Alternate title today: Back in the Saddle Again. :)
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| The Stanley Hotel |
As many of you know, Estes Park is home to the Stanley Hotel, which was made famous from The Shining. We thought about staying there, but I was scared off by all of the ghost stories. There are enough that I didn't want to push the envelope. Yes, I am a scaredy cat. I am also not the best photographer. We passed the hotel numerous times and this was by far my best shot.
As I mentioned earlier, we loved Estes Park so much that we stayed a third night. We spent the morning of our last full day sitting on our patio, drinking coffee and watching the chipmunks. They are really too fast for good pictures though. On a whim, Marshall looked up one the horseback riding spots nearby and booked an afternoon ride for us. It was his first time and only my second (though I barely remember my childhood ride). We threw caution to the wind and did a 4-hour ride. It was so much fun! We rode through the park, of course, and it was a fantastic way to see the scenery. We even saw a family of wild turkeys walk across our path.
The horses were really friendly and quite used to novice riders and the path. Marshall rose Moses and I rode O'Henry. Moses wanted to lead the group so Marshall kept having to reign him in and wait his turn. O'Henry was notoriously slow so we were alway quite a ways behind. It got to the point that everyone was laughing as we finally ambled our way back to the group. He wanted to trot every so often, which was fun. Overall, horseback riding was a blast, but our behinds were really sore for a few days and we definitely earned the hot tub soak later.
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| Getting ready to leave for the ride |
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| O'Henry and I bringing up the rear of the group |
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| Marshall and Moses |
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| Gorgeous view of the park on our ride |
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| Not snuggling or kissing in this picture - they're actually thinking about nipping each other |
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| The only picture with Marshall on his horse |
My first post. I have loved the documentation of you and Marshall's journey.
ReplyDeleteI love that your picture of the Stanley hotel has a McDonalds in the foreground. Americana!
We rode horses through RMNP too. I think it was the highlight of my summer.
ReplyDeleteBe glad you didn't stay at The Stanley Hotel. We drove there just to check it out and they were charging $10.00 just to get into the parking lot. Shysters!
Mike, Americana indeed! I did take one with an elk crossing sign in view, but never got a clear shot.
ReplyDeleteMisia, I loved the horses! So much fun. And our place was so relaxing that I'm really glad we didn't end up at the Stanley.