Drinking with the Mermaids in Montana
Earlier this month, I found myself in Great Falls, Montana for work – a part of the country I’d never been to before. Great Falls is located in northern/central Montana, in relatively flat area where the Rockies can be seen in the distance. Great Falls still boasts the expansive skies which scream ‘Montana’, and is in close proximity some of our country’s most breathtaking natural beauty — Glacier National Park is 3.5 hours to the north, and Yellowstone is 3 hours to the south. Montana a great location for all things outdoorsy, and the lack of humidity was a nice break from the sweltering Nashville heat. With 4 days in Great Falls, our crew sought out the best haunts: the Montana State Fair, Jaker’s (a northwest chain but still great food — the scones are to die for), Borrie’s (family-owned; fantastic steak). And, finally, on our last night in Great Falls, we landed at the infamous Sip-N-Dip. It seemed a little sketchy from the parking lot, but we’d heard from locals that the Sip-N-Dip had been rated the #1 Bar on Earth by GQ two years ago (a little internet search turns up a plethora of MT tourism websites touting this fact- although the ranking was in 2003, not 2009). We also heard rumors of mermaids. Naturally, our curiosity was piqued, and we ventured inside. The Sip-N-Dip Lounge is found on the second floor of the O’Haire Motor Inn, which is just outside downtown. In all honesty, I was expecting a dive bar set in a club atmosphere. What I discovered upon walking up the stairs into this “other world”, however, was ENTIRELY different. The Sip-N-Dip is a cozy, smoke-free lounge with ambient lighting and a tiki motif. The bar is a decent size, and along with an excellent selection of mixed drinks and draft beer, there are mermaids. Yes, I said mermaids. Mermaids?! OK, they’re not REAL mermaids (obviously). They’re young ladies wearing swimmer’s goggles, a bikini top, and one giant fin. They’re really good at what they do, too — they swim gracefully through the tank, in various patterns, twists, and flips; if they notice you’re trying to take a picture, they’ll do their best to “pose” for you. There are no oxygen masks — they swim around for 30-45 seconds, and then resurface for a breath of air, and it really is just a breath. The night we were there, there were two mermaids that alternated every twenty minutes. I CANNOT imagine swimming underwater for that length of time, even with “air breaks”. Although it may suggest otherwise, and while “Mermaid Entertainment” is definitely different–...
indiana
Just spent two days working in Indiana. I feel so blessed to have had an awesome trip and return home and literally hit the ground running. Having somewhere else to focus all my energy has helped me readjust in a lot of ways, although I feel like I’m experiencing home/Nashville through a visitor’s eyes, and I’m only passing through. Today when I woke up, I felt so lonely, lonely to the point that theres something pounding somewhere deep within me. I’ve often felt this way when waking up to go to work, and before my trip I was terrified that I would feel ten times as lonely waking up on the other side of the world with no familiar faces within 9,000 miles. This morning when I felt that old, familiar twang, I realized I hadn’t felt it in a significant length of time — I didn’t experience it at all on my trip. Which is interesting: Why the pangs of loneliness when I’m home (home being the US) and waking up before doing a job I love? I don’t know. I went by Target a few days ago near here — the Target that I last went to the day before my trip — and it’s totally gutted. A lot of the stores nearby were completely empty, and there were only five or six cars in the entire parking lot. It’s unreal. It’s weird to have not been here when the flooding happened, but to come back and find a lot of things gone. As I said in my adventure/travel blog, it’s like being in an alternate reality. The weirdest thing about coming back has been how long the sun stays out. In New Zealand, the sun would set by 5:30pm/6:00. Here, it’s light out at 8pm and for the first few days I wouldn’t realize the time and end up eating dinner at like 10:00. And in Indiana, they’re further west than Nashville but in the Eastern time zone, and with simple addition you can figure out it was 9:30 before it was completely dark. And anyway. I’m losing my ability to write coherent and complex sentences....
Learning to Breathe: End of the Tour Down Under
I’ve learned so much on this trip I don’t even know how to begin writing down all my ponderings. I’m currently WWOOFing in Matamata and it’s been a really good way to wrap things up. Being out in the country with the fresh air, beautiful rolling hills, and manual labor has provided me with ample opportunity to mentally arrange the various stages in my adventure and realize what I miss, how I’ve grown, and things that I’d like to change. I guess that’s as good a starting point as any. What I’ve Missed: Oddly enough, one of the first things I missed about being away was working with Gabe and our humorous exchanges. Extremely random, but true. Another one of the first things I missed was noodling around on the guitar at band practice with Levi. Which is also something I wouldn’t have anticipated, because we haven’t played together in at least two years and haven’t had regular band practices in about five years. I’ve missed Gunner often, usually at mealtimes because I often found myself cooking for myself. I realized I can’t wait to cook for him, as 1950s a stereotype as that may be. Being here amongst a family on a farm has reminded me of my own childhood and how good I had it. I remember my dad telling me that often but of course it didn’t mean anything to me at the time. I’ve missed Coxey and Greg. I’ll be happy to sit down with them and have a beer and play Smash Brothers, or play disc golf. There were a few times when I wished I could hang out with Gunner and his guy pals. I’ve missed hanging out with Jessie and Allison, which again, there hasn’t been a whole lot of that in the last two years. I’ve missed going to Kentucky with Gunner and hanging out with his family. I’ve thought more than once about how I can’t wait to get back to New Orleans. I guess you could say I’ve found myself missing a lot of how things were at different years in my life, and that could explain why I’ve been feeling so lonely in Nashville. Things I’ve Learned That there still are good people in the world and that alone is a reason to keep on traveling. On this trip, I couchsurfed 7 times, WWOOFed with one family, and have met numerous awesome people in hostels that I hope to meet again along the road. For example — two nights ago I left my iPod in my hostel in Wellington and couldn’t find it. My other 5 roommates were...
Whirlwind…
The inner turmoil is unreal. I love New Zealand and I’m nowhere through exploring it yet. This adventure is almost over, but I’m not ready for it to be. I’m not ready to go back to reality. I should’ve scheduled this trip to be three times as long, or just up and left everything. But I had no way of knowing that I would feel this way 5 weeks into it. NZ… it’s not completely off the map. I’m a little disappointed that New Zealand so much like the US. Yes, there’s scenic beauty, but the day-to-day life is very similar. I’m not sure if I was actually expecting an undiscovered world with elves and hobbits, but as I was driving around the farm today on a 4-wheeler in the middle of story-like beauty– Hobbiton itself, in fact–it didn’t feel right. All day today I’ve been struggling with the fact that these mythical places only exist in stories. The world is a more technologically advanced place, but it is also a much darker place. I want to go on a multi-day hike, sleep under the stars. But I do not want to be a hippie and get in tune with nature by smoking some of it. And then there’s Nashville. My beloved adopted city, wrecked in a weekend. It sounds bad– really bad. I saw pictures of the inside of the Opryland Hotel and it broke my heart. I can’t believe some of the pictures — it’s like living in an alternate universe. I’m not sure what I’ll be coming back...
Well, …ington
So I bounced over to the North Island a few days ago, on a day that was so windy we had to pull up upon attempting to make our first descent into Wellington and circle around for another pass. The pilot did manage to put the plane down the second time, and rather smoothly — everyone applauded. I really, really like it here. I would venture to say Wellington has felt the most like home out of all the cities I’ve visited. On a clear day, the mountain range surrounding the bay is absolutely beautiful, and today my LOTR tour (nerd alert…) took us by Breaker Bay where I saw a breathtaking sunset and could even see the mountains on the South Island. Being here in “Wellywood” has gotten me thinking more about work and what I should do about it all. Immigration laws in NZ demand that jobs only be given to overseas folk should there not already be a Kiwi equipped for the job. And, let’s face it: being a set production assistant isn’t brain surgery. But what if? My desire to get involved goes hand-in-hand with my reasoning for being in the film industry. I want to be involved in something bigger than myself, creating something that thousands of people can appreciate for decades to come, and that’s exactly what movie-making allows us to do. But I would love to work on something great. I think the magic of Lord of the Rings is that no one realized how successful the movies would be, but yet they devoted two or more years of their lives to the project, created deep friendships, broke rules, and lived daily adventures that forever changed them. Their adventure is not unlike the adventure described in the books, and that kind of an experience is what I’m striving for, and that’s why I love being on movies more than anything else. How awesome would it be to leave it all behind for a year to move to a distant land, focusing on nothing more than one project with one group of people and have that piece of work recognized by millions around the world? You could forever say, “I had a part in that”, and forever whenever you stumbled across a person who you worked beside, you could share that knowing smile — It was our journey and only we know. I went surfing at Lyall Bay yesterday where the waves were far gentler and less intimidating than back at the Gold Coast. I even stood up a couple of times! On this trip I’ve realized how adventurous I am, how the 9...
Rough Day in Christchurch
I’ve been rather depressed today. Maybe it’s because I’ve spent wayyy more money on this trip than I ever anticipated. Maybe it’s because I realize I’m 23 and I haven’t accomplished much. Maybe it’s because part of me would like to stay in New Zealand as The Hobbit is gearing up to shoot, but I know that’s a rather crazy ambition — although SOMEONE has to check in all the hobbits/gobblins and make sure they’ve filled out their vouchers correctly. Or maybe they just do cash here? I also don’t like the person that I am. Self-absorbed. Elitist. Clueless. Out of shape. Face breaking out. No direction. Etc etc. I’m also cheesed off because the dryer ate a $2 coin, the phone at the hostel didn’t give me any refund when I didn’t use my full $2, and the freaking computer ate a $2 coin. and outta...
About
I'm Laryssa, and when I'm not working in film or television, I'm attempting to travel -- or I'm here, providing resources for working in film or travel. Read more Elsewhere on the internets
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