Driving to Utah

WyDOT doesn't plow well. (Neither does the city.) Below are some photos from my journey to my mom's. I drove on the day of Christmas Eve.

This would be Interstate 25, about 30 miles north of Casper. One lane is plowed. And the shoulder is plowed.

Pulitzer-winning photos

At the Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings, Mont., there was an exhibition of Pulitzer Prize photography from the feature and spot news categories. The weekend before Christmas, I drove three hours north and took in the images.

Among some of the most striking...

The boy in the back is 15. He has a gun and hostage. Shot by the Boston Traveler, a long-lost

Snow tires

I got an early Christmas gift. (Thanks, Dad!)

Fifty Russian Winters: An American Woman's Life in the Soviet Union by Margaret Wettlin

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I wanted to like this book, I did.

It was poorly written and edited. The woman had an incredible story as an American school teacher who went to the USSR in the 1930s on a teacher exchange, fell in love, married, had children, had her passport confiscated, endured World War II in Russia and stayed for 50 years until

Welcome back to Wyoming

Last night I drove into Gillette, land of no toilet seat covers.

Who knew such a flimsy paper could carry such heft?

The presence of toilet seat covers have become in my mind the symbol of

The Year of Magical Thinking

Four of five stars.
"The Year of Magical Thinking," by Joan Didion.
This book is about mourning. It's also about the writer's life, which is fascinating. I loved it.

Love

Love is so complicated because I may want a someone who wants someone else.

And I suppose, there are times when someone may want me, but I don't want him.

The Happiness Project

by Gretchen Rubin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Maybe I'll change it to five stars some day. For now, it's a four-star book. (Although, part of me wants to buy a copy -- I borrowed it from the library -- so I can have all the ideas close at hand.)
To me, Gretchen Rubin is an admirable, over-achieving big sister: I want to be more like her, then part of me realizes I'lll never be like her and so I hate her. Just a little.
The Yale law school graduate/former Sandra Day O'Connor law clerk/best-selling author/upper East Side Manhattan resident/wife of investment banker/daughter-in-law of a former U.S. Secretary of Treasury/mother who has a nanny

The Weather, Part 1,367

Today, Dec. 4 at 4:17 p.m., it is 12 degrees.
But with 25 mph winds, it feels like negative 7.
Yay.

More

"Happy Xmas" by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. The video is sad, the song conjures up happy feelings. 

"Christmastime is Here"

At my work Christmas party last night, a colleague said that Charlie Brown is the most morbid character in cartoon television history. I'd have to agree, although I feel some kinship with his oh-so-serious, weight-of-the-world-on-my-shoulders attitude.

If Charlie Brown's parents were alive today, he'd be on a cocktail of anti-depressants.

Lo! How a Rose e'er Blooming

True, I like the holiday songs that sort of make fun of the faux emotion associated with people who go to church twice a year.

Although I do like some traditional Christmas music.

I don't really like "Jingle Bells." Well, "Jingle Bells" is an okay song, but when I think about the Christmas songs I really like, I seek ones that aren't really popular. I've always been attracted to the obscure and unusual.

Such as "Lo! How a Rose..." I really enjoy the Sufjan Stevens interpretation. Much slower than how I play it on the piano and less methodical. I don't know if "methodical" is the correct word, but what I'm trying to say is that he counts notes and rests differently than what I've heard before.

A delightful, insightful Facebook exchange with friends

I just finished reading a book on happiness, which got me thinking.

I have so many questions about how people work happiness into their lives (or don't.)

I posed just one question to my friends on Facebook:

Laura

Survey time: What are your instant pick-ups when you're trying to alter your mood?

· · Thursday at 8:48pm

And I received the following responses...

Some girls: My life in a harem

Some Girls: My Life in a Harem by Jillian Lauren

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Jillian Lauren, although she's not very likable, has a fascinating story about being a girlfriend in the harem of Prince Jefri in Brunei, on the Malaysian island of Borneo.

She was one of the first Westerners invited to the harem, back in the 1990s and before most of the world was aware that there was a harem in the tiny south Asian country, and she rose to the status of No. 2 girlfriend, which came with privileges as well as pressures.

The reason why I gave it five stars is because I read the entire book during a rainy afternoon in the summer of 2010. I lent it to my sister, who I think did the same. She lent it to a friend, who I hope enjoyed it.

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Television in Gillette

Obviously, there is no television news station in Gillette.

There are ABC and NBC affiliates in Casper. I've only seen the NBC affiliate's truck in Gillette once or twice.

Even though it's the state capital, Cheyenne has only one station, a CBS affiliate that covers Cheyenne, Wyo.-Scottsbluff, Neb. market. The Casper stations do a better job doing statewide journalism than the Cheyenne station.

I honestly could not have identified any Wyoming stations had I not looked them up on the web for this blog post.

Ditto, probably, with my editors.

Chloe health update

I regret not taking her to the veterinarian earlier.

It turns out she has hurt her thoracic (middle-to-upper) area of her back. She may be in the beginnings of slipping a disk. She may have simply hurt herself. An X-ray at this point wouldn't distinguish the difference and treatment for both conditions is the same.

* She's on muscle relaxers and pain killers.
* For the next four weeks she must be in her kennel at all times, except to go to the bathroom, during which I'm to keep her on a short leash. And when she's on my lap. The vet doesn't want to risk her running around and reinjuring herself.
* The vet taught me how to lift her to not cause further damage.
* I need to put her on a heating pad three times a day, for 10 minutes each time.

Wide Awake

Wide Awake: A Memoir of Insomnia by Patricia Morrisroe

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I loved this book, a combination of memoir and good journalism. Morrisroe, in her 50s, has struggled with insomnia her entire life.

Personally, I can relate: I struggle falling asleep. Morrisroe can fall asleep but in the middle of the night she wakes and cannot return to sleep.

In fact, she's a fourth generation insomniac, and I was touched by the stories of her family members' insomnia, especially those of her beloved grandpa.

Yet Morrisroe writes with sharp wit, especially as she describes her adventures with overnight sleep studies, napping service companies, insomnia drugs, dream therapy, cognitive behavior therapy, hypnosis, music therapy, mattresses that promise a good night's sleep and even a second home in the country. But the book's more than a funny story about an overnight sleep study: Morrisroe parses through research on sleep and sleepness using her fine-tuned background in journalism to help novices like myself understand what really can be known for sure on the subject. I've learned about the iffy science, business interests and New Age hokus pokus behind insomnia. Just as important, however, I learned that freedom from insomnia requires solutions that are individual and could involve some of the very solutions Morrisroe questions.

Morrisroe ultimately finds an effective solution to insomnia. You'll have to read it to find out what that is!
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Another Christmas tune

"Last Christmas," by Wham! I recently watched an interview in which the activities in this video were described as a "swingers' retreat."

Great Christmas Songs

"Merry Christmas (I don't want to fight tonight)" by the Ramones




"Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues. Gotta love any song that starts with "It was Christmas Eve, babe, in the drunk tank..."

I lied

On Friday morning and afternoon the snow melted and I saw the grass and sidewalks again. I even saw a neighbor outside, stringing Christmas lights in jeans and a T-shirt.

Friday evening and night, we had wind, snow and, bizarrely enough, thunder and lightning.

Even if occasionally melts or blows away, that still doesn't excuse you from feeling sorry for poor lil Laura, freezing her you-know-what off in Wyoming, trying to adjust and be brave.

I just wanted to announce this in a sort of honest, self-disclosure aspect of my ongoing pity party.

Thank you for reading.

The Jews of Wyoming: Fringe of the Diaspora by Penny Diane Wolin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Beautiful photographs and story about the history of Jews in Wyoming. Three waves, basically, the first during the Dry Homesteading Act, the second in the 1920s from Eastern Europe to escape discrimination, and the third second-homers in Jackson.

I find history books too often boring. But I need to learn about the history of Wyoming. So I'm doing it by learning from the stories of minorities.

The photographer is a Jew from Cheyenne who started her career shooting the Cheyenne Frontier Days -- the largest rodeo in the United States -- then became a professional photographer of Hollywood types, and returned to Wyoming to work on the book on the side. She received money from the National Endowment for the Humanities to finish it. Some of her captions, I felt, led me to asking more questions. Photos are black-and-white and since it took 15 years to complete the book, there is a lack of consistency, in my opinion.

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Missing ye

Whenever I return to Salt Lake City, I remember all the things I miss about metropolitan areas. Which is funny because I never considered SLC much of a metro area. Then I moved to Wyoming and now I realize it's all relative.

I notice the vehicles around the Salt Lake City airport pick-up area and think,

"Oh foreign cars, how I miss ye: Hondas and Acuras and Toyotas and Nissans and Volkswagens and Audis and Subarus and Kias and Hyundais. How I miss ye."

Then I'd look (again shocking because I never saw much of this before. Again, it's all relative) at the racial diversity and say, "Oh Hispanics and Asians and Pacific Islanders and Native Americans -- how I miss ye."

Colorado Bulldog

If you're anything like me, White Russians taste okay. I want to like them more than I actually like them.

I wish I liked them as much as I like mudslides. After watching "The Big Lebowski," I really, really wished I liked them.

Ahem. Introducing a new drink, the Colorado Bulldog:

• 1 cup crushed ice
• 1 (1.5 fluid ounce) jigger vodka
• 1 (1.5 fluid ounce) jigger coffee flavored liqueur, i.e. Kahlua
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle cola-flavored carbonated beverage
• 1 fluid ounce light cream

Fill a tall 16 ounce glass 1/3 full of crushed ice. Pour in the vodka and coffee liqueur. Fill to within 1 inch of the rim with cola. Fill to within 1/2 inch with light cream. Stir to blend.

Since I had a bottle of ready-made White Russian in my freezer, I just used it and added some Coke.

Yum.

(Note: Some recipes call for a "splash" of cola. So experiment until you find a tasty combination.)

Chlobear health

Since I know each and every one of you is concerned about an 11-pound bichon-poodle's every move, I wanted to let you know that Chloe sprained her side. If she were a human, she would have sprained her left love handle.

But she's a dog, so she sprained her side near her bum.

Little dogs tend to jump up on couches, beds, chairs. Sometimes they over-estimate the springs in their legs and think, "I can reach that!" And they hurt themselves in the process. That's most likely what Chloe did.

WInter Driving

Since Utah has a reputation for some of the best downhill skiing and snowboarding in the world, no one in Wyoming seems to believe that I'm not used to snow.

In the valleys in the Salt Lake City area, where most people live, it melts in four days at most. (It's only in the mountains that it stays for a long time.) So during "snow storms" you just microwave hot chocolate (OK, so I'm not that gourmet) and delay errands until it conditions improve.

Not here. Life goes on. The snow is here to stay. Sure, it will melt a bit, but I'm not going to see grass and sidewalks for four months or so.

Last night, I went to a dinner party at my editor/publisher's house. She lives on a hill that's probably an 800-foot climb. My 2007 Honda Civic couldn't do it. I was gunning at like 60 mph, creating a lot of exhaust. My car wouldn't move.

Festival of Trees

Because Gillette has only 1,000 or so members of Relief Society -- the LDS Church's women's group that tends to do lots of crafts, transforming women into crafty Martha Stewart types -- the trees and wreaths here weren't as cool as the ones I've seen in Utah.

That was how Gillette's Festival of Trees was inferior.

How it was better than Utah's Festival of Trees? The booze.

In Utah, the Festival of Trees is held in a suburban convention center, and hot chocolate costs like 5 bucks -- more expensive than a mixed drink at Gillette's event.

Tonight, the event was more of a sit-down dinner. Kind of fancy. I definitely was under-dressed. I purchased a mixed drink but drank free wine in the beginning. I got into the wine and cheese event beforehand because I know the band. And by knowing the band, I mean my newspaper was a sponsor of the event.

And today, it's...

The forecast said the low would be 1 degree.

Actually, it was 4 degrees -- with 22 mph winds.

Making it fee like negative 17.

The Weather

This is the first of what I'm afraid will be a million posts.

When I moved to Wyoming, it was early summer. My mom was driving and she commented on all the snow gates along on the highways and interstate. I ignored her. I was so excited to begin my new life.

My Horizontal Life

My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was on a weekend trip and read this on my Kindle during my spare moments of time. It's apparently one of her first -- if not the first -- book and it's about her sex life.

I'm not a prude but I was looking for laughter that hurt my stomach, such as when I read "Hello Vodka, It's Me Chelsea."

I couple times, especially toward the end, I laughed out loud. But otherwise, I just found the book to be a collection of entertaining stories, at best, and dry navel-gazing at its worst.

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Bad Dirt

Bad Dirt by Annie Proulx

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book. A dear Utah friend, Doug, sent it to me when I moved to Wyoming. It fulfilled two needs: Entertaining short, breezy stories and insights to Wyomingites.. I enjoyed "Bad Dirt" so much, in fact, I'm contemplating starting an Annie Proulx book club at my public library.

She has a hodge-podge of characters -- a couple from New York who purchased a retirement home outside Jackson, an heiress in Casper who plays polo in Sheridan, plenty of ranchers and even a group of talking badgers. Only one group of characters in the invented town of "Elk Tooth" are a group she returns to throughout the book, with maybe three or four stories about them.

The people she writes about are almost all made up, and so are the narratives, except for history. She references Buffalo Bill and the Teapot Dome Scandal, for instance.

Wyoming has a handful of locales that sound nearly identical. I’m sure it’s no different than in Utah, but I lived in Utah for 20-some years and studied the state’s geography in school. In Wyoming, I was plopped into a newsroom, where I am to write stories without displaying amateurishness or a learning curve.

Evanston - A town near the Utah boarder. Supplies Utah alcohol and fireworks.
Evansville - Suburb of Casper.

Laramie - A town of 30,000. Home to the University of Wyoming.
Laramie County - County in which Cheyenne is located. The county where Laramie city is located is Albany County. Interstate 80 separates Cheyenne and Laramie city by about 40 minutes.
Fort Laramie - Near the Nebraska border, hundreds of miles north of Cheyenne and Laramie city.
Laramie River Station - A coal-fired power plant near the town of Lusk and the Nebraska border but not at Fort Laramie.

Pine Haven - A pretty town about 40 minutes from Gillette on the edge of a reservoir.
Pine Bluffs - A town off I-80 near the Nebraska border.
Pinedale - A town that’s on one of the routes to Yellowstone. Southeast of Jackson Hole. Since home prices in Jackson Hole are so high, I think Pinedale has become a (somewhat) cheaper alternative for retirees and people looking for second homes.
Big Piney - South of Pinedale (also somewhat cheaper than Jackson Hole.)

Kemmerer - A town by Rich County, Utah. Home to first J.C. Penney store in U.S.
Kinnear - A town outside of Riverton, which I think is sort of in the center of the state.

Then, there’s people’s names. I don’t understand why so many Wyomingites name their sons and dogs Cody. That’s the name of a city in Wyoming. It would be like a Utahn naming their kid Fruit Heights. Outside of Wyoming, a lot of people name their daughters Cheyenne. Luckily, I haven’t run into any Cheyennes in Wyoming.

Howdy and Happy Halloween

At the Gillette bars on Halloween, there were real-life, honest-to-God cowboys. Then there were men dressed in costume as cowboys.

"How could you tell the difference?" a friend asked.

Well, the look of irony on the faces of the costumed cowboys, mostly. And their lack of tans. And some of the costumed wore ridiculous accoutrements that even novices like me realized were inappropriate. For instance, real cowboys don't wear leather vests with fringe.



That's plain stupid. Why would a cowboy wear a leather fringe vest? In ranching, function always trumps fashion. The bandanas around their necks protect them from the sun and cover their mouths during dust storms. The cowboy hats protect their heads from sunburn and the hats' wide brims provide shade. The denim protects from injury. Ditto with the long-sleeves.

Flying home - SLC to GCC

I know I'm on the right plane to Gillette because
1) It's a turboprop
2) It has mostly men on board
3) They reek of cigarette smoke

This little guy is AWESOME!

And the winner is.... Docket No. 56724931771abc

My paper is trying to give out the weekly award for the football picks contest... Turns out, the winner is in jail!

I seriously need to start a hashtag on Twitter called #onlyinwyoming.

Mass Games

Maybe Dear Leader needs to take the show on the road.

A proposal

P. was recently in Hong Kong, reporting and writing an in-depth project about migrant labor. His girlfriend, G., was in Gillette, working for the newspaper.

A year before, they had met in college in Colorado.

They fell in love and had talked about marriage. He even sought permission from her parents. Then he took off to Asia and she was anxious about him being 14 time zones away.

She counted down the weeks until he returned. With two weeks left, P. emailed me from the San Francisco airport and said he was returning early to surprise G. Could I help?

Gladly.

Lime Rickey, A work in Progress

Damn it! I can't make a proper lime rickey.

I tried to make a grape one that tastes like what I used to drink at Arctic Circle, a Utah-based fast-food chain. (Obviously, no booze in the Arctic Circle lime rickeys.)

At the liquor store, I looked for appropriate flavors and I picked up grape pucker schnapps, Smirnoff lime vodka and 7 Up.

I got home, took out a high-ball glass and poured probably the equivalent of three shots of vodka, then realized I poured too much, so I filled the rest up with 7 to try to overcompensate the for the vodka and then poured probably a half shot of grape pucker.

I took a swallow. A long hard swallow.

It was too boozy and too limey. Not at all sugary, syrupy like I remember it at Arctic Circle. Alcohol consumption should be a fun experience. If it burns while going down the pipe, it's not worth it, I say. Might as well not drink.

So then I added more grape and 7. It helped a little.

I went onto the website of Gracie's, a SLC bar that sells boozy lime rickeys. What did they put in it? Did they use a different grape-flavored liquor?

Their beverage menu isn't online. Damn it.

Rapid City via Spearfish Canyon

The Black Hills are beautiful...

I hadn't seen them in 10 years. Barb -- My Salt Lake City-Based Guide to Northeast Wyoming (TM) -- told me to check them out during the autumn.

A moving target, it always is, to catch the leaves in perfect, blazing colors. Last year, the Rapid City Journal and Denver Post recommended visiting in mid-September. This year, some friends who are from Rapid said to visit in October.

I was busy until last weekend -- which might have been a little too late in the season.

But determined I was, I told G it was time: Time to go to Target in Rapid.

(But also time to see the leaves.)

It was a rainy and overcast Sunday. The fog covered the peaks, which for G. and I are more like hills compared to the Front Range and Wasatch.

I should have taken a picture of Target. Oh well, maybe next time.

(I scored a cute black-with-white-chevrons sweater by Missoni for Target and a pink T-shirt with a vintage cowgirl that says, "This ain't my first rodeo.")

Chloe and I, we walk

Adoradog (Meaningful text TBA)

Am I violating my dog's privacy by posting pictures of her everywhere? And identifying her by name?

Devil's Tower National Monument

Lucky am I to have a national monument in my backyard. About an hour away from home, in the foothills of the Black Hills, Devil's Tower has stunning vistas of local farms -- complete with red barns -- and the scent of pine trees. So peaceful is the echoey sound of the wind blowing through them.

So frustrated I want to pull my hair out!

I tried a new stylist today for a cut and color prior to a friend's wedding.

She was recommended by a colleague, who has longer hair. About two weeks ago, my colleague emerged from the salon with a great cut and low-lights. Even better? The cost -- $60.

Mine? $90!

!!!

Did I mention that I had all-over color, which is easier for a stylist than low-lights? Did I mention that she had terrible communication skills, barely making small talk after I initiated it and spending most of the time talking to another stylist who was hanging out in her booth? Did I mention that she practically ripped my tangly hair out while combing it? Did I mention that she probably should have used an extra bottle of color but didn't?

After leaving the salon, I texted my colleague, asking her again how much she paid for her cut and color two weeks ago. Had I misheard?

Nope.

I got ripped off.

On cleanliness

There are two kinds of cleanliness: clutter-free and germ-free. Often, they oppose each other, but truly spick-and-span people understand that they're not mutually exclusive.

I don't have the interest or self-discipline to be one of those people (or, the money, as people like my father hire out cleaning) to file away each piece of paper or hide the bunch of bananas. I let the clutter pile up.

I don't like germs, however. I spray. I scrub. But I often am criticized by those whose countertops and desktops are bare. Their floors may be disgusting -- and there's something about disgusting floors that repulse me from eating from their kitchens -- but their space appears cleaner than my space.

I think there are pluses and minuses to each philosophy. I also think that those representing my philosophy are judged more and understood less. My evidence? Well, based on how I feel after neat freaks question me. Totally empirical, I know.

A college friend had a license plate holder that said, "Creative minds are seldom tidy." I concur.

To be or not to be (social)

I vacillate between wanting a busy social life and not wanting one at all.

I think I've always been this way: Upset when I only receive a couple calls on my birthday, but enjoying the peace and quiet the other 364 days of the year. I can remember feeling it as a child, those conflicting pulls of "I need more friends" versus "leave me alone!"

I'm not turning into an alcoholic, people.

I'm just enjoying the freedom.

For instance, I didn't really like the alcoholic whipped cream so I gave it to my roommate, who ran it over to her bestie's today. It's dairy and perishable so I figured someone might as well enjoy it before it goes bad because I'm not going to have it again.

Where they will spread my ashes when I die

A Crazy Woman Canyon, through which a Crazy Woman Creek rushes, is in the Big Horn Mountains about an hour west of here near the historic town of Buffalo.

I haven't been to the Big Horns yet. I did make it to the foothills of the Black Hills, which are about an hour east of here, but I didn't take any photos, unfortunately.

Gillette is in a basin that's in between the two ranges.

When I figure out who this Crazy Woman was, I will share. Stay tuned.

Good Times

The Holy Roman Empire was not holy, nor Roman, nor an empire. So I assumed Good Times Discount Liquor wouldn't necessarily be a good time or have discounts. Was I wrong. It was a most excellent time, and it may be my fave liquor store in Gillette.

The prices are meh. The sales are good, though.

Let me begin by introducing you to the alco-Slurpee machines. I was so surprised when I first saw these, on the Fourth of July, looking for something refreshing for an outdoor get-together with friends. It's convenient pick up a container of alco-Slurpee on the way to a picnic or party. It means no more having to blend a pitcher of margaritas at home, hoping it won't slosh around in the car, crossing fingers it won't melt.

Follow me

I'm working on my personal brand. Or I'm pimping my career to death. (Depends on how you see it, possibly a bit of both.) Anyway, you can be friends with my career alter ego by clicking here.

Also, I'm posting Lisa Nova's classic, "Twitter Whore," for laughs.

Bag It

Saturday afternoon, I bought some stuff for my house at Kmart – the retail selections in Gillette are Kmart and Walmart. I chose Kmart that day because I felt a moral obligation to support the store that gives pregnant women preferential parking. When I got home, I realized the sales clerk packed my reusable shopping bag inside a plastic bag.

Apparently she didn't know what to do with it. Maybe I should have explained.

Earlier that day, at the checkout at Smith's Food and Drug, I presented the bagger with a reusable bag and told her to fill it up, then use plastic. (For cleaning up after my dog.) I walked out of the store lop-sided because the reusable bag was stuffed to the brim and the plastic bag had one or two light items.

I guess I'm going to have to become one of “those” types of women – I called them “Coupon Mothers” when I worked at Smith's as a teen, you know, the women who sadly become glorified slaves to their husbands and children and get high from bossing around the few people in their world who are lower than them – and micromanage the bagging of items. Ugh. I dread being that way. But I don't want 10 million plastic bags – especially when I have a great selection of reusable bags that include Whole Foods, Powell's City of Books, a bag from an Asian-American conference in Hawaii about 10 years ago (graciously given to me by Jo-Ann Wong when I was in college and complaining about not having a book bag) and lots of Trader Joe's bags.

Welcome to Gillette

Van loaded, car towed. Thanks to an uncle who owned a towing company and drove the van and car the 8.5-hour trip, it was a cinch. In fact, he beat my mom and me, who were following in her car! This picture is in Gillette.

Nestled between the Big Horn Mountains and the Black Hills, Gillette is described as "high plains." For comparison, the elevation of Salt Lake City ranges between 9,410 (Grandview Peak) and 4,210 (probably near the Salt Lake City International Airport) and averages 4,327 feet, according to the city's website.

Another welcoming sign that emphases the city's energy wealth. Gillette is in the Powder River Basin, which produces 40 percent of coal in the United States, more than Kentucky and West Virginia combined. There is also oil, natural gas, methane gas inside the coal seams, uranium and the potential of wind and solar. As a result, the town's economy is boom-bust -- depending on energy prices -- but city economic directors are trying to diversify the local economy.

The city was incorporated in 1891, a year after Wyoming became a state.

Yikes! Despite the energy wealth, gas prices are among the highest in the country, according to AAA.

No mountain ranges in the immediate vicinity, just rolling hills. Notice the big sky. I love it. I took this picture today in the rain a few miles out of town.

More rolling hills and big sky. Notice the oil well. I've learned in my short time here that natural gas wells can be distinguished by small brownish sheds on site. This one is sans shed, so it's oil, I think. I wish I had a picture of a coal mine but I haven't taken one yet...

A mural painted on the side of a large building. It shows Gillette's industries in the last 100 or so years, starting with cattle (right.) Ranchers started making serious money when the railroads began rolling through town, transporting beef across the United States. While ranching is still an important part of the economy, obviously coal has gained in importance and the railroads primarily transport coal. The mines are 24 hours and so are the BNSF trains that roll through town.

I love the sense of humor they have here. By "Adult Daycare Center," the owners of this liquor store are referring to a few bar stools in the middle of their shop. A couple people were watching TV, smoking and drinking when I stopped in today.

Since I photographed the store's signage on the outside and dawdled and gawked on the inside, I figured the only decent thing for me to do was to buy something. I decided on Root Beer schnapps. I've never had it before but the people in the daycare told me to either pour it into ice cream for a root beer float, mix it with half and half and club soda or mix it with Coke. I went to Albertson's and bought some half and half and club soda and they're now in the fridge getting cold. The schnapps is in the freezer, also getting cold. A Sunday night treat!

"How do you like me now?" Wyoming asks.

Liquor aisle in Albertson's. I would have snapped a pic of myself in front of the liquor but I was having a bad hair, no makeup kind of Sunday.

This is supposedly a Dutch wine cocktail made of chocolate and (unspecified vintage) red wine. I've had similar stuff like this in the past and it basically tastes like mudslide. Anyway, I'll probably buy it again since I'm Sweetie. (A reference to a previous blog about restaurants written with a friend named Spicy Girl.)

For you Fat Tire fans out there, including Spicy Girl! I'll pass on the Fat Tire but I'd like to try some Molson's.

Shhh. Don't tell anyone in Utah about this.

A "Reserved for Expectant Mothers" sign near the front of a big-box retailer could have serious implications for the unpreggers in the Beehive State. Like, they'll be walking 100 miles to the front door of their favorite store passing rows upon rows of expectant mothers' vehicles.

Weather

Gillette's temperature highs are only slightly lower in the summer than Salt Lake City's. In the winter, however, it's much colder. The northeast corner of Wyoming receives about an inch more of precipitation a year.

Gillette's climate can be found here.

Salt Lake City's climate can be found here.

In conclusion, I'm in the market for cute winter boots. The ones pictured above are Sorrel's. The model is Joan of Arctic. They'll set me back about $130. Time to start saving, I guess. :)

Map

Distances*

From Gillette to Rapid City, S.D........... 141 miles

From Gillette to Casper, WY.......... 186 miles

From Gillette to Billings, MT.......... 233 miles

From Gillette to Cheyenne, WY.......... 250 miles

From Gillette to Yellowstone N.P. East Entrance.......... 303 miles

From Gillette to Denver.......... 344 miles

From Gillette to Salt Lake City.......... 593 miles

* According to mapquest.com