Estes Park, magnificent mountains

---

Geo: 40.3761, -105.524

We left Colorado Springs and headed to toward Estes Park. The road was pretty twisty, but fun. We arrived in Estes and checked into our hotel. It is a small hotel and looked kind of plain on the outside. But the room was great! Its large, clean and comfortable. We grabbed some lunch and headed for the arial tram. It goes up to the top of the nearest mountain, 8700 feet. The view is great. Its a beautiful, sunny day, about 85 degrees. We also could see the smoke cloud from the fire here in Colorado. Luckily, it is about 25 miles northeast of us.
After that we headed over to the Stanley Hotel to take a tour. The Stanley Hotel was the inspiration for Steven King's novel "The Shining". He stayed here at the end of the season, just after they closed, on a holiday to clear his head and come up with ideas for another novel. Several rooms in the hotel are said to be haunted.
We went back to our room for a little rest and then took a walk down town. A little dinner, some more walking and then to bed.
We got up the next morning and had breakfast and then headed out for a little drive into Rocky Mountain National Park. We drove around and took some pics and then went to tour the original hydroelectric plant built to power the Stanley Hotel. The Stanley Hotel was the first hotel in Estes to be all electric. He had excess electricity and gave it to the residents.
We then went over to the Estes Park Museum. After that, back to our room for a little rest and then out to dinner. Tomorrow we drive thru the rest of Rocky Mountain National Park and then to the Lincoln tunnel and then on to Steamboat Springs for our next stop.

---

Comments

[Tony & Carm]

If we had the chance to win 1 million dollars if we knew which hotel was the inspiration for Stephens King Novel we would have not known... Wow we were surprised to learn about this hotel.Keep on your amazing journey and keep us posted!