July 3rd - Deadwood II

An incredibly lazy daylight day today. We didn’t get up til about 2pm as last night was a big night. Oops!

New friend! With the deer head she caught!

Vianne took us out for breakfast (well a late brunch) at the Cheyenne Crossing store. A delicious huge plate of bison sausage (yum!), eggs (I got confused by the options for cooking these so I went for scrambled ‘cos they don’t do poached), fried potatoes and half a loaf of toasted bread. Will’s coffee came from a machine and had enough sweetness to start a sugar factory. I enjoyed an OJ to get my taste buds going again after the drinking last night!

It was a slow day of lounging around on the couch and chatting to everyone. And then there was another gorgeous family dinner with the Kuceras – extended family as well this time. We met another cousin, aunts, uncles and even grandparents! It was great!! Everyone was so nice. Similar food to last night, but bigger quantities. Delicious. And Neil’s aunt made a beautiful yellow cake (not sure what sort), which was so so good! I don’t think I moved much after that – I just ‘rested’ my ankle haha.

A detour to Lead on the way to Deadwood(Lead is between Cheyenne crossing and Deadwood) – we stopped at the festival in town and Will and I tried our first Coors beer. Then we experienced a real wild bar(Blue Cactus)! There was a guy wearing a white shirt that was completely unbuttoned. He apparently had blood dripping from his face, but I didn’t see that! And I saw a cowboy (well, the boots, jeans and hat may have given that away) being punched by a guy and then he fell flat on the ground. Then the other guy picked him up and they hugged like the best of mates. Looked so full-on! And the floors were covered in peanut shells as they had whole peanuts in bowls everywhere for us to munch on. A random dog wandered in and around the drunk people, looking for attention. The $2 half-litre PBR beers added to final experience! 

Jager shot glass - upside down. 

Jager glass, right side up...

After that we went back to what is fast becoming our regular – Saloon number 10 in Deadwood. The floors are covered in sawdust – authentic cowboy saloon style! Plenty of animal heads and other history paraphernalia. Fake heads of Wild Bill, Jack McCall, Calamity Jane and Potato Creek Johnny. Anyway, the bouncer even recognised us haha. Still asked for ID though. I had some of the amazing sweet tea vodka I’d tried in Colorado – dangerous stuff! We met some more Deadwood and Lead folks, which was so fun! After the pub closed we headed to a house party in Lead. With a bottle of Jager. Pluses of the night apart from so much fun: being given an awesome Jager shot glass. It’s a stag head that stands on its antlers to become a shot glass. Works very well! And also a funky bead ring. Ahh, Leadians are so welcoming and nice! 

We said goodbye to the ‘3^rd’ at 4am, though this was already the 4^th and the only morning daylight we’d see was already creeping across the sky. Arghh! I even asked the cab driver if it was daylight up there in the sky. Oops. Cheap cab ride too. $10. Awesome. They have a funny system here. If there are 5 people in the maxi cab heading from Lead to Deadwood, the driver will stop and pick up other people to fill up the seats as he goes! Makes for a cheaper (but fuller) ride! Yet again, we got to bed about 4 am…