went to a small lake or pond. We were lucky if we caught anything, and usually our catch was tossed back into the water. Once I caught a huge snapping turtle, which almost bit off Grandpa’s finger when he tried to cut the line with the hook. Once freed, this angry turtle turned around and went back into the lake, hook still in its mouth.

If the timing was right, we’d visit the Minnehaha County Fair. I wasn’t much for rides; maybe I played a game or two. I have no recollection of winning anything and/or being excited to go to the fair.

There wasn’t much for us to do on Saturdays. However, we always took a walk downtown. How exciting (not!). Every year Grandpa pointed out the same buildings and sites.

In the evenings, Grandpa had to watch the news with Walter Cronkite. How exciting (not!).

Then, there was “The Farm.” We heard a lot about this farm, which no longer existed when I was a kid. Years before, Grandpa bought acreage outside of town and leased it to someone who farmed it. Growing up, Mom and her siblings often hung out there, fishing and picnicking. As a matter of fact, my parents met on the farm on a blind date. Dad was stationed as an instructor at The Sioux Falls Army Air Field, and his buddy dragged him to meet his girlfriend’s friend.

What was left of the farm in the 1950s and 1960s? Not much. Grandpa sold a considerable portion to either the state or the Federal government. An interstate highway was constructed on that portion of the property. A diner-type restaurant for highway travelers was built on another section of the farm. Grandpa insisted on taking us out to lunch at the restaurant at least once during our visit.

What else did we do?

One year we ventured west to the South Dakota Badlands, Wall Drug and then onwards for a few days in the Black Hills. We saw Mt. Rushmore, the gold rush town of Deadwood, where Wild Bill Hickok was killed and buried, and Custer State Park.

And what was a visit to Sioux Falls without visiting the falls? They are unimpressive compared to Niagara Falls but unlike Niagara, we could walk along the rocks that bordered the river.

We also took a couple of trips to the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota. The building is redecorated every year with naturally colored corn. (Hey, this is the Midwest!)

I often kept busy on rainy days playing hours of wallball. There was an open wall in the basement where I could throw my pinky ball ad nauseum and catch it. When I was tired of that, I could dive into the set of Nancy Drew books that used to belong to Aunt Sylvia.

Grandpa had two brothers in Sioux Falls, and we would visit them at least once. However, my memories of them are vague; they must have died when I was little. I clearly remember Mom’s first cousin Judy and her husband Sid. We always had to visit Sid’s Crown Liquor, the huge liquor store that Sid owned. Mom and Judy didn’t get along too well; I think they tolerated each other for the brief, yearly visit. And their two daughters were not very nice to my sisters and me.

As we got older, our family of five visits ceased. Mom and Dad drove on their own to visit Grandpa. The last time I was in Sioux Falls was in 1978, when Mom and Dad took Ken and me on a road trip (Ken and I stayed about a week and then flew home). Grandpa was thrilled to show Ken all the sights. What Ken remembers most, however, is the cute kittens next door that played under our bedroom window. He wanted to take one home.

My sister Margo has driven through Sioux Falls a few times and says I wouldn’t recognize the city. It has grown enormously and is much more sophisticated. South Dakota has no state personal income tax or corporate tax. Therefore, many companies and corporations, such as Citibank, have relocated there. They even have a Costco and three Starbucks!

On her last drive through, Margo stopped at what was Grandpa’s house and knocked on the door. My brother-in-law thought she was nuts. Anyway, the current owners, being friendly Midwesterners, were happy to let her walk through the house and reminisce. The visit probably made their day.

Roots Trip

In the fall of 2019, I asked Margo and my nieces if they’d be interested in doing a summer roots trip to Sioux Falls. None of the nieces had ever been there. Three committed to the trip. We planned to fly into Minneapolis, rent a minivan, buy some food (kosher) and then drive to Sioux Falls. We’d stay there two, three days and then drive west to the Badlands and Wall Drug. Then, we’d return to Minneapolis for our flights home.

The trip was supposed to take place in July 2020. COVID-19 got in the way. Sadly, we’ve never had the momentum to replan it after everyone was vaccinated. I may never return to Sioux Falls, but I’ll always have those mostly fun summer memories.

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Read more by Eileen Creeger.