We have been pleasantly surprised with our first forays into Rapid City, South Dakota. The bronze statues of the U.S. presidents that we saw yesterday along with the buildings in the old downtown left us wanting to see what else the city had to offer. Thanks to the Black Hills Volkssport Association, we found the Rapid City Parks 10 km Volksmarch.
Yesterday, I promised the blog would not be so long today. When I went back and reviewed my photos, I realized I could easily make this blog long or longer than yesterday's blog. So, I will do my absolute best to summarize. There will still be a lot of pictures to give you an idea of what we found.
The walk started at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center with a short walk to the bandshell in Memorial Park. Memorial Park has many delightful finds all by itself. We also happen to be here on the 50th anniversary of the June 9, 1972 flood, "A night of horror."
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| The bandshell in Memorial Park. |
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| Memorial Park fountain and lake. |
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| A lovely spot for relaxing. |
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| Rapid Creek was the source of the 1972 flood. |
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| Grain elevator in downtown Rapid City, South Dakota. |
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| The Black Hills Veterans Memorial. |
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| Multi-sided Native American Sculpture. |
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| There are two very different play areas in this park. |
In addition to the above, Memorial Park has a section with multiple plantings:- Alpine Garden
- Medicinal Garden
- Lewis & Clark Garden
Historical markers commemorating the 1972 flood are all along Rapid Creek. Here are a few of the signs:
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| "Never again!" |
Our walk took us along Rapid Creek on the Leonard Swanson Memorial Parkway, a wide, paved, multi-use path. We walked along the Executive Golf Course, which was devastated by the 1972 flood.
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| The Executive Golf Course looks good now. |
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| A friendly unicyclist on the multi-use path. |
Next on the path, we came to Founders Park Plaza which is chock-full of history about the gold rush, early settlers, and the 1972 flood. There is also a memorial to downed police officers, and also art.
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| 3-D wall art. This wall is about 8' high and 25' long. |
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| The 3-D wall art of trout. |
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| Downed police officer memorial. |
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| A very beautiful tribute to the fallen officers. |
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Many colors of columbine are
on display here. I love this color! |
As we continued on the Greenway path, we found more interesting sights. We are heading toward the Herb Garden and Noordermeer Formal Garden in Sioux Park next.
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| Bob blends in with the scenery! |
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| I have no idea why there's a carved camel here. |
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| Ohio Buckeye tree. |
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A sundial in the Noordermeer Formal Garden
in Sioux Park. |
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| This is one happy spirea plant! |
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The Herb Garden in Sioux Park.
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| The currently peaceful Rapid Creek. |
From Sioux Park, we walked over to Storybook Island, a beloved fairytale park that families in Sioux Falls grew up with. The flood devastated the park. In fact, sets from Storybook Island floated down the creek during the 1972 flood causing people to think they were hallucinating that night!
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The 1972 flood history as it
relates to Storybook Island. |
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| Photos of the devastation. |
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| I'm in front of the Storybook Island entrance. |
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Bob shows how high the floodwaters
came up that night. |
From here, we turned around and headed back through Founders Park to Memorial Park. Memorial Park had way more history in store for us. We were blown away by the Berlin Wall Memorial and all the disturbing history from that era.
Below is a video of Rapid Creek today.
After the walk, it was time to go up the hill to find out about that dinosaur we could see from town. I had inklings of what we'd find because Linda Williams used to go there when she was a kid and visits when she returns to town. She has posted photos from there before.
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| Oh, boy, more exercise! |
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| Anatotitan (formerly Trachodon). |
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There are great views of the surrounding
area from this park. |
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| Triceratops. |
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| T. Rex wants Bob for lunch! Bob looks annoyed. |
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| Bob and the Brontosaurus has a certain ring to it! |
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| I conquered the Stegosaurus. |
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| Bob with the Anatotitan. |
Well, that was fun!
Now we're off to see the Art Alley downtown. I love the creativity in art alleys. I'm always delighted to find another one. Enjoy!
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| "You are part of the Art." |
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Brand new contribution today. This one is about
Habitat for Humanity: Homes. Community. Hope. |
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| The Black Panther, R.I.P. |
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| And, the Pink Panther. |
That's it. All done. We now have another impression of Rapid City as a town of parks and art.
Tomorrow, we will explore Hill City, South Dakota.
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