Wednesday 10-11 Sioux City

Site Seeing in Sioux City Iowa

We woke up to 28 degrees and there was heavy frost on everything. Our agenda for today was to go to Sioux City and be tourist. 

Around 9:30 we ventured over to Sioux City, which was just over the river. We thought about walking  the two miles or so across the river but decided it might be better to drive the Minnie. The other day we had located a public parking lot downtown that allowed you to park for 24 hours for free.  

The first stop after parking was The Sioux City Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center. In order to get to the center we had to walk through a gorgeous riverside park. It had a hike and bike paved trail, a playground and a dance stage. We walked the trail for about a mile and a half to get to the center. The center was in two buildings. The first building was photography from local people and the history of Sioux City. The second building was about Lewis & Clark's adventure along the Missouri River. Both buildings were very nice. The Lewis & Clark building had animated figures of Lewis and Clark that told a story of their exploration. There was also an animated figure of the Newfoundland dog (Seaman) that had gone with Lewis & Clark, Seaman barks at the prairie dog , moves his head and wags his tail. The figures were very real looking and moved just right. It was a great museum. The admission was free but we made a donation.

Standing in front of a Lewis & Clark & Seaman statue

Clark talking about Lewis and the expedition

Lewis & Clark remembering Sergent C. Floyd at his funeral

Seaman barking at a prairie dog

The next stop was about a block away, it was a museum and visitor center that was located in an old riverboat. There were three floors. The first floor was the gift shop and information for Iowa. The second floor was Sergeant C. Floyd Memorial, he was the only person that died on Lewis & Clark Expedition. The third floor was where the captain drove the boat from and you can ring the bell up there. As we walked through the boat and climbed to each floor we saw different displays about Sioux City.

Sioux City Visitor Center

A carved out canoe that was used to transport cargo and people

As we were walking by the Lewis & Clark Center we noticed a few carvings made out of old trees. In 2011 the Missouri River flooded and wiped out a lot of trees. Theses carvings were made on what was left of a few trees. They were beautiful.

Tree carving at the Lewis & Clark Center

Another carving on the grounds

After touring these two museums we walked back to downtown where we stopped at Burger King and had lunch. .

Our next stop was the Sioux City Public Museum. Before walking around to look at the displays we watched a 14 minute movie about Sioux City. They did a super presentation with the movie. The museum was all on one floor, it had a lot of displays about the history of Sioux City. It was also free but once again we made a donation. The donation box was a cow and every time you put a bill in the cow would moo. It was very cute.

Some antiques on display in the Sioux City Museum

Our last stop was at the Palmer Old Fashion Candy Shoppe. It is known for the Bing candy bar, we were given a free sample. The Bing is handmade with cherry nougat covered with roasted peanuts and chocolate. They come in three different flavors: cherry, vanilla and blue raspberry. They had a lot of different candies for sale, some were sold in bulk, some out of glass display units and there were seconds that came from the factory. Palmer Candies have been in business since 1878 and is family owned. We bought a couple of peanut clusters, a chocolate pretzel and three small pumpkins with a creme filling, they were delicious.

Palmer's Old Fashion Candy Shoppe

The candy we bought

 We had a great time visiting Sioux City. .

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