The Clan's 2020 SD (South Dakota / Social Distancing) Vacation - Episode 1: Kicking Off in Des Moines

Well, who would have thought we would still be here in Iowa at the end of September 2020?

We are, at time of writing, finally in the lengthy process of applying to return to China after having received the Sichuan government's invitation letter. We expect to be able to travel around the end of October, once we arrive in China, we will have to quarantine in a hotel (no leaving the room!) for 14 days, followed by self isolation at home for an additional 14 days. In other words, we wouldn't be able to go into the office, or, in the kids' case, school, for nearly a full month after arriving in China! In recognition of this, we decided to go ahead and enroll Sofia and Lukas into school here in Cedar Rapids, who, in light of the pandemic, are offering a remote learning program so we can continue to social distance.

In over 8 months of staying in our hotel room at the Residence Inn Cedar Rapids, we'd left town just one time to evacuate during the Derecho storm. It was our first time staying outside of Cedar Rapids since the end of January, and we took advantage by seeing some of the sights there as well. As a secondary effect, due to the damage to the actual school facilities in Cedar Rapids, the school semester was delayed for an additional 3 weeks. Once again, we decided to take advantage and planned a socially distant roadtrip vacation in the early Fall of 2020. Destination? Neighboring state South Dakota!

Our journey started with a short jaunt halfway across the state to Des Moines, the state capital of Iowa. Keeping with the social distancing theme, we visited a lovely botanical garden:

We also visited the nearby Asian Garden:

We came across a set of Chinese Zodiac impressions which were cute if not a little inaccurate :

Dog (or Koala?)

Tiger

Snake

Goat (or rabbit?)

Imagine our surprise when we saw famous ancient Golden Sunbird Emblem of Chengdu, right here in the capital of Iowa!

Chengdu, 2020

Des Moines, 2020

Before leaving Des Moines, we visited its beautiful Capitol Building:

We watched this red squirrel bury some acorns!

Ancient Jewish wisdom from two millennia ago

After that, Cherry took the wheel as we started the four-hour drive on our way to our first overnight stop - Sioux Falls, South Dakota!