Why This Albuquerque Lawyer Takes All 4 Cats to Sioux Falls Every Summer

Last month in court, opposing counsel asked where I was taking my summer vacation. “Sioux Falls,” I said, adjusting my turquoise necklace that screams New Mexico attorney. The entire room went silent. “South Dakota?” he clarified, as if I’d misspoken. “With all four cats,” I added, because why not lean into the crazy cat lady lawyer reputation I’ve apparently cultivated at 42.

Here’s what my colleagues at the firm don’t understand: while they’re dropping $5,000 on crowded Santa Fe resorts or flying to Europe, I’m spending $1,200 for two weeks in the most underrated city in America. Sioux Falls has everything – waterfalls, art, incredible food, and most importantly, it’s the only vacation spot where bringing four cats doesn’t result in anyone batting an eye. South Dakotans are too polite to judge, and honestly, they’ve seen weirder.

I discovered Sioux Falls during a legal conference five years ago. The conference was forgettable (blockchain law, kill me), but the city was a revelation. Coming from Albuquerque’s brown desert landscape and 100-degree summers, Sioux Falls in June is like discovering water after a lifetime of sand. Green everywhere, actual humidity that makes your skin feel human again, and hotel rates that made me check three times because surely there was a mistake.

The Cat Travel Logistics Nobody Believes

Yes, I drive 1,100 miles with four cats. Mochi (the orange tabby who thinks he’s a dog), Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG for short, a tortoiseshell with opinions), Ansel (named after Ansel Adams, he’s basically a living dust bunny), and Enchilada (don’t ask, I was drunk at the shelter). The drive takes two days with an overnight stop in North Platte, Nebraska.

The Baymont Inn in North Platte charges $20 for pets, not per pet, total. Twenty dollars for four cats. The La Quinta in Sioux Falls? No pet fee at all. NONE. I called three times to confirm. Meanwhile, every hotel in Santa Fe wants $75 per pet per night. That’s $300 a night just for my cats to exist in their space.

My Honda CR-V is basically a mobile cat apartment. Custom window screens from Amazon ($47) so they can have fresh air at rest stops. A portable litter box that fits between the seats. Their carriers are bungie-corded into a fortress of safety. I’ve driven this route four times now. We have a system.

Why Sioux Falls Hits Different From New Mexico

Albuquerque is beautiful if you like brown. Everything is brown. The mountains are brown, the ground is brown, even the sky turns brown during dust storms. Sioux Falls is aggressively green. The kind of green that makes you realize your eyes have been in survival mode for years.

Falls Park is 123 acres of waterfalls in the middle of downtown. Waterfalls! Moving water! In New Mexico, our “river” is concrete most of the year. The Big Sioux River has water all the time. Revolutionary. I sit on the observation deck while the cats watch from the car (windows cracked, in shade, I’m not a monster), and just listen to water falling. For free. This whole park is free.

The sculpture walk downtown changes every year. Over 60 sculptures you can walk around, touch, experience. My law firm pays $500 for Santa Fe art walk tickets where you can’t touch anything and everyone pretends to understand why a blue square costs $50,000. Sioux Falls puts art on the street for free and lets kids climb on it.

The Food Scene That Nobody Expects

Parker’s Bistro would cost $200 per person in Albuquerque’s fancy districts. In Sioux Falls? I had a five-course tasting menu for $65. SIXTY-FIVE DOLLARS. With wine pairings, $95. The chef came out and talked to me about sourcing local ingredients. In New Mexico, “local” means within 500 miles. In South Dakota, it means Jim’s farm 20 minutes away.

Phillips Avenue Diner makes green chile cheeseburgers that rival anything in New Mexico. I know that’s blasphemy, but it’s true. They import Hatch green chile and don’t apologize for it. The owner saw my New Mexico license plate and personally came to discuss chile sources. We’re now Facebook friends.

But here’s the revolution: CH Patisserie. A French bakery in South Dakota that makes better croissants than anything in Albuquerque or Santa Fe. Seven dollars for a breakfast that would cost $20 at home. I buy a dozen pastries on my last day and drive them 1,100 miles home in a cooler. They’re still better than local options after two days in a car with four cats.

The Actual Numbers That Make My Partners Think I’m Lying

My last Sioux Falls vacation (10 days):

• Gas: $400 round trip
• Hotels: $180 in North Platte (both ways), $450 in Sioux Falls (La Quinta, no pet fee)
• Food: $300 (eating well)
• Activities: $75 (everything’s free or cheap)
• Cat supplies for travel: $30
• Total: $1,435

My partner’s Santa Fe “staycation” (5 days):

• Hotel: $2,500 (Inn of the Five Graces)
• Food: $800
• Spa: $600
• Activities: $300
• Total: $4,200

For five days. FIVE DAYS. I get ten days of actual vacation for a third of the price, and I don’t have to pretend Santa Fe isn’t just Albuquerque with better PR.

The Cultural Scene That Shocks New Mexicans

The Washington Pavilion has Broadway shows. Real Broadway tours, not community theater. I saw Hamilton for $85. That same ticket in Albuquerque was $350, and that’s if you could get one. The Orpheum Theater has concerts that skip New Mexico entirely but stop in Sioux Falls.

The State Theatre shows indie films I can’t find anywhere in New Mexico. They have wine and real food, not just popcorn. Tickets are $8. Eight dollars! The Guild in Albuquerque charges $15 for worse seats and stale popcorn.

SculptureWalk has an app that gives you audio tours. Free app, free tour, world-class art. Santa Fe charges $30 for a gallery map that’s outdated before they print it.

The Cat-Friendly Reality

Paws Pet Resort offers “cat condos” for $25/day if I want a cat-free day. They have webcams so I can check on them. Each condo is bigger than my first apartment in law school. But honestly, I rarely use it because everything’s so accessible with them in the car.

The Japanese Gardens at Terrace Park are empty on weekdays. I’ve definitely never let RBG out on her leash there. That would be against rules. But if I had, hypothetically, she would have loved the koi pond and the seniors doing tai chi who thought she was therapeutic.

Great Bear Recreation Area has trails where leashed pets are welcome. Mochi (on his leash and harness like the dog he thinks he is) has hiked more of South Dakota than most humans. The locals think it’s hilarious. “Is that a cat on a leash?” Yes, Brad, it is. Welcome to my life.

The Hotel Situation That Breaks My Brain

La Quinta Inn & Suites Downtown: $89/night, no pet fee, breakfast included, walking distance to everything. The breakfast has actual protein, not just carbs and sadness. The room is bigger than my first condo in Albuquerque.

Country Inn & Suites: $79/night when I booked in advance. Four cats? No problem. They gave me extra towels without asking why. (It’s for the litter box area, but they didn’t need to know.)

Compare to Albuquerque: A decent hotel is $150 minimum. Santa Fe? $400 for anything that doesn’t have bedbugs. And they all charge pet fees like my cats are going to destroy the place. My cats are better behaved than most children and all drunk tourists.

The Shopping That Pays For The Trip

No sales tax on clothing in South Dakota. NONE. I buy my entire year’s professional wardrobe in Sioux Falls. The Empire Mall has everything, and without New Mexico’s 8% tax, I save hundreds. Those savings literally pay for my gas.

Scheels is a sporting goods store that’s basically Disneyland. They have a Ferris wheel inside. A FERRIS WHEEL. IN A STORE. Patagonia jackets without tax. I bought three last year. Saved $120 in tax alone.

Zandbroz Variety has weird gifts for everyone at my firm. Where else can you find buffalo-themed everything that’s actually clever and not touristy garbage? My paralegal still uses her “Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo” grammar mug daily.

The Unexpected Legal Networking

South Dakota has no state income tax, so lawyers there are oddly happy. I’ve made more useful connections at the Sioux Falls Bar Association’s casual First Friday drinks than at any formal New Mexico State Bar event. They let me attend as a visitor. We talk about multistate tax issues, I explain New Mexico’s perpetual water law crisis, they explain South Dakota trust law. It’s nerdy and wonderful.

One attorney has become my yearly lunch date. She practices family law, has six cats, and understands the struggle. We compare notes on managing trials while managing cats with medical needs. She taught me about South Dakota’s pet trust laws. I’m considering moving my practice there. Only half-joking.

The Weather Situation

June in Sioux Falls: 75 degrees, green everywhere, occasional rain that smells like earth instead of dust. June in Albuquerque: 95 degrees, everything on fire, drought restrictions, and the air quality of an ashtray.

Yes, their winters are brutal. But I’m not there in winter. I’m there when New Mexico is trying to kill everything with heat and drought, and South Dakota is having its brief moment of paradise. The cats don’t overheat. I don’t overheat. We all remember what comfort feels like.

The Judgment-Free Zone

In Albuquerque, other lawyers side-eye my cat situation. “Four cats? Really?” Yes, really, Jennifer. At least I don’t have four ex-husbands like you.

In Sioux Falls, people just say, “Oh, that’s nice.” Midwest nice is real. The hotel staff remember us each year. “The lawyer with the cats!” They ask about each cat by name. The La Quinta desk clerk made them toys out of wine corks and feathers. Try getting that service at a Marriott.

The Actual Hidden Gems

• Cowboy Jack’s has a Sunday brunch that rivals anything in Santa Fe for $15
• Falls Park Farmers Market makes Albuquerque’s look sad
• Minervas has managed to make walleye exciting (I don’t even like fish)
• The Big Sioux Recreation Trail: 19 miles of paved trail that’s empty on weekdays
• Sculpture Walk has wine events that are free if you volunteer for an hour
• The Butterfly House is $8 and surprisingly therapeutic after a brutal trial season

Why I Keep Going Back

My therapy is $200/hour in Albuquerque. Two weeks in Sioux Falls costs the same as three therapy sessions and works better. The slow pace, the green everywhere, the water sounds, the ability to walk downtown without fearing for your safety – it’s what vacation should be.

My cats travel better than most humans. Enchilada sleeps the entire drive. RBG judges the scenery. Ansel hides under his blanket. Mochi thinks he’s on an adventure, which he is. We’ve become a weird little family road trip unit, and Sioux Falls is our place.

The Truth About the Economics

I bill at $350/hour. Two weeks of vacation is expensive in lost billable hours. But those two weeks in Sioux Falls reset my brain in a way that makes me more effective the other 50 weeks. My win rate went up 12% after I started taking real vacations instead of stay-cations where I still check email.

Plus, the entire trip costs less than one root canal. American healthcare is broken, but at least Sioux Falls is affordable.

The Bottom Line

While my colleagues are fighting crowds in Paris or pretending Scottsdale isn’t just a fancier desert, I’m in Sioux Falls with four cats, eating cheese curds, watching actual water fall, and spending less than they drop on airport parking.

Is it weird? Absolutely. Do I care? Not even a little. At this point, the La Quinta staff sends me Christmas cards, three restaurants know my order, and I have a favorite bench at Falls Park. That’s not just a vacation; that’s a relationship with a city that doesn’t judge me for being a 42-year-old lawyer who practices both corporate tax law and advanced cat transportation.

Next year, I’m considering three weeks. The cats have already approved the motion. Unanimous decision, no objections. Case closed.

If you see a dusty Honda CR-V with New Mexico plates and four cat faces in the windows rolling through South Dakota, wave. We’re heading to paradise, and it only costs $1,200 to get there.