I do like it when I am proven wrong...
at least about a town that I think may be a complete wash for me.
When I came into Trinidad, CO, looked at the construction box that is the "rail passenger" office (it is an unmanned station) and looked across the street at the overpass that is under construction (Trinidad is having its own Big Dig!), and remembered that there is no taxi service here, I wondered about whether or not I would really see much here, despite the history offered up on the website.
I was at least met at the train station by Kenny, a staff member at the Trinidad Motor Inn where I was staying and he got me to the hotel.
The closest food that was open is a Sonic down the street, therefore I gave into my first fast food of the trip (save for a sandwich I got on the train...once). I happened to get there just after an entire unit of traveling young Airmen stopped there and gave the staff there more business than they probably see in a week in one fell swoop. What little I saw of the rest of the town appeared to be dead already, hence I took my fried fat back to the motel and prepared to mope.
Then, after check-out this morning, I decided to take a walk down main street...and soon I saw shops, cafes, jewelry I have to avoid buying no matter how pretty it is: let's just face it, the southwest with its unique design and generally wholesale prices is a dangerous place for an accessory addict like me...but I have remained good. (therefore I will not talk about the sleeping beauty turquoise necklace with silver and turquoise heart pendant and matching earrings or the white buffalo turquoise necklace I saw today...so many pretty things..."my preeeeeeciousssss") While I can't say that I have met major interview material here, I did have a lovely conversation at New Heritage Antiques with the owner, Merle. She has lived all over the west despite starting in rural Pennsylvania. As we spoke, I brought up the topic of my show and she talked about how she herself is a "kind of mongrel...anyone who could swim, walk, crawl here from Europe is in my family...somewhere". Most folks in her family are fair and blue or green eyed (she herself has rather brilliant green eyes), "but there have been some brown eyes that have popped up here and there". While she may not out right ask "What are you?", she does indeed ask "Where are you from?" as it's a "conversation starter and the only way you learn...". She loves talking to people and should you ever find yourself here, I highly recommend you drop in on her shop and have a chat. And ask her how during some time in NYC, she ended up riding the elevator with Sting - arm over her shoulder - every morning. And if you were at all involved with the 2001 production of Bat Boy the Musical, send her a note as she saw it and just looooooooved it.
All right, time to prepare for Kansas City and St. Louis...
Peace --Alex
posted by funkweee @ 2:34 PM
1 Comments:
Don't forget that Trinidad, Colorado, has been dubbed the "Sex Change Capital of the World." (See this article on Wikipedia for more.) Maybe that's a different kind of "what are you?" question than you had in mind, however.
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