The Stanley Hotel – In A Colorado Minute (Week 245)
The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, is known for its prime location overlooking mountain peaks of the Rocky Mountain National Park, and for being the home and inspiration to Stephen King as he wrote his novel The Shining.
Some people may also be aware of the politicians, royalties and other celebrities who have stayed in the hotel since its opening in 1909. While this is not the hotel where Stanly Kubrick filmed the movie The Shining, it was used for filming Stephen King’s miniseries The Shining and the film Dumb and Dumber.
Right now there is a contest (open to anyone) going on to design a hedge maze inspired by Kubrick’s The Shining.The deadline for the contest is January 31 and the opening of the maze is scheduled for April 30th, 2015 (during the 3rd annual Stanley Film Festival). More information: http://www.stanleyhotel.com/themaze
The historic hotel resides at 7,500 feet and is supposedly haunted…
It’s also a great place to watch the elk migration in fall… and as of this winter, I’ll also remember it as the place where Scott and I spent our 19th wedding anniversary. This trip came as a total surprise to me, which made the whole experience even better.
The hotel is truly lovely with so many old details and styles honored (except for: what’s with the TVs playing football in the Whiskey Bar?), the old photographs and paintings, the creepy long hallways and distorting mirrors. The food and drinks at the Cascades Restaurant and the Whiskey Bar were delicious and the staff was great.
Stanley Kubrick’s The Shinning plays on one of the TV channels all day and all night. They also offer various tours of the hotel (including ghost tours), which you can enjoy without being a guest. By the way, the hotel is dog-friendly. However, Whiskey didn’t get to go on this romantic little trip. Last but not least, we had a killer view from our room.
The only real catch was that it was -30 C (-22 F) that night and the old windows couldn’t keep the heat in or the cold out. But the staff provided all the chilly guests with space heaters that fixed room’s temperature quicker than we could taste all the whiskey at the bar (there are over 900 different kinds).
All in all, I highly recommend a stay at The Stanley Hotel. And I’m saying this without being sponsored. However, I’d be happy to shoot another more detailed video (after all, I was there for a 19th “honeymoon”, not a video shoot) if the hotel would provide me with a free room… 😉
The song featured in this video is called “It’s Enigma Time” written and performed by my friend Jason Matherne (aka Goonygoogoo Productions), who I hope will have time soon to write some new tunes…
Also, everyone else, who produces their own music, please send me songs I can use in my videos for free. My archive is starting to run low…
If you’d like to see more from the Rocky Mountain National Park, please check out these other Moving Postcard videos:
Rocky Mountain National Park (Summer Instagram Photos) – In A Colorado Minute (Week 222)
Rocky Mountain National Park (Estes Park) – In A Colorado Minute (Week 208)
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| The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado |