The No. 10

My favorite hangout in Deadwood by far is the No. 10. My mom was afraid to go by herself because apparently it is the "rowdy" place in town. Sweet! My kind of place. It is also the home of Beer Pong Tuesdays.

The No. 10 is the center of social activity in Deadwood. They host the Pimp and Ho ball, have some of the best bands in town, and my favorite 11 am poker tournaments. What you don't know when you walk in the joint is that everyone that works here is related. This is a small town..... a town that the locals protect.... and seemingly a town that no one wants to leave.

I am a girl who's lived in big cities all my life. Born New York, raised Bay Area and never lived anywhere in the middle. I like this town. The countryside is breathtaking and the people genuine. I have skiing, hiking, rock climbing and fun within 1/2 hour on all sides. But.... shhhh I'm not supposed to say I like this place. The locals want to keep it a secret, but I think at least they might want to keep me too.

From 85 to 0 < 24

Yesterday I was sitting right on this corner of the deck in my bathing suit, worried that I was going to get sunburnt. Today I wake up to a blizzard.

The locals love to tell stories about the extreme temperature changes around here. It is not abnormal to have 50 degree swings in the span of 5 minutes. It happened yesterday evening. I walked outside on the deck when my mom got home and nearly turned blue because I was still wearing my summer t-shirt.

One story has it that back in 1924 (I don't really remember the year) it went from 85 degrees to -30 in a span of a couple minutes. Another story says that a farmer put thermometers on both sides of his house and there was a 40 degree difference between them. Another quirk of the Black Hills. Luckily Deadwood is just as beautiful in the white fluffy snow as it is in the sunshine.

A small town and $10 economy

So I have been offered four jobs since I've come to Deadwood. People ask me what I do for work and I say, "Nothing, at the moment."

"Do you want a job?" They ask.

So what were they proposing? Housekeeper at the Super 8, Docent at the local history museum, bartender (it's a very slow time of year), or front desk worker....

Not that I'm such a Princess, but yes, I am a Princess.

The average wage in Deadwood is about $10/hr. That means I would be working 40 hrs a week for less then California unemployment pays me.

Listening to the wind on earth day

Yesterday was Earth Day and a beautiful 80+ degrees here in Deadwood. I had on jeans, my bikini top and no shoes. On a whim I decided to climb the hill behind my mom's house. I guess it's not really a hill since we are a mile high. It was rocky and steep. It took scrambling on all fours to get the outcrop at the top of the hill. The view was beautiful I could see the old gold mine at the top of the hill in Lead and the tips of all the other mountain tops around. At one point the wind picked up and started whipping my face. It felt like the ancestors of all the Native American's were rushing through the valley. Then it stopped and little wispers of wind caressed my cheek and ears. The Lakota believe that the black hills are the center of the earth. There is something spiritual and magical about this land.

Deadwood, South Dakota

There are about 4000 people in Deadwood and 80 casinos. That's a pretty good casino per capita ratio. My mom moved out here to build the education and outreach center for the Sanford Lab which is being built in an old abondoned goldmine in Lead. I have been here less than a week and I've already found the wine bar, the jazz club and karaoke. What more could a girl need?

Besides the casinos there isn't much else to do in town. I haven't figured out where a movie theater is. To do any shopping you have to drive an hour into Rapid City and I haven't made it out there yet. Until today it's been cold and rainy so hiking has been out. But today the sun broke through and it's sunny and warm. I also hit my first Royal Flush playing video poker. All in all a good day.

My second Pow Wow

I would say that I have now attended my first Pow Wow but apparently my parents took me to one when I was about 6 months old in New York City. (I know, a Pow Wow in NYC… things never cease to amaze me) This was a gathering of the Lakota from around South Dakota. The Lakota are originally a part of the Sioux tribe but have worked hard to create their own identity and don’t like to be called Sioux. My mother had to set up a booth for the Sanford lab and thought I would be interested in tagging along. I have always had a fascination with all things Native American and jumped at the chance.

The Pow Wow was being held in the gym at Black Hills State University on their indoor track field. There were benches set up in a large oval and circles of folding chairs placed around the space. As we were setting up the booth, the tribal medicine man began his blessing. He burnt sage, blessed all the people working and made sure that the space was free of evil spirits.

I don’t want to go into too much detail about the actual ceremony because I do believe that is something sacred. I took very few pictures because I felt that I was intruding into a world in which I didn’t belong. The traditional dress was absolutely beautiful. There were different outfits for each dance that they performed. It must have taken a lot of time and money to make such gorgeous dress. The women’s dance actually reminded me of Irish and Scottish dance. A lot of bouncing up and down.

What really moved me was the sense of family and community. Some families had four generations in traditional dress on the floor for the inter generational dance. And it wasn’t just the family members that watched out for the little ones, (who seemed to have their reign of the dance floor) it was the entire tribe. I am really glad that I got to see and sense that spirit within the Native American community. My mother commented on something that I had been thinking the entire night….. So this is how they found a mate when they were spread out all across the northern plains.

Arriving at mom's new hometown

After a week of travel (and a day of flying across Wyoming at 100 mph... shhh... don't tell) I arrived in Lead, South Dakota to meet my mom for dinner. When I got into town I wasn’t quite sure where to go. I didn’t really expect there to be more then one street. But, damn it there was a stoplight and several directions to go. I knew the Stampmill was on Main St. but my GPS map was showing a couple Main. Sts. So I pulled into a parking lot next to an abandoned auto part shop and called the Stampmill. The young man who answered the phone was a little confused when I asked him what the exact address was.

When I got to the Stampmill, a cute, rustic old hotel, I told the bartender that I was glad that I found the place.

“Oh, you’re the one who called.” he said.

“Well I needed to program my GPS because I got lost in town.” I answered.

He just laughed. It wasn’t until later that I realized that there really was only one main Main St. in town and that it was virtually impossible to get lost. Ah well...

My little girl, she done done good

I have to say that I am really proud of my little girl. (That's my car in case you hadn't figured it out yet) I can't tell you how many mountains we've had to scale so far on this trip. Her little Hybrid engine had me passing pickups with V8s on some of the passes. We went over 2500 miles in a week and I spent very little on gas. I do miss Big Red, my old 4-runner, but I'm glad that I have my little girl with me now. And the GPS meant I didn't get lost once.... until I got into town.

The Top of the World and the Continental Divide

I got kind of freaked out at all the signs on 191 saying that the Wyoming side didn't have regular snow plowing and that the road might be impassable. I was hoping that the sunny weather was a sign that the road was clear. I was hanging out in the snow in a tank top after all. But I really had no idea how high the pass was or what kind of weather fronts had been through recently.

I was unprepared for the new terrain I was about to enter. Coming into Wyoming I felt like I had literally driven to the top of the world. The highway went along the top of the mountain ridge with 360 degree views for miles and miles. I felt like I was in the Lord of the Rings.

The road ended up being perfectly passable and I soon descended onto the great Continental Divide. The land is rolling ranch land but the altitude in around 7 thousand ft. I ended up stopping for the night in Laramie (like the cigarettes in the Simpsons). I actually found a really good brew pub. I had cedar plank salmon and a good glass of wine. The ranching life ain't so bad after all.

I roam among (dead) dinosaurs

After finally getting out of The Basin, the Scenic Byway began in Vernal, UT. Surrounding the Scenic Bypass is the area where the majority of the fossils in Utah are discovered. From squid fossils to petrified sand dunes (haven't quite figured out that one) it is where the ancient ocean resided and where dinosaurs once roamed.

It really just looked like a bunch of hills to me, but the thought that thousands and thousands of years of pre-man history were under the wheels of my magical, mechanical, go-fast machine was pretty cool. Once again there were very few people on the curvy, fun to drive road. Here's the drive from my perspective.

Backroads and the Basin

Originally I was going to take the main interstates to my mom's in South Dakota. That would've taken me up through Salt Lake City on I-15 then straight over through Cheyenne, WY on I-80 (yes the same I-80 that takes you to Tahoe). But after talking to a friend of mine, who reminded me that I am in no rush, I decided to take the back roads east through Utah, then take another Scenic Byway up to Wyoming.

Let me remind you that I had just been through some of the most beautiful country in the world, I kind of expected the rest of Utah to be just as beautiful...

So I headed east off of 15 on Highway 6. Most of the highway was undergoing construction but it was easy going if not a little boring. At the turn off for 191 there was a big factory that looked like some kind of rock processing. I almost thought I was turning into the parking lot. But after a 1/2 mile the country opened up again and Utah's beauty prevailed. The drive through Indian Canyon was especially beautiful with a geology wholly different from anything I'd seen so far.

I stopped for lunch in a little town called Duchesne for lunch. I had a choice between a hamburger, a cheeseburger, a bacon cheeseburger, an avocado cheeseburger or a hot dog. As I was waiting for my bacon cheeseburger I started chatting with a woman sitting next to me. I never got her name...

She was born and raised in what she called "The Basin". Her husband was having a hard time looking for work.

"But I'm in Healthcare out here and as long as I don't screw up I'll never loose my job."

I asked her whether they were having trouble finding trained Healthcare workers. She told me that they don't even try to find trained workers they try and recruit people straight from high school to the community colleges to train them for the industry. The problem is that none of the young people want to stay in The Basin.

"But this is a cute town." I answered

She kind of shrugged her shoulders and went on to tell me about the incentive programs that they have designed to get the younger generation to stay.

"But it's not working."

She got her to go food, I finished my lunch and continued on my way. In about three miles I understood why the younger generation was fleeing the basin. Agriculture and industrial equipment as far as the eye could see. Run down store fronts and not one hint of fun or entertainment. It was ugly. The whole drive I was also stuck behind that sewage truck. Kind of fitting I thought.

I'm the Raven

Most cultures believe that we, as people, are attached to some kind of animal. The Irish and the Chinese assign animals to a person's birth year. Native Americans have spirit animals. When I was growing up I always wanted to be a Tiger or a Wolf. Something cool and strong and dangerous. Well my dad, who was very into shamanism and Carlos Castaneda at one point, was very adamant that I was a Raven. My freshman year in college I wrote him a poem called "I'm the Raven" which still resides under glass at my father's house in Fremont.

I'm The Raven

"It's me." I said to the sky, when the bird sailed into the blue.
"See how she's laughing at the world."

"It's me." I said to the tree that swayed in the breeze.
"She's got that look in her eye."

"It's me. I told the Sun that beat upon the land
"Her voice is loud, her will is strong."

"It's me." I told he Moon.
"No it's not," He laughed, "Ravens don't fly at night."

A year and a half ago when I was thinking about getting a tattoo, I decided to look up my Celtic animal. It was a Raven. So I came to accept that the Raven was my totem animal.

Today I was standing on top of Hogsback, a section of Highway 12 where the road drops sharply off both sides and you have beautiful 360 degree views of Southern Utah, when a Raven came and landed a couple feet from me. He was not bothered by me one bit, nor I by him. We stared at each other for a few minutes then went on our separate ways, a sign that we are both on the right paths.

The Open Road

When I asked friends who knew Utah which National Park I should not miss, the common answer was Capital Reef. So on Easter Sunday I left Cedar City to hit Bryce then Capital Reef. It was a beautiful, sunny day with perfectly turquoise skies. The great thing about traveling on Easter Sunday is that no one is on the roads. I could speed all I wanted and not get caught up behind stupid RVs.

The first stretch of highway out of Cedar City felt like winter. It was cold and snow still covered the ground. After coming down off the summit the scenery quickly started to change. And so did the temperature. I think it went from 40 degrees to 80 degrees in an hour or so. I took the entire scenic bypass to Capital Reef. Most of the time there was not another car in sight. Another truly magical day.

Personality Profile -- The Glitter Girls

I stayed in Cedar City for three primary reasons. 1) I knew where it was 2) The hotels are really cheap 3) It's how you get to Bryce. After checking into my very cheap and pretty sketchy motel I needed to find something to do. Sitting in that hotel room all night was not my idea of a good time. I had asked the man at the front desk about any nightlife around but he gave me bad directions so I ended up wandering down Main St. A little further down then I normally would've gone I saw what looked like a bar (even though the sign was half gone). A flipped a U-turn and pulled into the parking lot of The Playhouse.

I walked inside an glanced around. It wasn't very crowded but they had pool tables and low and behold it was karaoke night. Sweet! After paying for my membership ($4 since it's Utah and all bars are private clubs) and ordering a Coors Light (Yes, I drank a Coors Light. I know it's a shock to everyone but they didn't even have wine) I went over to the karaoke lounge. There was a table in the middle decorated with balloons for a birthday. At the table were three women, two in their 50's and one in her 40's. Within 10 minutes The Glitter Girls (as they refer to themselves) had invited me to join their little soiree.

Sharing a common love of karaoke Cynthia, Emi, Carla and I sang the night away. Emi was originally from Salt Lake City but decided to move to Cedar City to get away from the City Crowds. Carla is a 40 yr old virgin. (She says the movie is after her life.) Cynthia was laid off from her job but working for her boss for free because he needs the help and she has the time. They do great three part harmony.

As I was sitting there singing all my favorite tunes, a thought flashed through my head. My life is awesome and I am having so much fun. So thank you Glitter Girls making it a special Saturday night in Cedar City.

A philisophical question

I took the hike to the Zion overlook in my boots with four inch heels. I had my hiking boots in the car but it was only a mile. I didn't realize how slippery and rocky the path was going to be but I managed not to injure myself. As I was trying not to slip and fall down the canyon I passed by a family of five. Here is the exchange between a father and his four year old...

Daughter: Why can't we go down there Daddy?
Father: Because we have to stick to a path.
Daughter: Why don't we stick to THE path?
Father: Now that's a philosophical question.
Daughter: What's a philosophical question?

At this point I am right next to her and I couldn't help but laugh out loud. "What's a philosophical question?" Now THAT is a philosophical question.

Daughter: Daddy, why is she laughing?
Father: Because that was a very good question.

Yes it was.

My thin place

I vaguely remember visiting parts of Utah with my family on one of our camping roadtrips when I was a kid. I really had no idea what I was in store for when I hit Kolob Canyon. I have never been to a place that brought tears to my eyes. The weather was cold and drizzly and a beautiful mist was hanging over the top of the canyon. I was going to sit and write in my diary but it was so quiet and peaceful that everything just left my mind.

There are places on this earth called thin places. It's a spot where the heavens touch the earth and a pure tranquility is formed. I got married at a thin place up in the Trinity Alps in California. They are few and far between. Kolob is one of my thin places and I hope to return to experience and explore it as much as possible.

After Kolob I headed to the other side of Zion. It was beautifully sunny and I arrived just in time to catch the afternoon light and shadows dancing around the canyon. The Eastern drive was beautiful and not too crowded and I made it just in time to hike to the Zion overlook before the sunset. All in all, a perfect day.

PBR and Jungle Juice $5 -- Good friend priceless

Sometimes when life disappoints you what you need is a good friend and a shot of whisky at the Double Down. (I don't know what jungle juice is nor do I ever care to find out.) The Double Down is hands down my favorite bar in Las Vegas. You will not find it in a casino or anywhere near the strip. It's in a tiny strip mall to the east of the Las Vegas Blvd.

This Friday night Todd's family was in town so we all piled in the car and headed to the Double Down. There is always an interesting cast of characters at the bar and usually some kind of thrash metal band playing. We were probably the only ones in the place without piercings or a tattoo. After a couple shots of whisky and hours of good conversation, life is good again.

An empty Oz

I was lying on my $20 hotel room bed waiting for a friend to text me when the Las Vegas news came on. Of course one of the major news stories was how the economy has effected the major casino companies in town. Apparently the Wynn is the only one doing relatively okay. So after I decided to stay another day to try and see an old friend I thought I'd check out the new Wynn.

The Wynn was beautiful and very red. Since I had won a bit of money at video poker I treated myself to a nice lunch. Sausage flatbread and a nice glass of Soave. Mmmmmmm..... Soave.

After lunch I took a drive down the strip. Most tourists take photos of the casinos and other attractions, I was more interested in the abandoned construction sites. I did see an elevator moving on City Center, a slight sign of life. Las Vegas had been a boom town for so long but how sustainable can that be even without an economic down turn. It's the law of diminishing returns. If you build too many casinos the revenue per casino is going to drop.

Then couple that with a recession and you've got an economy that is set to implode. A year ago a hotel room at the mid level hotels was going for $250 to $300 on Friday and Saturday nights. Now they are floating around $100. It will be interesting to see how long the major casino chains can hold out before there is more consolidation on the market or closure of existing casinos. It's just one more industry on the brink of collapse.

Personality Profile -- George the non-alien

While I was observing the scene in the Kashmir Lounge I noticed that there was an outlet right behind my chair. My laptop had run out of batteries and I certainly was not done with my computer for the day. Am I technology addicted, maybe... but I had to go to the restroom and if I was going to sit there for another hour I wanted another glass of really bad red wine.

I quickly scanned the bar to look for someone that might be sober enough to remember to watch my chair while I ran my errands. I noticed this gentleman across the way and walked over to ask him to keep an eye on my seat and my to go box. When he answered that he would I noticed that he had a speech impediment. We introduced ourselves and I realized that George was handicapped.

When I returned from my errands he was sitting at my table. I thanked him and jokingly let him know he didn't have to keep that close an eye on my seat. Just as he was getting up to return to his table a couple swiped it. So I told him he could share mine.... Here is George's story.

When George was 16 he and his friend hit a tree going 120 miles per hour. He flew through the windshield and broke just about every bone in his body. He can't work because physically he never quite healed, but as he says, "Just because my body is broken doesn't mean that I'm not sharper then almost anyone in this place." George had to start over at 16. Imagine having to learn everything that babies learn with the consciousness of a 16 year old. How frustrating that must be. He doesn't drink and has never done drugs even when his friends were smoking pot. (He made sure that he let me know that) He looks for three things in women, looks, figure and personality, not necessarily in that order. He was married and has a daughter my age. And he loves the sixties cover band and comes to all their shows.

George was incredibly sweet and inspiring. Even with all his hardship he had an amazing view on life, a pure joy. He is a year older than my mother but that didn't stop him from slightly hitting on me. He kept telling me I had the "It Factor".

So what did I take away? I think it's a lesson that I already subscribe to. No matter how bad things get you can always start over, be it at 16 or 32. And.... to always enjoy life and people because you will never know what's coming next.

The Desert

My original goal was to time my drive to reach Las Vegas right around sunrise so I could go to Red Rock Canyon and watch the sun come up over the desert. That was always one of my favorite things about my time working in Las Vegas. The construction crew at City Center (which is now on hold) would start at 4 am, then the sun would come blasting through the open windows and I would get ready for work and watch the sunrise over the mountains. Most people come to Las Vegas for bachelor parties or drunken weekends and never notice that there is an absolutely gorgeous landscape surrounding them.

I didn't reach my goal because I got into Vegas at 4 am and could barely see. Not because I was tired, but because of the constant strain and adjustment to oncoming headlights. Eight hours on the road with just a few stops is long and tiring. I tried to align my bathroom breaks with refueling the Hybrid but the damn girl would outlast me every time. It didn't help that I drank caffeine all day then bought two large black teas from Pete's before I left because I knew I would not be able to find anything without corn syrup for 500 miles. (This is a girl who normally doesn't drink much caffeine) Pete's caffeine and constant eyestrain created a very interesting physical reaction within my body and by the time I got to the hotel I just had to lay down. I couldn't fall sleep so I curled up in a ball and twitched for an hour or so before finally drifting off.

So I didn't really make sunrise, but I did spend several hours in the afternoon at Red Rock Canyon. It's one of those places that you feel like you could just start walking and climbing into the rock formations and become part of the earth.

After Red Rock I drove straight to SouthPoint. It's a hotel that I stayed at while working in Las Vegas. It's a locals hangout with a bowling alley and movie theater. I had a few leftover chips on my desk at work that were about a year and a half old. They were souvenirs of my time there. Since that chapter of my life was over I decided to cash them in. I walked straight to the roulette table, bet the entire stack on red (my favorite color), doubled my money and walked out. My road trip had officially begun.

8 hours under a full moon

After weeks of sorting through my clothing, furniture and other belongings, I came up with three categories. Store, purge and stuff in my Civic Hybrid. It took two days, three very good friends, one brother, two guys off Craig's List, one nagging (and I say this lovingly but she does not like the door left propped open or things stacked by the trash) apartment manager and me to make my beautiful apartment completely devoid of my personality. It was a very sad departure, I loved my apartment, but unemployment does not cover rent in the Bay Area and I felt the need to reassess. With the economy tanked I was unsure of how long it would take to find a new job and as a somewhat recently separated woman I was on my own. So what did I decide to do? Go on a road trip.

I took me a few weeks to leave. There was waiting for the unemployment paperwork and severance and trying to figure out how logistically to be "homeless". What address was I going to put on my job applications? And maybe the fact that I loved my life and my circle of friends. In the end I decided that it was the right thing to do and I would figure it out as I went.

So at around 8 PM on Wednesday I shoved the last of my belongings in my car, slammed the trunk, programmed the GPS and went on the open road. As I got on the freeway I realized there was a beautiful full moon hovering over 580. I laughed to myself because as a kid I spoke to the moon beams on my wall and as a teenager I wrote poems to the moon. So it was only fitting that at this transition point in my life, as I begin a journey that does not have an end destination, my moon was there guiding me the way, no high beams needed.

Las Vegas hotel room -- $20

When was the last time you got a hotel room for $20 anywhere? That's a 2 and a 0. $20. Let alone in Vegas, the land of luxury and stiffing the tourist. I'm not saying it is a nice hotel room. It's one of the run down old school hotels on the North Strip, far away from the Bellagio and the new Wynn. But it was $20.

The last time I was in Vegas I was riding around in a limo, picking $500 bottles of wine from the cellar and on the guest list at the Palms. This time, I am a girl on a budget. Limo's and expensive wine, yeah..... not so much. That's not what this trip is about. This trip is about independance and adventure and experiencing a different side of life. Like $20 dollar hotel rooms.

Last night after dinner I was hanging out at the bar in the Sahara (yes, that's where I stayed) trying to gamble as slowly as possible so I could milk the free drinks (really bad red wine) when a very interesting scene began to unfold in the Kashmir lounge. There was a sixties cover band playing, complete with skinny striped pants and ruffled tuxedo shirts, and a very interesting mix of characters on and around the dance floor. I had just hit two four of a kinds in five minutes at video poker ($200 can go a long way on a road trip like this) so I decided to take a look. I thought I had landed in..... I don't even know where.

There was one guy dancing on the dance floor (even during the breaks in the set), there was the guy with the long hair trying to freak every female in the lounge, there was the tall skinny white couple with thier pants up to their chest and the obese midwestern couple in jean shorts and oversized t-shirts. It was an absolute cross section of society and everyone was drunk and having fun. I stuck out like a sore thumb, the girl at the bar playing video poker with her laptop chatting on Facebook. They must have thought I was the strange one.

I stayed for about an hour or so but couldn't take it anymore so I went up to my room to order something to eat through room service. But wait, I forgot.... I'm in a $20 hotel room. No room service.