I drove to Denver on Friday, August 16 to see Adam and go on to Rocky Mountain National Park with Dana, McGary, Cheryl, Ron and Paul. Most days, we hiked in the morning, ate out for lunch, snacked for dinner, watched the Democratic National Convention and played games in the evenings – Fast Track, 31 and Five Crowns.

Saturday

I went to the annual Haselden picnic with Adam and met some of the staff including Byron Haselden, CEO. Unfortunately, I was still fighting pain from my recent root canal and spend part of the morning with my eyes shut in the back or Adam’s new Tacoma pickup.

Sunday

I met the gang at Casa Grande in Estes Park for lunch. We walk arout town a bit and headed for the VRBO rental at 4:00. It was a 1948 four-bedroom house with floors that creaked but was in a beautiful setting.

Monday

McGary and Dana slept in the basement bedroom but they ended up in the upstairs couches because the mildew odor was so strong in the basement. Also, their bathroom toilet ran water all night. That, and a broken window repaired with transparent tape seemed to be reasons to notify the manager that we were moving out because of the problems.

Issues were addressed and we stayed. Maintenance fixed the leaking toilet. We concluded that the downstairs sheets and towels had been put away damp and mildewed. Dana washed them all with detergent and Clorox and the odor was gone.

We intended to use the day as travel recovery, but we did hike around Lake Estes. Lunch was at Wapiti Colorado Pub and was excellent.

Tuesday

We drove into the park early and hiked around Bear Lake, to Nymph Lake and Dream Lake. Lunch was at the Notchtop Bakery & Cafe recommended by the Visitor Center. It was also excellent.

Wednesday

We rode the Red Line Shuttle roundtrip to see the main drag in Estes Park and walked around town. Lunch was at Ember Restaurant and Bar.

Thursday

We drove back to the park and hiked Alberta Falls and Sprague Lake. There was a two-hour hike from Alberta Falls to Sprague Lake that some of us did. We passed only two people on the hike and it was a favorite for some of us. We hiked around Sprague Lake. Lunch was at Smokin’ Dave’s BBQ.

Friday

Dana and I toured The Stanley Hotel with 140 rooms. It was built in 1909 by Freelan Oscar Stanley and was only open June through September until 1984 because it lacked heating. Stanley moved to Estes Park in 1903 because he was dying of Tuberculosis. He recovered and lived 37 more years, dying of a heart attack in 1940. Stanley was famously known for producing steam-powered cars. However, he made his fortune in the manufacture of dry photographic plates that reduced the development time to just a few minutes. He was making the equivalent of $10 million per month and eventually sold the process to Eastman Kodak.

The Stanley Hotel was the inspiration for Stephen King’s The Shining. King stayed at the hotel for a single night in 1974 before writing the book in 1977. He and his wife Tabitha stayed in room 217 with King having bad dreams. Room 217 was the most haunted room in the book.

Lunch was at Estes Park Brewery where Adam joined us.

Saturday

We hiked the East Alluviel Fan tail. It was below Lawn Lake whose earthen dam, built in 1903, failed in 1982 causing a downstream flood. It destroyed $31 million in property and killed three campers in the park. Six feet of mud and debris advanced down the main street in Estes Park. We hiked another trail.

We revisited our favorite restaurant, The Wapiti Colorado Pub for lunch.

Sunday

The gang headed for home except for Adam and me. We hiked around Bear Lake, up to Nymph Lake and to Alberta Falls. Lunch was at the Post Chicken & Beer on the grounds of the Stanley Hotel. It was tasty but lacked Adam’s favorite dish – Chicken Crispies. We returned to Adam’s house.

Monday – Wednesday

Monday,Adam worked and attended a concert that evening. Tuesday, Adam worked and we had lunch at the Pho Duy Vietnamese restaurant. Wednesday, I headed for home at 7:00 a.m. and arrived home at 7:00 p.m.