Estes Park is a beautiful town mostly surrounded by Rocky Mountain National Park. To get there, we had to leave I-25 and go 34 miles up narrow curving roads increasing in elevation! We've traveled these type of roads before with the truck, but this time we had the 5th wheel behind us! Art did well driving, but it was a little disconcerting!!!!!
Our campground had a spectacular view of the Rocky Mountains! We were, in fact, less than a mile from the entrance of the park! The first night we were there we had mule deer and elk visit the campground! To say the least, we were very excited!!!!!
Trail Ridge Road is the main road through Rocky Mtn Nat Park. It is said to be the highest continuous paved road in the nation! We got up early one day and drove the 38 miles from Estes Park to Grand Lake. It took a couple of hours due to the switchbacks and narrow roads! I made Art drive again! Poor guy! He had to concentrate on the road and didn't get to see as much! At times, the elevations were 12,000 ft! To be honest, I had trouble looking down!!!! The views were indescribable! On the drive, we passed across the continental divide, which separates the water flow from the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. As you can see by the picture, Art was truly divided!!
The Stanley Hotel is a big attraction in Estes Park. This hotel was Stephen King's inspiration for "The Shining". Apparently, he visited the hotel and had some paranormal experiences, which gave him his ideas for his book. We went on a tour and learned the movie was not shot at the hotel, because there wasn't enough snow in Estes Park! The hotel was built by F.O. Stanley, the inventor of the Stanley Steamer, as a private hotel for his vacationing friends and family. Stanley had a lot to do with the building of Estes Park. Fortunately, Art and I had no ghost sightings during our tour!!!
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