Belmont Soda Fountain: Small Town Flavor and Warmth

Tis a family past time of our to venture to the nether regions of the county to go to a small all-American town by the name of Belmont.  In that small little town is a Main Street where there is a park, a coffee shop, a bakery, a general store and the Belmont Soda Fountain. The floors are pristine hardwoods with original hardware unique to the original drugstore that formerly took residence.  The Belmont Soda Fountain is family owned and passes that same atmosphere onto it's local and faithful clientele.  Recently, I had the opportunity to host one of my engagement shoots at this store.  True to nature, they worked with me to accommodate the needs of my client letting us enter the store 30 minutes early and even making an amazing Belmont Soda Fountain Banana Split as a great prop for the experience.

I am sincerely thankful for the work that I do and the opportunity to work with creativity and business that foster creativity.

As many of you know, I am a huge supporter of buy local and support local.  These businesses rely on vendors like us to make them reach far beyond their community.

It's a beautiful thing.

xox Ollie

www.facebook.com/belmontsodafountain

www.belmontsodafountain.com

Around the World in 8 Whole Hours

Once upon a time, I took a trip. The plan was to travel around the world and end up whenever my eyes opened. 

That place ended up being Dodge City, Kansas...Wyatt Earp City. The year was 2012.

I doubt people dream of this place when their whisked away at night to dream land.  But, this was it.  This was the place of my dreams.  The spot where my feet decided to plant for an hour or so. A place where the streets were paved with cobblestone, restaurants manned by the world, and abandoned beautiful buildings.

They were absolutely beautiful, the buildings, that is. They were red, blue, green and purple.  ROY G. BIV must have fathered enumerable painters and muralists who chose the street names and colors.  And, for a gal who liked the color red...oh red..oh how red abounded. I saw my life flash before me in a haze of understanding.

It made no sense...this town. It was literally in the middle of nowhere. It sat roughly 4 hours from Tulsa and 4 hours from the nearest city in Colorado (or maybe even the state line).  There were shops and theaters and bars.  The Italian restaurant was owned by a Hispanic Family. Yet, I saw no Mexican restaurants.  The streets were all frontier.  Cowboys lined door frames.  Bulls grazed on leaves of stone.  Auction blocks ran the town.  Many streets had no names.

This was my kind of randomness. My town. It was me.

Maybe that's why I stopped randomly on my way to nowhere in my general tour around the world.  Maybe I decided I needed a breath of fresh air. Ya..that was it.  Fresh air.