Impressions of Sioux Falls (Brandon: insurance, loan, houses)

[fatman66]

Impressions of Sioux Falls

• Restaurants everywhere! Seriously you can’t spit without hitting some sort of eatery, be it sit down fancy dining, pizza place, fast food, hamburger place, Chinese, takeout… We ate at Foley’s which was spectacular and a Brazilian place (Carnivale I think) that was really good and tried the Keg (stomach ache from too much deep fried goodness), Granite City (highly recommend the Overlake sandwich) and Pizza Ranch (food coma from too much pizza).

• Efficient easy to navigate roads and expressways. I’m terrible with directions but I think I can now find my way around the city (in general terms). Seems like you can get just about anywhere in the city in 10 minutes or less. Roads and Expressways in general are in very good shape and relatively smooth. Cleanest expressways I’ve ever seen, only saw one piece of garbage roadside.

• People are extremely friendly. I was down at Falls Park and forgot my hat, stopped in the gift shop to buy a hat to avoid top of head sunburn and ended up having a 15 minute conversation with the woman behind the counter. I think I know her better than some of my coworkers of several years. It’s not that we are impolite in the North East but we certainly don’t go out of our way to make conversation with complete strangers. Refreshing but will take some getting used to on my park.

• I was expecting more pronounced accents, didn’t hear them much. I wonder what everyone I met though of my accent (they say we in western NY have an especially nasally great lakes accent).

• Drivers are slow and cautious, I liked it but my wife the lead foot was going nuts.

• So much new construction, all over, houses, stores, restaurants…

• Hy-Vee grocery stores seemed very nice and prices reasonable. Not as nice as Wegmans here but Wegmans is getting too extravagant, you have to walk through aisles of gourmet cookware and expensive foods just to get to normal groceries.

• Casinos all over, took me a while to figure out why there were all the check cashing places but then I put two and two together and it made sense.

• Amazed how fast you can close on a house in South Dakota, in New York you are looking at 30-40 days.

• Constant breeze helped mitigate the hot weather, 82 is usually uncomfortable for me but with a good breeze was not too bad.

• Falls Park is a really cool place, I’d like to go and spend a lazy afternoon there is lying around in the shade.

• Speaking of parks, they are everywhere. All well maintained and very nice looking.

• The surrounding country side wasn’t as flat as I thought it would be, nice rolling hills, very scenic and green!

• Four wheelers on the roads, never seen that before in such numbers. No helmet law for motor cycles… scary.

I’m sure there is more and I’ll update when it comes to me. I’m looking forward to joining this community.

[leroyleroux]

I'd say that you are pretty observant, and I don't really disagree with any of that. I will say that the traffic is more than I'm used to, but it isn't too bad. You gotta remember that Sioux Falls is the New York City of SD.

[fatman66]

Yes, speaking of traffic... Even at rush hour and the middle of a Saturday, still not too bad.

[Jacks02]

I wouldn't disagree with any of your observations, the abundance of casinos and cash checking places embarrass me but I don't see them going away anytime soon.

Sounds like you enjoyed your visit here, hope you enjoy living here just as much!

Welcome!

[jmgg]

Pretty good evaluation of the town after not being here very long. You're so right about the pawn shop/check cashing vs casinos connection. It's the closest we get to urban blight.

We don't have accents here. The rest of the United States has accents.

Practically nowhere in South Dakota is it really flat. You'll have to go south to western Nebraska and Kansas to really see boring country where you can see 50 miles away that there is nothing to see. There's a lot of South Dakota where there isn't much ahead of you to see either. At least here you can't see that and we give you the ANTICIPATION that there might be something ahead.

[MJ1986]

Originally Posted by fatman66

Impressions of Sioux Falls

• Restaurants everywhere! Seriously you can’t spit without hitting some sort of eatery, be it sit down fancy dining, pizza place, fast food, hamburger place, Chinese, takeout… We ate at Foley’s which was spectacular and a Brazilian place (Carnivale I think) that was really good and tried the Keg (stomach ache from too much deep fried goodness), Granite City (highly recommend the Overlake sandwich) and Pizza Ranch (food coma from too much pizza).

• Efficient easy to navigate roads and expressways. I’m terrible with directions but I think I can now find my way around the city (in general terms). Seems like you can get just about anywhere in the city in 10 minutes or less. Roads and Expressways in general are in very good shape and relatively smooth. Cleanest expressways I’ve ever seen, only saw one piece of garbage roadside.

• People are extremely friendly. I was down at Falls Park and forgot my hat, stopped in the gift shop to buy a hat to avoid top of head sunburn and ended up having a 15 minute conversation with the woman behind the counter. I think I know her better than some of my coworkers of several years. It’s not that we are impolite in the North East but we certainly don’t go out of our way to make conversation with complete strangers. Refreshing but will take some getting used to on my park.

• I was expecting more pronounced accents, didn’t hear them much. I wonder what everyone I met though of my accent (they say we in western NY have an especially nasally great lakes accent).

• Drivers are slow and cautious, I liked it but my wife the lead foot was going nuts.

• So much new construction, all over, houses, stores, restaurants…

• Hy-Vee grocery stores seemed very nice and prices reasonable. Not as nice as Wegmans here but Wegmans is getting too extravagant, you have to walk through aisles of gourmet cookware and expensive foods just to get to normal groceries.

• Casinos all over, took me a while to figure out why there were all the check cashing places but then I put two and two together and it made sense.

• Amazed how fast you can close on a house in South Dakota, in New York you are looking at 30-40 days.

• Constant breeze helped mitigate the hot weather, 82 is usually uncomfortable for me but with a good breeze was not too bad.

• Falls Park is a really cool place, I’d like to go and spend a lazy afternoon there is lying around in the shade.

• Speaking of parks, they are everywhere. All well maintained and very nice looking.

• The surrounding country side wasn’t as flat as I thought it would be, nice rolling hills, very scenic and green!

• Four wheelers on the roads, never seen that before in such numbers. No helmet law for motor cycles… scary.

I’m sure there is more and I’ll update when it comes to me. I’m looking forward to joining this community.

Excellent! Thanks for the update...

Restaurants are everywhere... Most are chains, but quite a few are local...

As for the streets/roads, there's some hiccups, but nothing too horrible.

People here are friendly! I here that all the time, and its the truth!

As far as accents, I think ours is very mild.

In 2007 & 2008, AllState (Auto insurance company) said Sioux Falls had the safest drivers in the country. I agree, I think people here drive safely and defensively. Having driven in larger cities, the people here generally follow the speed limit on interstates in SF. The highway patrol heavily monitors the interstates though. I have a lead foot too, like your wife .

Yes, lots of construction... and its on all sides. The only non-construction area would be north of I-90, and the extreme NE area of SF. There's a new elementary school in SW SF, and one on the very east city limits of SF, but that is in the Brandon Valley School District. Dawley Farm Village (large commericial district) is going up on the east side.

Hy-Vee is the main grocery chain in SF. Sunshine is a local chain, but it's more expensive. Which Hy-Vee did you visit? The one on Minnesota & 37th is supposed to be the biggest Hy-Vee in the company.

SF has way too many casinos... we had a string of casinos robberies recently... It seemed like it was every other night. From what I know, the check cashing/instant loan places are numerous because our state laws aren't strict enough regarding that...

We had a bad heat wave, and humidity usually joins it. We've had great weather today though. South Dakota has crazy weather...

Falls Parks is awesome... Just the other day, I spent an afternoon just laying on a blanket, soaking up the rays...

Parks are very good in SF... I've watched City Council meetings, and they are planning even more.

I agree... the area just east of Highway 11 on the east side is very scenic... there's also a few "secluded and scenic" areas right in SF

4 wheelers are actually allowed on the streets in many western states, including SD. My opinion - I think it's stupid... Just another accident waiting to happen.

[Jammie]

Fatman, thank you for a well-prepared evaluation of Sx. Falls. I'm glad that you liked what you saw.

I always like a trip report from new people. It's like seeing things through fresh eyes and they are SO much more observant then the rest of us who've spent our lives around here. Just glad everything is working out well for you.

[cbest23]

Hey, it's great that you're enjoying it so far. Yeah, the number of casinos did bother me a bit too, but having worked in NYC where the alternatives are usually liquor stores on every corner, it's probably a relief for me. So far most of the people have been very friendly ( a few times some weren't ). You'll definitely enjoy your time here, good luck with everything, we've been here for eight months and are enjoying it so far. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

[heather.kruk]

I grew up in Minnesota not too far from Sioux Falls so we went there a lot to go shopping, etc. I think Sioux Falls is a pretty great small city with lots going on. If I ever moved back to the Midwest (I'm in Texas now), I would consider moving to Sioux Falls.

[Jammie]

Hey Heather, so how is the comparison between Tx. and Minn/So. Dak.? I know you have much nicer winters.