Socializing

So, again, this is Ely Minnesota (pop 3,702). It's 250 miles north of the twin cities, 100 miles from a bus station, over an hour to the closest McDonald's, literally the end of the road. As in, the roads end in Ely and the only way to get to Canada is to walk or canoe the 10 miles, but once you cross the border you still have about 500,000 acres of wilderness before you find another road. I've been here roughly two months and have yet to meet anyone between the ages of 17 and 42, and I have yet (with the sole exception of my boss) to meet someone over 17 who is not a member of Alcoholics Anonymous. I have done these things trying to make friends:
1)Attend the Ely High School football banquet, where I watched kids named Storm and Bear and Sky get their letters. (Side note: chose this particular evening to wear my tangerine cardigan, not realizing it was right before the deer opener so half the room was dressed in hunter orange. It was almost like fitting in... almost.)
2)Stop as I was walking home from work on a Thursday night to watch a VW van pull up to a bar. I stood seven feet away and gazed at the young people getting out. I was carrying only half a loaf of bread in my hand, unbagged.
3)Follow a guy roughly my age through the aisles while he grocery shopped, trying to think of witty things to say about organic salsa as an icebreaker. Came up empty.
4)Attend the Ely High School musical, which just so happened to be High School Musical. You really haven't heard 'We're All in This Together' until you've heard it sung in heavy Minnesota accents through a speaker system that works only 30% of the time.
5)Most shamefully, made my one friend (58 y/o, you guessed it, recovering alcoholic) go to a bar with me on Halloween under the pretense of watching the world series game but really to try to meet other people. She made it four innings before asking if she could leave. Everyone was my parents' age anyways.

Yes, I'm not really proud of any of these things, but since there are statistically only like 40 people in town in my age range I have to think outside the box.