The Stanley Hotel

Mom and I

The Stanley Hotel at night (at the top is where the bell tower is)

The "Red Rum" hall way on the 4th floor

Mrs. Wilson's Room

The corridor of Mrs. Wilson's Room

My mother was in town this past weekend. She was here for the Celine Dion concert, which sadly got postponed to the end of February. My mom was really disappointed, but as she put it, she "got over it." She decided to get a refund for the tickets, that my dad bought us last December. My mother and I have seen Celine in concert twice before, so I myself wasn't overly disappointed. Even though there was no concert, her visit was lots of fun and very relaxing. We had some great dinners, and conversations. Plus some shopping and a couple of trips to the gym. My gym is absolutely amazing. I love it. My Mom loves it, and this week my Dad will check it out too. The main event of our trip came on Thursday when we drove up to Estes Park, CO. It is about an hour drive northwest of where I live. We had beautiful fog driving into Estes as well as frost on the tree's that added a nice Holiday touch. We did a Ghost Tour of the Stanley Hotel. This hotel was the inspiration of Stephen King's "The Shining". Their are many many stories about this Haunted hotel. Mr. and Mrs. Stanley came to Colorado in the late 1890's, and Mr. Stanley built the hotel so his wife would make friends, and be able to entertain. The hotel opened in the Summer of 1909. This coming summer the hotel is celebrating 100 years. A lot of what is in the hotel is the original. The tour was amazing and the pieces of history are priceless. Room 217 is the most famous, and we were lucky enough to go into the room. Mrs. Nelson, which was a room keeper for Mr. Stanley had an accident in room 217, and the room basically exploded. Mrs. Nelson survived the accident but later did pass away, and she is known to stay in room 217. The 4th floor is the floor with the most ghostly activity. Back in the day, the 4th floor was where all the kids and nannies stayed, while the adults would be socializing. Atop the 4th floor is a bell tower that doesn't work. As my mom put it, "it doesn't have a dong." (that sounds so horrible, it is funny!) After the tour my mom and I stayed around awhile and hung out at the hotel. After awhile we did leave, upon leaving we heard the bell tower go off. It was beautiful. ...many many guests say they hear the bell tower, even though there is no way for the bell tower to make any noise. It was very cool.