Deadwood

I took my students to Deadwood yesterday for the SD Festival of Books (well, 33 were supposed to go, four showed up because Pell Grants were released Friday and everyone decided to do something else, I guess). It pissed down rain all day, and Deadwood is a historic town, so the streets are really narrow, some of them brick-paved, and everywhere you turn there's a slot machine or bar, however NO DAMN PARKING! Since it's historic and nearly every building is a historical landmark, they're not required to be handicapped accessible, so P2 couldn't even go in most places because his wheelchair wouldn't fit through the door, nor were there access ramps. So, we couldn't go to any workshops because they were held in "charming" historic buildings (the Masonic Temple, for example) without access. (Normally I would love this, but being married to P2 had forced me to reevaluate many things, chiefly, how people don't consider mobility challenged other people when they do stuff like build doorways, plan parking, or host big events).

We did go to the book fair, though, and picked up some good books, and P2 had a good time visiting with various authors. My students had fun riding the trolley up and down the streets of Deadwood, though they couldn't find any of the workshops either. We drove around town for an hour looking for good coffee because apparently most people in Deadwood only drink beer. We found a Starbucks, tucked away in a casino at the end of the historic section of town, and we drove around for another twenty minutes trying to park before we had to finally give up, park illegally in a hotel-owned lot, and send in a SWAT team to grab coffees for us.

 

It was a beautiful day, if you love rain and the Black Hills and Fall. Gorgeous watercolor views of trees, old buildings, misty fog in the hills from the rain. I could have hung out all day just looking at the views, as long as I had my Grande Americano and a pack of cigs. The good thing about Deadwood is nobody really cares if you smoke outside because most of the tourists there are wandering around drunk off their asses anyway, so who's going to get after you for smoking when there's a couple slow dancing in the middle of the street?

The day culminated with a free dinner and keynote address by Lakota author, Joseph Marshall, III, whose book everyone in SD read this year for One Book South Dakota (it's where the SD Humanities Council chooses one book for the whole state to read and discuss, then honors the author with a dinner and keynote address at the end of the year). I've been having my students read the 2011 One Book selection, The Journey of Crazy Horse, and then the opportunity to go meet the author arose, hence our trip to Deadwood. Anyway, I think the students who went had fun, and my kids and P2 and I had fun. Then we drove home. In the rain. At 1:30 AM in the morning. On deer-infested roads. Got home at 4:30 AM.