Estes Park

Jay and I decided to extend our weekend away to Heaven Fest a little bit, since it was our last weekend before we picked up Kendall. We got an inexpensive hotel in Loveland (Comfort Inn, I believe it was) and fortunately for us, we were too tired to care a thing about the room. The bed wasn't very comfortable, and the room was just so-so, but it was a place to shower and to sleep and we didn't have to drive all the way home that night. We got up Sunday morning and had breakfast at Panera Bread, thanks to John.

Oh, I should explain John to you.....Jay got a GPS for me for my birthday this year, which comes in handy a lot for a girl like me that could get lost in a chair. I don't know how I would have made it around when we first arrived here in CO without my handy little navigation tool. I happen to love Brittish accents and on the Tom Tom GPS, you can download different voices. We downoaded John Cleese's voice, so whenever we have the GPS running, John says, "turn right, then take the motorway" or "go straight on!" I get such a kick out of it and well, John makes getting around a lot easier and a lot more fun.

So, back to Panera Bread. We asked John to help us find a restaurant in the morning and we ended up at Panera Bread and had a yummy breakfast and then we headed out to Estes Park. Jay has been before, but it was my first time there. It was incredible! It might get exhausting hearing me say that all the time but the scenery here is all so new to me and I just love it.

We started off at the histroric Stanley Hotel. I love historic hotels (the Hotel Del Coronado is probably my favorite) and they were celebrating 100 years. Now, I have never read The Shining, or watched The Shining, but I had heard that the movie was filmed at the Stanley. I learned while I was there that Stephen King was inspired to write the story and actually wrote the book while staying at the Stanley, but the film was shot on a movie set and Stephen King wasn't happy with the final product, so he did a remake, which was shot at the actual hotel. The mini series was shot there. That's a little bit of trivia for your next party :).

After we left the hotel, we drove into the park and went on a couple of hikes. You could easily spend the entire day there (if not several days) exploring all of the different hiking trails, lakes, waterfalls....it was so quiet and peaceful. It was a great ending to a fabulous weekend. I think the best part was spending time together. We are just the best of friends and I am so, incredibly happy that God brought us together.

I took this shot on the way to the park

The historic Stanley Hotel

You can't read the sign, but it says Celebrating 100 Years

Check out the view from the pool! This is in front of the hotel.

I thought these were real, but they aren't. They are still pretty, but I wanted to smell them and well, they smell like dust...

Lounging in the lobby

The ballroom

I love this staircase

This dollhouse appeared in The Shining mini series

Bear Lake

Doesn't this look fake? It's just too pretty!