Geni's Dialog: Had a fun day today sightseeing in downtown Estes Park, but first, Shel finished fixing the camper. I had fun going in and out of all the stores while Shel moved from bench to bench depending upon which side of the street I was on. He did manage to go in at least one or two stores.

We also went up to the Stanley Hotel and went on a tour. This hotel was founded by F. E. Stanley who along with his brother designed and built the Stanley Steamer automobile. He moved to Colorado for his health and then built this beautiful place for his wife so she could have all her friends come visit. He also invited President Theodore Roosevelt to the hotel and they conceived the idea of the Rocky Mountian National Park.

But, before I learned all of this, I was more interested in the fact that this hotel was where Stephen King stayed and where he began his idea for writing The Shining. However, he was not happy with the film version -- didn't like jack nicholson playing the part as he was too weird rather than average looking. Also, it was never filmed at this hotel, but in oregon and canada. Years later, they did a made for tv version which was filmed at this location and in which Stephen King played a part. The guide also told us about many incidents of ghost sightings which many hotel residents confirm from time to time. We did not see or feel anything ourselves, but it was interesting to hear the many stories. When the guide asked where we all were from, we found out we were sitting right next to people from Sudbury!

We are leaving for Wyoming tomorrow.

Shel's Dialog: When I unhooked the trailer a couple of days ago, I noticed that the break away cable was missing. Since the trailer hadn't ground to a halt I decided the break away switch was bad too. Installed a new switch this morning and guess what, the break away still didn't work. Traced it to a dirty connection on the circuit breaker. Of course I broke one of the circuit breaker terminals and had to replace it too. Still not bad, the repair came to about $22.

The temperature here is about 80 - 85 during the day and goes down to 40 - 45 at night and into the morning. It is like you want A/C when it warms up during the day and need heat at night.

this is actually where he is most comfortable!!

houses on the mountain near downtown great scenery

roam around downtown area

Stanley Hotel Stanley Steamer Car Presidential Room - haunted rm 217

leaving the tour

views from front of hotel took photo ourselves w/o help