Colorado Trip, Part Two

I met Gail at the Denver Airport.  We then drove for 90 minutes to The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park.

 The Stanley was built in the early 1900's by identical twins F.E. and F.O.

 Although they are remembered for manufacturing the Stanley Steamer,  they made their fortune in patenting their dry plate photographic process.  Stories abound how the Stanley Steamer was fast, but could not be stopped or turned very well.  It could use any burnable liquid to run!

The Stanley Hotel is now famous for being Stephen King's inspiration for The Shining, which he worked on while staying in Room 217.  The film from the book plays on a continuous loop on the room TV's (see below).  The haunted Stanley sells out immediately each year for the Halloween nights.

Yes, that is Gail taunting Jack Nicholson.

 I thought for sure this picture  hanging in the lobby stairway was of Dick Cheney.  It turned out to be one of the Stanley Hotel administrators, however.

 This was our ghost tour leader Thursday night.  The hotel really is embracing the whole "haunted" theme.

 The Stanley's paint used to be golden-yellow because it was mixed with gold dust!

 The view of the Rockies is superb!

 Gail tried to get into the famous Room 217, but the spirits were not cooperating.

 Here we are in the tunnel under The Stanley on a historical tour.  Our guide was excellent, and expertly pulled in the two kids on the tour to make it fun and exciting for them.

 In the tunnel, we could sense we were in a vortex, something creepy.

 The next morning brought a light snow and rain mix.

Well, it was time to drive to Denver for our one night stand there.

 We gamely took the bus into downtown, and found that Larimer Square was having a Day of the Dead celebration.  We had a fun people watching window seat to eat pizza from.

 Saturday morning was cold but clear, and we hit the bike paths that Denver is famous for.  We were about seven miles from downtown, but took the Cherry Creek trail all the way in without having to mix with cars. All cities should be like this!

The trail was clean and adorned with numerous murals.  We followed the creek all the way.

 Here comes Gail!

 Heading into LoDo, we passed this mural.

Well, it was time to leave and drive to Colorado Springs where we would prepare for our night of Trick or Treating with the Johansons.

 In Old Colorado Springs, we checked into our B&B, Spurs and Lace.

 It was run by the most charming couple, Leo and Joyce.

 The main street was having a big family daytime Halloween event, with all the stores passing out candy.  There was this haunted house we went through, also.

 There were actually hundreds of kids, not evident in this picture.

We immediately felt right at home at Andria's, helped by a full salon treatment.  Susanna working on Gail's tangles, here.

Then, as the sun began to sink, we prepared for the big night.  We had a hybrid theme this year.  The kids insisted on Star Wars, and the adults went with the 1999 classic, The Matrix.

 This was the result - the usual mayhem and wardrobe malfunctions, but a whole lot of fun!

 Will it be the red pill, or the blue?  Don't you think I'm a convincing Morpheus even though I'm white, and have my glasses Scotch taped to my forehead?

 Well, Dave (Neo) and Andria (Trinity) were actually much more in character.

Gail was a lively Switch, (not what her sister called "a hipster granny").

Happy Halloween!!!

Stay tuned for part three, the return to California through The Southwest.