The day started out sunny and full of promise.  But by early afternoon, the usual happened:  clouds moved in and the grey commenced.  With some on and off rain.  I tried to be patient and wait and relax.  But that’s just not my style.  I would pull over, watch the clouds, with my brain pacing.  I’d shoot and grimace at the viewfinder.  Give up and try to take a nap.  But then a ray of sun would appear and I’d jump out — too late, sun gone.  I shot a lot in the grey anyway.  Which means those photos will be placeholders at my website til I can get here again and replace them.  And, you know how it is, a lot of this stuff might be gone by then.  So, best to shoot now regardless of conditions.  Unfortunately, the predictions are for more of the same, or worse, for the next couple of days.

Here’s the innocent way the day began — ah, clouds, sun, blue, shadows, color….   From Lakewood:

 

 

From the Lakewood Heritage Center which has a lot of neat relocated buildings and other stuff:
http://www.lakewood.org/heritagecenter/

This gas station is a recent addition — info about it in the next photo:

 

 

From Denver (yes, at a curve in the road):

 

 

This one in Englewood is a mystery to me.  I don’t remember seeing it before — but then it wasn’t painted these bright colors — see Google Street View:
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=4155+South+Broadway+englewood+co&hl=en&ll=39.641454,-104.987851&spn=0.00352,0.006244&sll=39.641475,-104.988165&layer=c&cbp=13,287.2,,0,-6.93&cbll=39.641366,-104.987857&gl=us&hnear=4155+S+Broadway,+Englewood,+Colorado+80113&t=m&z=17&panoid=0U9GWb0SZRk9lVjaBXNzOw

Maybe a restaurant originally?  Not a clue:

 

 

Also Englewood:

 

 

From Denver:

 

 

Also Denver — not sure what that “Wheel” on top means:

 

 

Detail from the long-closed Webber Theatre in Denver — later Kitty’s South (adult books, videos & entertainment).

 

 

More Denver – with the weather getting progressively worse:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last one for the night — from Glendale where I ultimately gave it up for the day.  The Riviera bar is gone but the new restaurant, Las Delicias, has kept the sign and added panels below with their name.  Thank you!  And the pigeons thank you, too.  An old photo here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chi_cowboy/3062390001/

 

 

That’ll do it for today.  If not for the  fact that I’m trying to take photos, the weather is quite tourist-friendly.  Highs in the 90s, lows at night in the 60s.  Rain cooling things off mid-day.  Helpful if you’re one of those orange cone workers — god knows, we’ve had our share of construction work detours on this trip.  Tis the season.  And today south of Denver — TWICE I got held up for about half an hour at an intersection because of a crawling, stopping, backing up, 20 mile-long train.  What’s with that?  They can’t build a bridge for cars or the train?  I guess locals think it’s normal but it seems so 1800s to me.  Night.