Living outside of Sioux Falls? (Rapid City: transplants, insurance, home)

[computerguysd]

According to Holiday Inn, Sioux Falls has the most restaurants per capita in the country!

BTW, another good one I forgot to mention is Tre Lounge on 33rd st, where Theo's used to be. For Mexican, I'm partial to Puerto Vallarta on East 10th.

[Garo]

It's good to see that I'm not the only one who gets excited about food!

Upon further review of the website and menu, I have decided that I cannot die a happy man without visiting Pizza Ranch. I now feel incomplete in life until I have been there. Forget low taxes, cost of living, etc...Pizza Ranch is the deciding factor for me for moving 930 miles north.

Thanks again.

[MJ1986]

Ok, this post is making me hungry...
I haven't been to Pizza Ranch is a really long time... I might have to make a stop there sometime for some take-out.

Garo, Sioux Falls has plenty of restaurants... some restaurants I really like to go to are Spezia, Foley's, and Minerva's... they aren't the typical "national chain" restaurants... They have a nice atmosphere.

[Garo]

Thanks to this post, the wife and I will be taking a true "road trip" in a few weeks. We're going to check out Sioux Falls for ourselves. We're also going to check out Rapid City to see Mount Rushmore, Black Hills and the Badlands on our way to drive through Bismarck and Fargo in ND. Then, back down through Watertown on our way back to Sioux Falls where I have a date with the Pizza Ranch.

We're very excited and can't wait to take in all of the Dakota's...even with all the driving crammed into only a few days. We wont have the time to check out everything. It's more to just a get a feel for each city and to make sure SF is the place for us over Rapid City, Bismarck & Fargo, ND...which are the other choices.

mjgustafson,

Thanks for the suggestions. If we have time, we may check out Spezia as well. There is so much I'd like to see and do but time will be short...hopefully we can do and try everything once we move up there. *fingers crossed*

Any "road trip" tips or things to see quickly? We'll be exclusively traveling the interstates and main highways for the exception of exploring SF & RC a little more in depth.

[MJ1986]

I'll warn you, the interstate between Fargo and Sioux Falls is really boring...but that could be because I've traveled it way too many times...
I hope you visit all parts of SF... I would be a tour guide for you...but I'm sure I'll be working

[Chris19]

Sioux Falls has a variety of areas. Some old and quite a bit newer homes. The nortwest part of the city west of I-29 is a nice area to build a home with the rolling hills. The eastern edge of the city has some hills to it and is also a favorable area to build a home and will be an up and coming area of Sioux Falls. The southern part of Sioux Falls is nice. You will find most of Sioux Falls to be satisfactory. I agree with mjgustafson on the Sioux Falls to Fargo route. Not a whole lot to see. The Sioux Falls to Rapid City route is more interesting with the Missouri River and the Badlands near Kadoka and Wall.

[DannyBanany]

Garo, I hope you have a great trip across the Dakotas. You're gonna have a lot of fun! Rapid City, the Black Hills, and Badlands are breathtakingly beautiful and Theodore Roosevelt NP is supposedly very scenic too. I wouldn't really though because I've never been to NoDak and I don't really plan on it!

I am curious, where are you starting your trip? Are you flying into Denver or Rapid City then driving up to NoDak from there?

[Garo]

We are going to start out from my home here in west Tennessee. (Like I said, "true" road trip.) It's 930 miles from my driveway to SF. On the way up we'll go through St. Louis, Kansas City and Omaha. This will be no doubt the worst part of the trip as I'm not a big fan of MO.

I orignally set out thinking I was going to move to Bismarck but after research and help from this board, SF seems like the place for me. Being that close, we felt we might as well do a drive through and make the big loop. Part of this trip is to confirm some things and remove doubt on others. If SD blows us away we may cancel out ND all together and just spend the extra day in SD.

I understand about there "not being much to see" on some of these stretches. That is how all of TN is when your not in the Smokey Mountains. I loved driving through Iowa just to see "real" farmland so I'm kind of easy to please. The main reasons of going up through Watertown to Fargo is simply for the change of scenary and the fact that my family, back in the 60's, had a small farm outside of Watertown. They didnt stay long though. My father was just a child but still regrets to this day that my family didnt settle down there.

[Jammie]

Garo, if you like the scenery in Iowa, you just might end up in the Sx. Falls area. The majority of people prefer the Black Hills area, but you may end up being an East Riverer. It sounds like you have a very nice trip planned and if I were a betting person I'd say you'll end up in SD. Watertown is actually a very nice city. If you have time while you're in that area, you may want to check out the Terry Redlin Art Center. His pics are just beautiful.

[tpabes]

Garo, since you said you didn't like MO and you did like driving in Iowa, have you consider taking the Avenue of the Saints highway north from St. Louis through Hannibal and connecting with I-80 in Iowa City. From there you would head west to I-29 in Council Bluffs and then north to Sioux Falls. I don't know how much time that would add but I believe the highway is suppose to be 4-lane the whole way now.
High Priority Corridors @ AARoads: Avenue of the Saints (Corridor 2)