Saturday, May 19, 2007

More elk and ....... ghosts

We'll be leaving Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park tomorrow after a wonderful stay. We've already decided to come back again in the fall sometime, when the aspens are changing color.

We did see some bighorn sheep, but only at a distance. Unfortunately, no moose!

Here's a coyote skulking around the edge of an elk herd. The elk were keeping a pretty close eye on him.


A big boy crossing the river

There was a minor crime at the cabins yesterday. A group of golfers who rent cabins here have held an annual golf tournament for several years. They put a big sign out by the road advertising this year's tournament, but this morning the sign was missing - apparently stolen by vandals. The sign read "The Annual Elk Poop Golf Tournament". I am not making this up.



The historic and supposedly haunted Stanley Hotel in Estes Park.

Stephen King wrote half of "The Shining" while staying for five months in room 217 of this hotel. The second filming of "The Shining" - the TV mini-series - was filmed here. The hotel is said to be haunted, although the spirits are friendly, not evil as in King's story.

The fourth floor is the old servants quarters and is particularly ghostly. Children are heard playing in the narrow hallways when no children are present. Room 418 seems to be the center of activity, with many noises coming from it and impressions left on the bed when no one has been in the room. (Cue music from The Twilight Zone....).

The ghost of the original owner is sometimes seen in the billiard room and his spectral wife is heard playing the piano in the music room. Stephen King himself says he saw the ghost of a young child roaming the hotel looking for his nanny. But then we know what kind of an imagination he has.

Well, now I've scared myself silly and I'll be up all night.

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