The Shining

We met Bill, Sue and Ron for breakfast at the hotel restaurant. They had been sitting there for a few when we arrived and the waitress brought us some coffe and called Ron by the name Brian. We didn't know why but just figured Ron was using an alias in case he hooked up with her later and didn't want a paternity suit.

We decided to head up to Estes Park and see the Stanley Hotel from The Shining.

We got there after an awesome ride through the mountains. Except for the douches that decided he needed to pass us and the car in front of us shortly before the passing zone ended. The first car nearly runs the car in front of us off the road and the second car ends up beside Marybeth and in front of Bill and Ron. We ride the remaining 11 miles into Estes Park with the 4 wheeler in the middle of our group. Anyway, we get into town and its teaming with tourists. We find a parking area and strolled the coue blocks of down town checking out the Outdoor Store. We buy some Power Bars and a Heath Bar and a knife sharpener that they have displayed by the register. I tried it on my knife and I was sold. The cashier asks if we're going hiking we reply, yeh right!  This is just snacks to get us through to our 5 pm dinner with Kelly and Jay Beliveau.  We eat a power bar and check out a couple of the stores and then head back to the bikes. We can see the Stanley Hotel from where we parked and get some pictures. We decide we really don't need to get closer and fight the crowd. Then we spotted 2 Elk grazing down in the gully next to the street where we parked.

As we're taking pictures, a family is walking down the path that passes about 10 feet from where they are grazing on the hillside. The family comes to a stop as they round the bend and see the elk.  After several minutes of contemplation, they decide to walk past the elk. The elk closest spots them and stares them down as they stop to decide if they should chance it. The elk decided to move up the hill a bit and away from the path. We get on the bikes and head back to the hotel. The ride was uneventful. We cleaned up and headed to a place called The Hornet, suggested by the Beliveaus.

                  

The food was great and we had a nice visit. We ordered the Papusa and Calamari appetizers and Lobster Mac n Cheese and the Cubana Sandwich for entrees. 

Marybeth and I now sit by the pool at the hotel blogging as we wait for our laundry to finish. Tomorrow we head to Moab Utah so we figured we better get some laundry done while we could.