Last night we stayed at a hostel rather than a motel. It was recommended in the Lonely Planet guide and is actually the home of the lady who runs it - her name is Joan (the photo of the person you don't recognise is her in front of the house).
When we got there the snow was gently falling and I was pretty much beside myself with excitement. It's not that I've never seen snow (the scars on my knee from an arthroscopy due to a skiing accident several years ago are a testament to that) but I don't think I've ever been out in it when it's falling. And I have never seen a place just as it starts to snow and then wake up the next morning to see it transformed to a winter wonderland.
Which is what happened the night we stayed in Lead. I couldn't wait to open the curtains in the morning and see the street, trees, houses and our car covered in snow.
The hostel was a great place to stay and Joan was lovely and welcoming - we were very tempted to spend the day in bed reading and stay another night.
But we had people to see, place to go.
Well not so much the people part I guess, although we are meeting some interesting folk along the way (think that is the first time I have actually used the word "folk" in a sentence).
Our next stop was Deadwood and as I was in the show Calamity Jane a lifetime ago, I was really looking forward to it. The town was pretty quiet (as a lot of places are now that summer is over) so we were wondering how all the businesses survive. And all Deadwood is (mostly), is shop upon shop of slot machines and places to eat with the odd souvenier shop thrown in. But despite that it is a great looking town full of wild west store fronts giving it an authentic feel.
After wandering the streets we headed up to Mount Moriah Cemetery on Boot Hill where Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane (who incidentally was originally called Martha Canary) are buried side by side.
We left the snowy town of Deadwood and on our way to Buffalo (our next stop in Wysconsin) we stopped off in a place called Sturgis. Every year in Sturgis there is a big motorbike rally that people ride across the country to get to and stay for the week doing biker kind of things. Paul (Nic's wonderful hubby who can so kindly lent her to me for a month) is really into bikes so we went there for him!
Hopefully he will go himself next year!
And unlike us, let's hope he goes in August when the actual event is on.
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