A few weeks ago the FGF and I headed north to Jerome, an old mining town and pseudo-ghost town, to check out the Perseid meteor shower. You can view a few pics here. I'd never been there before and it's a definite point of interest for Arizonans and tourists. After having been there for about a half hour, it was quickly apparent that there were four things in abundance - artists, homosexuals, bikers, and tourists.
The little town really only has about three streets, and they're all pretty close together - a very cramped town. Those streets are nearly completely lined with artisan stores. Leatherwork. Jewelry. Kaleidescopes and other glass sculptures. Paintings. Pottery. In these stores were the tourists...LOTS of tourists...buying the wares. There are eateries scattered about, but the hub of the town...the social core of Jerome...is The Spirit Room - a biker bar/club with live music - and the amphitheater across the street where those younger than 21 gather to listen. And on probably 1/3 of the shops and restaurants there you can find the rainbow flag. The homosexual crowd there doesn't seem to be the flamboyant variety...just fairly abundant, and well accepted by the community at large. The entire town is by and large a deviation from the traditional conservatism that has been Arizona for the past hundred years (although the state's definitely becoming more liberal over the past decade or so.
They have a large, lit up J on the mountain in which the town is set which sparkled like the stars above it. We found a nearly perfect spot just up the road from town to pull into and watch the light display. No clouds, no moon, good times.
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