Day one at The Stanley ... Ghosts-0, Beers-4

Hello everyone! For those of you who don't know, Vern and I are on a paranormal retreat in Estes Park, Colorado. It's just amazingly beautiful up here. No snow to speak of but the air is cool and clean and the water is just like nothing I've ever tasted!

We didn't do much in the way of the paranormal today. We got to Denver at about 9 am Mountain Time. We promptly headed to the car rental place where we got screwed, with our pants on, and took a short hour drive up to picturesk Estes Park. It's really quite stunning. Totally unexpected. You don't even know you're there until you're there. I've got some great videos of it.

Even though we arrived 4 hours before our scheduled check in time, the gracious staff at The Stanley checked us in anyway and we made our way to the Manor House, next to the hotel. Now, the Manor House is just as haunted as the main hotel and the concert hall. The first time the Ghost Hunters were here, they had a table essentially lift up and drop. Pretty scary stuff.

Our room is just beautiful. High ceilings, two windows facing the hotel and the hills behind us. It's just darling. But, it's pretty darn small. As Vern says, "we're in a 12 x 12 cacoon." I just love it.

Now, since we got up at 3 am to get here, I was a little tired. Vern wanted to go get some stuff out of our over-priced rental SUV so I laid down on the bed and flipped on the tube. Channel 60. All, "The Shining," all the time. Both the Kubrick and the made-for-television versions.

I guess I should explain that The Stanely Hotel was the inspiration for Stephen King's "The Shining." He stayed here in the 70s at the end of the season, just before the hotel was closing down for the winter. During that time, the hotel had a caretaker during those long, snow-covered months when the hotel was closed. So, the hotel was pretty quiet and he was able to get drunk and wander around the hotel and come up with the idea for "The Shining."

So, here we are. We haven't seen anything paranormal yet but we have seen Jason and Grant and met some great people from Seattle of all places. The sky is blue, the sun is shining. It's just a grand place to be. We've spent the vast majority of our stay, so far, in the hotel bar drinking Estes Park Brewing Company's "Redrum Ale." VERY VERY tasty.

Check out our photo album at http://kandvstanley.shutterfly.com/action/. See you all soon ... I hope!