![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydamorehouseHow I know my spouse loves me? Shawn researched all the coffeeshops near the hotels we'll be staying at during this trip.
Of course knowing where they are and knowing what they'll be like are two different things. I went out this morning and checked out Javalicious, which I was originally excited to find because their Facebook page shows something that looks like it could be real espresso, complete with espresso art. However, when I found Main Street Beulah, the coffee shop was closed.
A very lonely street.
A very sad and caffeine-deprived Lyda.
Luckily, Beulah has a surfeit of coffee shops, having a second one on 19th Avenue. I set off for that down Central Avenue, mostly because I wanted to admire the town. When Mason first saw Beulah, his impression was "suburb." He's got a point in that there's something about Beulah that doesn't feel terribly... established? The houses all look like the kinds of ramblers that were popular in the Midwest in the 1950s-1960s. The lawns are wide and the houses all have the kind of suburban distances between them--which isn't terribly descriptive if you aren't familiar with American suburbs, but think: wide and open. Driveways that lead to two-car garages. That kind of place.
It seems pleasant enough, though I'd never want to live here.
For one, the second coffee shop looks like this:
They also don't open on a Saturday until 9 am. They're not open at all on Sunday. And their coffee was.... well, it was a step up from the hotel coffee, which is what I subsisted on until we headed to Hazen for the family shindig. But, it was really only *one* step up.
Sadly, I will have to be satisfied with this for another full day.
(And who knows what Cody, Wyoming will bring in terms of coffee!)
Our room at this hotel comes with an in-room jacuzzi-tub which I tried out this morning. It was... interesting. For one, those things take FOREVER to fill (and I'm not terribly patient), and second, it turns out that if you don't fill it at least a full inch over the little nozzles, they will spray you IN THE FACE. Okay, that last part might have been dumb luck, but I swear the tub was out to get me.
Then I spent a ton of time trying to figure out what to wear. Shawn had packed me a nice shirt, but when I put it on, it just felt... *shakes head*... it just wasn't right. Plus, I wanted to make a good impression on these people. I was pretty sure I was going to be the only lesbian they were ever going to knowingly meet, so I kind of felt like I had to represent. Luckily, I had packed a plaid shirt. I mean right? If you're going to be the only lesbian they know, you might as well embrace at least one of the stereotypes!
Honestly, I was pretty worried about how all this was going to go. We had hours and hours we were going to be spending with these people and (I'm not making this up, I checked Wikipedia,) Hazen is 97.7% white. This is not a place comfortable with "diversity," you know?
But, well, if they judged us, they did it the classic Midwestern way: quietly and behind our backs. To our faces, everyone was nice.
That worked out, because what we were there for was for Shawn to reconnect to her mother's extended family. The reunion was based around her uncle Bobby and his wife Chris's 60th wedding anniversary. The food was... well, it was free, so I probably shouldn't complain about it, but let's put it this way: the event took place in a literal church basement. Macaroni salad featured prominently.
We have one more day here. We wanted to stay long enough to be sure to have the Hazen supermarket's fleischkeuckle and so we're going to spend the day tomorrow seeing some of the nearby sites, which include Lake Sakakawea, Garrison Dam, Dickinson Dinosaur Museum, and Knife River Indian Historic Site. We will may also see a few of the sculptures on Enchanted Highways, so that should be fun.
Of course knowing where they are and knowing what they'll be like are two different things. I went out this morning and checked out Javalicious, which I was originally excited to find because their Facebook page shows something that looks like it could be real espresso, complete with espresso art. However, when I found Main Street Beulah, the coffee shop was closed.
A very lonely street.
A very sad and caffeine-deprived Lyda.
Luckily, Beulah has a surfeit of coffee shops, having a second one on 19th Avenue. I set off for that down Central Avenue, mostly because I wanted to admire the town. When Mason first saw Beulah, his impression was "suburb." He's got a point in that there's something about Beulah that doesn't feel terribly... established? The houses all look like the kinds of ramblers that were popular in the Midwest in the 1950s-1960s. The lawns are wide and the houses all have the kind of suburban distances between them--which isn't terribly descriptive if you aren't familiar with American suburbs, but think: wide and open. Driveways that lead to two-car garages. That kind of place.
It seems pleasant enough, though I'd never want to live here.
For one, the second coffee shop looks like this:
They also don't open on a Saturday until 9 am. They're not open at all on Sunday. And their coffee was.... well, it was a step up from the hotel coffee, which is what I subsisted on until we headed to Hazen for the family shindig. But, it was really only *one* step up.
Sadly, I will have to be satisfied with this for another full day.
(And who knows what Cody, Wyoming will bring in terms of coffee!)
Our room at this hotel comes with an in-room jacuzzi-tub which I tried out this morning. It was... interesting. For one, those things take FOREVER to fill (and I'm not terribly patient), and second, it turns out that if you don't fill it at least a full inch over the little nozzles, they will spray you IN THE FACE. Okay, that last part might have been dumb luck, but I swear the tub was out to get me.
Then I spent a ton of time trying to figure out what to wear. Shawn had packed me a nice shirt, but when I put it on, it just felt... *shakes head*... it just wasn't right. Plus, I wanted to make a good impression on these people. I was pretty sure I was going to be the only lesbian they were ever going to knowingly meet, so I kind of felt like I had to represent. Luckily, I had packed a plaid shirt. I mean right? If you're going to be the only lesbian they know, you might as well embrace at least one of the stereotypes!
Honestly, I was pretty worried about how all this was going to go. We had hours and hours we were going to be spending with these people and (I'm not making this up, I checked Wikipedia,) Hazen is 97.7% white. This is not a place comfortable with "diversity," you know?
But, well, if they judged us, they did it the classic Midwestern way: quietly and behind our backs. To our faces, everyone was nice.
That worked out, because what we were there for was for Shawn to reconnect to her mother's extended family. The reunion was based around her uncle Bobby and his wife Chris's 60th wedding anniversary. The food was... well, it was free, so I probably shouldn't complain about it, but let's put it this way: the event took place in a literal church basement. Macaroni salad featured prominently.
We have one more day here. We wanted to stay long enough to be sure to have the Hazen supermarket's fleischkeuckle and so we're going to spend the day tomorrow seeing some of the nearby sites, which include Lake Sakakawea, Garrison Dam, Dickinson Dinosaur Museum, and Knife River Indian Historic Site. We will may also see a few of the sculptures on Enchanted Highways, so that should be fun.