We sprinted to the main building and headed down to the basement, but not before snapping another picture!
The history tour was extremely interesting! We learned so much stuff about the hotel and the Stanley, their family talents and business, not to mention Stephen King and the haunted reputation the Stanley has rightfully earned!
My husband is a creeper.
Here's me pretending to be scared of Stephen King's Room.
Here's a view of the front of the Stanley.
Here is an original Steam Car that they are working to bring back to working order. They have one in the hotel lobby that you can actually drive. These are completely original and driven by the Stanley's themselves!
The entrance to the attic where the servants and their children lived. Notice the word written on the door? It wasn't originally there. A guest snuck up there once and left it, but the staff liked it so much they left it there. However, that area is now roped off and only for viewing.
After the history tour, we went back to the room, cleaned up a little bit, and headed back down to the Riverwalk.
This tunnel leads you under the busy roads, very handy!
We ended up having dinner at a place that reminded me of Disney... Mama Rose's. It was delicious!
Now, DH and I had to take advantage of being in Colorado and being Chiefs fans.
It's silly, but it had to be done! Chiefs and Denver are BIG rivals in the NFL. We explored a little bit more and then headed back to the hotel to get some shuteye. It had been a long, but wonderful day and the next day promised to be jam-packed but extremely memorable!
We woke up the next morning feeling refreshed. Our building is said to be haunted and while I slept well, there were moments when I felt like I was being watched. The building we stayed in is where single men stayed back when the hotel was opened in 1909. So, to have a woman staying there wouldn't be acceptable back then as this was for bachelors. I'm wondering if that could be part of the reason. No evidence of me being watched but I felt strange and it wasn't constant. Moving on!
We had some breakfast in the lodge kitchen as it is included with your stay. It was mostly scones and things of that type. It was good though!
We started our day off with a game of putt-putt. I pulled out the win with my hole-in-one!
After Devan had recovered from his devastating loss, we took to horseback and scaled the mountains. The views were beautiful.
We had to be down at the Riverwalk at 11:45 A.M. for an Off-roading Panoramic Tour we were doing, so we went on our way!
Here is the description of the tour we were doing:
This unique 4x4 adventure takes you into the wilds with unparalleled views of the majestic Rockies at a little slower pace. This guided safari takes you up an authentic wagon trail from the 1860’s and culminates at our panoramic viewing tower with views that span over 100 miles! On your adventure you may even lift out of your seat as you glide over the water bars in one of our highly modified 4X4’s. Whether your stop is to see “The Mummy” “The Bear Tree”, or the old growth Aspens, this will be a memorable adventure for the whole family with surprising facts and plenty of time for pictures.
Haha. The fact that they call it at a little slower pace is laughable. It was fun but definitely exhilarating. The tour starts by taking you up a mountain in a modified army hummer.
Everyone got a chance to sit in each row. The higher you sat, the bouncier your ride. When we were in the top row, we bounced out of our seats constantly.
Our driver/tour guide noticed that the hood wasn't latched down. We were on a pretty steep incline up the mountain but he thought this would be the perfect time to check the hood! So, he stopped the hummer, put it in park, turned it off, and put on the emergency break. After he exited the vehicle, we heard a loud "POP" and the emergency break FAILED and we started rolling backwards down the mountain fast! We were right on a cliff as well so it wouldn't be long before we would fly off the ledge to our deaths. Not kidding. Devan was the closest to the driver's seat so he started taking off his seatbelt so he could jump in it and slam on the break. Somehow, the driver caught up to the hummer, grabbed the door, and got back inside to hit the break. Everyone was extremely freaked out as we had just saw our life flash before our eyes. The tour was three hours long and this all happened within the first 10 minutes... Let's just say everyone was pretty skeptical to keep going.
There were a LOT of really close ledges on the way up and if you fell, there would be no way you'd survive. Luckily, we had no more close calls just good times!
Here is a panoramic picture from my iPhone of our view from the Viewing Tower at the top of the mountain!
Here is the two of us on our hummer.
These are the types of roads we were driving on. Most of them had large rocks embedded in them, but it was hard to get pictures while riding.
Overall, we had a blast.
Though, no one left the driver a tip because we almost died. LOL.
We had to be back at the Stanley for our couples' massage. After the bouncy ride we just had, it was much needed! The massage was relaxing and it relaxed us enough so we could enjoy our EXTREMELY late night coming up. That's right. That night, we would embark on our Ghost Investigation!!!
The ghost investigation was extremely fun and I was one of the lucky ones to have multiple experiences. I had a possible visit with my Grandmother and I had a conversation with an entity through a flashlight. I'd ask it questions and I told it if the answer was "yes" to turn the flashlight on. If the answer was "no" to turn the light off or leave it off. i actually got the interaction on video until it drained my fully charged battery. It was very neat! I hope to book a stay in one of the infamous haunted rooms for one night at some point so I can have a longer investigation. We were up investigating until 3 A.M. so we were ready for bed. It was an amazing day and we were tired.
The next day we were really missing our pups. So much that we tried to get an earlier flight home. There weren't any available and our flight ended up getting delayed a few hours.
By the time we got home our pups were happy to see us! It was an amazing trip and Devan and I have fallen in love with Estes Park. We cannot wait to go back!