Halloween Shopping in Denver

At the end of our trip to Colorado, Mom and I traveled back to Denver. Our hotel had a big benefit; it was across from a new outdoor shopping mall. And the best Spirit Halloween store I've ever been to was a part of that mall.

We saw some of these same props back in Wisconsin, but they seemed more special here. And the werewolf with those trees seemed perfect for where we were.

The werewolf was probably my favorite prop. Here he is without his eyes glowing. That's scary in a different way. The werewolf makes some pretty believable growling noises as you walk by. To show you:

The Limb Ripper

Check out the Ouija Board section! I didn't see any of this stuff at the Spirit store here. Now that I'm having more time to look this over, I'm seeing a planchette ice cube tray! There's also a Ouija pot holder, bottle opener, placemats (that could actually be used as Ouija Boards!) towels, glasses, candle holders... they've thought of it all. Even what looks like a jug of Ouija moonshine? Not sure about that one, but most of this stuff is pretty cool! That metal bottle opener is clever.

This still has me laughing:

Mummified Skull:

How about this zombie dude? Nice touch with the one shoe.

And for you haunted doll people:

I think she was supposed to move around or something. There were a bunch of smaller standing props clustered around. I was sure they'd move when I came over, but nothing happened. Maybe it was time for a new battery?

We had a great time looking around. I even got a few scares when the props leaped out toward me or made a sudden noise. It was fun to jump up and then laugh a bit at myself for doing so.

That happened with this Forest Demon. This video shows the way it pops up to be frighteningly tall: Forest Demon Demonstration. It really looms over you! The demon's comments are a little cheesy, and somewhat insulting, but the movements... yikes!

This talking tree wasn't going to scare me too much in a store, but maybe if someone put him in a wooded area at night he could be more scary. He says some kind of cheesy/threatening things as you walk by. I found a video of him in action: Deadly Roots

This one gave me the biggest jump scare. I know he doesn't look like much here, but if you find yourself in a Spirit store, give this one a try. Let's just say if you put this on your porch holding the trick-or-treat candy like he is here, you'll have quite a show to watch.

I'm not even going to share a video of the scarecrow, because it would be more fun for you guys to experience this as an in-person surprise.

There was a sort of Area 51 space in the back. At one point, when we were checking out these alien props, I got a really goofy scare. I didn't realize there was a door in the wall next to me. An employee came out of it, carrying some boxes and spooked me. I went "eek!" and jumped and she said "I'm the scariest prop here".  She helped get a few of the tired props going and added to the fun atmosphere there.

This alien is laid out on a table when you walk up to it, but then it slowly rises.

There was even a spaceship flying above us.

After having a fun time getting scared at Spirit Halloween, we checked out some of the Halloween items in JCPenney.

I might need this hat...

How cute is this little truck? I like any display that involves a vintage metal truck that's full of something.

We also went into our first Charming Charlie store. I only knew of their web site before this. I didn't realize that they had actual brick and mortar stores.

Charming Charlie was selling these sugar skull masks. Aren't they cool? I feel inspired to make something like this.

This is a view down one of the pathways between shops. Isn't this festive with the lights? I thought this mall was laid out really nicely.

Across the street from this mall was a Target. They had a little bit of Halloween out at this point. There were these big heads that looked like they could be part of a mascot costume.

One of these could have actually been part of my high school's mascot costume. This looks enough like a Panther, right?

Who could resist spinning the "Hand of Fate"? I like these kind of vintage looking props. I didn't even notice the skull with the glowing eyes until now! I guess my mind was in other places at the time. It was getting to be time to head to the airport when I took this. Anyway, neat skeleton hand on this too!

And then there are these old-timey busts. This looks like it should be at Disney's Haunted Mansion. I'm sure this bust said something, but I can't remember what! It looks like he was in the process of saying something as I took this pic.

Other than the Spirit Halloween store, there was another great surprise to see from our hotel window. We had this amazing view of the sun setting over the mountains. Check this out! Especially the last one.

OK, guys. Get ready for the perfect Halloween sunset!

Woo! You can't beat that.

Tomorrow night is our annual Witch Party! So there will be many pictures in the future! This year's theme is black cats.

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!