Friday, July 31, 2009

Stanley Hotel - Estes Park Colorado

We waited until today to drive our new 2009 Nissan Sentra up to Estes Park, Colorado. We bought the car three days ago and it's rained every day since with really cool temps. We really lucked out and the choice to go today proved ideal. What a wonderful trip into the mountains in our new car. The car performed flawlessly throughout the trip and had no problems with the climb.

If you have never been to Estes Park you need to make plans now. This place is why we live in Colorado. The views going through the mountains are unbelievable, then you get to Estes Park and they become breathless. Needless to say, we went with plans to see the Stanley Hotel. We were not disappointed! This hotel, where Steven King spent a vacation contemplating "The Shining" is absolutely beautiful. Most people don't realize that the version of the movie "The Shining" starring Jack Nicholson was not shot at the Stanley hotel. However, they did everything they could to make it appear that it was used in the movie. Once you've seen the hotel and how it is nestled right in the town of Estes Park, you realize there is no maze in front of the hotel and something is amiss. A later version of the story, shot for TV, was actually shot at the Stanley hotel in Estes Park. Both movie versions of the story are available in the hotel's gift shop.

We had a really wonderful day in Estes Park, about an hour and a half North of our unincorporated Jefferson County home.

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