Candy!

Last weekend, the folks toured a brewery.  This weekend they toured a candy factory.  They toured Hammond Candies which has been in business since 1920.  Mom didn't think she had ever heard of them, but now she remembers seeing their name on Easter bunnies. 

Mom watched videos of their candy making before she attended the tour.  There are many videos out there, but here is the one they show during the tour, if you are interested.  Hammonds Candy Tour

There is not air conditioning in the candy making area.  It is about 100 degrees.  If you notice, the workers on this shift were all men.  The candy they are lifting is about 70 pounds.

The chefs, as they are called, make the candy from start to finish.  Mom thought that was interesting.

This chef is making candy that will become candy canes.  Approximately 550 candy canes will be made from this batch.

This is another chef working on his candy.

Notice how dark the candy is when it starts out.  It will change to almost white.  You will see that in the following photos.

All done.

A woman from packaging is called in to help with the candy canes.  They must work quickly.

This is packaging.  All the candy is packaged by hand.

 After the tour, visitors are given samples and then they head into the store for some shopping.

Mom bought some hard candies, but Dad wanted chocolate.  This is what they bought.  Yes, he thought Mom would like the Pigs N' Taters.  She hasn't tried it yet.  It has bacon and potato chips.  Mom wanted the sea side caramel. 

The folks enjoyed the tour and yes, the tours are free!

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Wonders What Tour The Folks Will Take Next Weekend

Beer And Baths

The folks decided to do some sightseeing in Golden on Saturday.  Coors beer is made here, so they decided to take a tour.  They think they did that years ago, but Mom isn't sure. 

The folks were disappointed in the tour.  It was self-guided and nothing was happening.  I guess if you take the tour during the week, you actually see product being made.

We are from the St. Louis area and Mom has taken the Anheuser Busch tour a few times and said it was 100% better.



This was in the restroom.  Mom thought it was blog-worthy.  :::snicker:::



Display in the lobby



Another display.



Some of the Coor products.

Brewing

Packaging, but nothing was being packaged.



After the tour, samples were given out.

A view from the brewery.

 After visiting Coors, they decided to eat lunch. They visited D'deli which gets great reviews and Dad has been told it is great by co-workers.  People were lined up to get inside.  The wait was probably about 20 minutes.  Mom had the Oinky sandwich.  It had ham, bacon, BBQ pork and coleslaw.  She said it was okay but she probably wouldn't have it again.  She can't remember what Dad had, but he liked it.

Inside D'deli.

The folks then visited the Astor House.  It was built in 1867 and served as a boarding house until the 1960's.  The house had the first bathtub in Golden.  Hot baths were $.25 and it is said that the owner made more money from the bathtub than regular rent.

 

 

The dining room.

The famous bathtub!!!

The kitchen.

 

One of the bedrooms.

View from the balcony. The balcony had to be removed due to people spitting on people on the streets.  All balconies in Golden were ordered to be removed because of this.  It was re-added back in the 70's when the house was deemed a historic building.

Another view from the balcony.

One more view.

Another bedroom.

Rope bed.

The Astor House was interesting, but nothing really special.  I guess the folks are getting tired of looking at old houses.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Didn't Partake In Beer Or A Bath

Bringing Treats To Campgrounds Across America

We were asked by an employee here why we "charge" his golf cart.  He said "Why do they love my golf cart?"  Mom was embarrassed to tell him that we were searching for treats.  She explained that we have stayed at campgrounds where the workers in golf carts carry treats for the dogs.  He said "That is a great idea!"  Today, we saw him and he said "I didn't see you yesterday, is everything okay?"  Mom explained to him that we wanted to walk on the "mountain" even though it was muddy.  Mom told us we needed to stay on the grass, but we didn't.  We ended up getting our paws really muddy.  Scout and I both stopped.  I held up my paw and said "MOM, HELP ME!"  Scout just sat down and refused to move.  Mom cleaned off our paws and told us the only way to get home was to continue walking.  I lost my boot, so we had to find that on the way home.  We finally made it down the "mountain" and then we washed our feet off in the flooded dog walk.  We told the employee all of that and then he handed us treats!  Scout, of course, refused hers.  She is so rude at times.  I ate mine because that is the polite thing to do.  I think our goal should be to have treats given out at all the campgrounds we visit, don't you? 

Dreaming of how all the other dogs will love him because he brought treats to their walks.

This is the dog walk.

Notice how our "mountain" doesn't have snow, but the real mountains do.

We have a nice view when the site next to us is empty. Mom hopes the blue skirting comes off soon on the fifth wheel.

We saw a rainbow last night from our window.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Finds Walking With Muddy Paws Difficult