A quick trip to Kremmling

Driving from Steamboat Springs to Denver, we passed a small town that I'd really wanted to stop in. I'd noticed Kremmling on the way to Steamboat because of a cute ice cream shop sign. I still had it on my mind on our return and we were more than ready to walk around when we passed Kremmling again.

That sign is worth a second look. 😉 I really liked Kremmling. It just felt good being there. Everyone we ran into was incredibly nice too. I wish we could have walked around a little longer, but there was rain coming. We didn't need extra drama driving down through mountains!

Some of the buildings, or in this case the front of one, is like something out of an old Western! You feel like you're walking around a movie set.

We were told this was a silversmith's place back in the day, although we were thinking it was a blacksmith's.

I really tried to find some ghost stories from Kremmling online, but didn't have any luck. If anyone familiar with this area is reading this, please tell me anything! History, ghost stories, anything.

I thought for sure I'd find a ghost story about the Hotel Eastin. I mean, it's a hotel in an area this old! I did find some thrifty prices for it, though. Starting at $25!

I did a little reading about the hotel and found out it was built in 1906, by a man named Kasper Schuler. See, now we know it's haunted! Kasper. 😉 It was a bottling works/boarding house before becoming this hotel. I also read that Zane Grey wrote one of his books here. That meant something to my mom, who knows who he is.

Another movie set view.

I'm sure there's a name for this formation, but I haven't found it yet.

If I stare at this long enough, I start seeing faces.

I liked these Kremmling benches with the cut-out words. I had to stoop down to take this so the "Kremmling" could be seen.

So, on to that ice cream! How cute is this logo?

This was what I spotted on our way past. One cow for ice cream and one for coffee. That one cow is really into that coffee!

I only noticed now while looking at these photos that the cows are different colors on both sides.

In front of the ice cream/coffee place:

I just noticed that little metal coffee cup man waving off the roof.

As you walk inside, you meet this bear. What a surprise! It really puts things into perspective, as far as the size of a standing bear vs. you.

How about this warning sign?

There were a few cute sculptures in there too.

Looks like a coffee can hat.

I liked the mustache on her friend here.

You can see a bit of the ceiling here. These look like the numbers people have worn in ski races.

The whole ceiling was covered!

The ice cream was really good. I had some coffee ice cream and mom had some raspberry. Back to the cool, old buildings. This one was built in 1903. If you go here: Heritage Park Museum, you can see what this looked like long ago. I know the pic is tiny, but it's worth a look.

Down some streets behind the ice cream place and shops.

The sky was so open.

We passed this restaurant on the way out of town. It's "The Grand Old West".

We did experience a little bit of rain after our visit to Kremmling. This is not what you want to see while driving, but I did enjoy taking some photos.

Pretty dramatic clouds, hey? I saw some lightning too, but I didn't get any photos of it. Next blog post, we'll be doing some Halloween shopping in Denver! 

A foggy walk, ice crystals, and a swamp monster!

Today was a very foggy day. To my surprise, the fog hung around for hours, into the night. As I was taking some photos of what it looked like around here, it struck me that these images looked a little like what was in my last blog post. These scenes are made of transparent layers, some lighter or darker than others. Can't you imagine this image as the inspiration for one of those tunnel books?

I was looking for some fog themed music to add to this post, and was surprised to find some choices. I really like this song. I recommend listening to it while looking through the photos because it's a good fit!

Celtic Mystique: The Foggy Dew

I listened to this while looking at a slideshow of my foggy photos and it added something. I began to feel like I was putting together a St. Patrick's Day blog post with this music, the fogginess, and all the green. Seeing green on the ground instead of white is really weird for January here, by the way. It will be 50° here in a few days!

Check out the little droplets hanging from these branches:

If you look really closely at this drop, you will see the landscape behind it upside down. It might help to enlarge the photo. Pretty cool, hey? It's like there's a little fisheye lens in there.

There was still ice along the curb. Here you'll see some of the leaves left from autumn which are looking surprisingly colorful and  fresh.

This little leaf was nearly transparent.

Here's the swamp monster! If you use your imagination, you'll see a face and two arms emerging from the ice. I even see a bit of a hand. He has kind of an Oscar the Grouch thing going on.

Do you see the tiny tree branches in these droplets?

This ice next to the curb reminds me of an ice queen's crown.

Some of these look like larger versions of crystals or snowflakes that you'd see through a microscope. Maybe you've seen some of that up-close crystal photography.

These looked like insect wings to me.

I like how still this one is. It just looks quiet. You know the painter, Edward Hopper? This reminds me of something he'd paint. It's quiet and kind of isolated looking.

Three soft little trees:

The fog was still hanging around at night, so I went out in the drizzle to take a few more photos.

I love the curving frame of this limb.

It was pretty spooky out there. I could hear all kinds of little noises. Dripping, something scurrying around. So, that cut the photo session a little short. :)

If you were following my blog back in June of 2011, you might have seen some foggy photos I took back then. It's interesting to look back at those, in part because the color is so different. Check out how blue these are:

Out of the fog


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