My best friend when I was a wee little girl was named Emily. Emily Hammond, actually.
I know, I know…it truly is the best best friend name ever. I’ve blogged about her.
A few years ago I was reading a romance novel doing the laundry with the TV on in the background when I heard the announcer mention Hammond’s Candies. Of course, my ears perked up because of Emily. Apparently, it was an amazing candy factory in Denver that made the ‘best factory tours in the US’ list.
Hammond’s has been in operation since 1920 and even though we’ve been to Denver too many times to count we’ve never been. This year I was determined to go.
And since certain people that shall remain nameless booked us on a dad gum SIX AM flight out of Nashville I knew we’d have plenty of time to get to Snowmass before the family members that booked normal and reasonable tickets got there.
“Woman, we arrived safe and sound didn’t we?”
Hmph.
Hammond’s was a great side trip.
The store itself was beautiful. It was truly like something out of Willy Wonka.
Glorious displays of candy every which way you looked.
Normally I don’t even like hard candy but this stuff was truly delicious.
Look! They even had Auburn lollipops. Alright, alright…So they were actually for the Denver Broncos but still absolutely lovely, right!
The tour was free and really neat.
Hey Minions!
“Yes, Mother dear?”
Sheesh. Weirdoes.
Look at this candy:
That lovely pink blob. Don’t you just want to grab it and eat it!
At Hammond’s, they don’t just make hard candy. Here they are making chocolate hearts…or chocolate bunnies. I can’t remember which. Trust me, whichever it was, it looked amazing.
So…
Did we get stuck in a traffic jam on the way to Hammond’s and have to sit outside the Purina factory for the longest and smelliest two minutes of our lives? Well, yes we did. But…the amazingness of Hammond’s Candies totally made us forget it.
But it didn’t make me forget that four am wake up call.