Bring On the Fright

Halloween weekend is here. Haven't been to a haunted house in years, but we'll be checking out Turbidite Manor tomorrow. Can't wait!! My girl hates everything scary and has agreed to go with me. It's gonna be great!!

Colorado in October

So my girl and I went to Colorado 2 weekends ago. I had never been to that part of the US, but had always wanted to go. An interesting story how it came to be that we ended up in Colorado. We have some friends who invited us to their wedding in Boston which was scheduled to happen in October. As we looked for places to stay (ok, as my girl looked for places to stay), we (ok....she) quickly realized Boston was an expensive place to visit. There were 2 other couples who were also invited to the wedding and whom we are close enough to to entertain the idea of splitting a hotel suite with them. A master plan was formed! We booked our flights, friend booked the hotel.....a vacation was set for Boston....oh, and we'd attend a wedding while we were there too. Two weeks later, engaged friends send out an email  via Facebook to those invited. Unfortunately, they had decided to call off the wedding - they weren't splitting up, but decided to wait awhile.

Side note RE: these "friends" - at the beginning of January, one (call her C) finds out the other (call her H) has been cheating and they break up. 4 months later, H realizes she misses C and asks her to take her back, which C does the same day. A week after they've gotten back together, H proposes to C and we then are invited to a wedding. No surprise the wedding was called off.

So, we are stuck with plane tix that are non-refundable. We can change them for a fee. So, we (ok...my girl) starts trying to find a place for us to go similarly priced to our Boston tix or preferably cheaper. After much researching and looking on her part, we settle on Estes Park, CO. Voila!

I can't even begin to describe how absolutely gorgeous, breath taking, surreal that this place is. It is exactly what you see in pictures, and to be standing in person looking at it is something extraordinary. We were there on an extended weekend and didn't have much time, so we tried to pack in as much as possible. We drove through Rocky Mountain National Park both days. On Friday, we didn't venture too far in as we didn't have much daylight. We hiked about 3 or 4 miles of trails - thin air in the high altitudes had us both gasping for air! We then found a spot where a large number of elk had collected. It was the end of their "rut" which I learned was their mating season. Evidently, during the rut you are very likely to hear the elk "bugling" which I learned was the noise the bulls make to warn off other bulls and to let their cows know they are around. I guess bulls have a harem of cows and as I witnessed they keep them in check! We sat and watched them all for a couple of hours until we got too chilly then headed back to the hotel. On Saturday, it was off to drive Trail Ridge Rd which goes from Estes Park through RMNP and over to Grand Lake - it's about a 55 mile trip. We travelled to altitudes of over 11,500 feet, saw a sign telling us we were 2 miles above sea level, and saw breath taking views of the mountains. The road scared the shit out of me at times - no guard rails and an immediate drop to your death awaiting you should you swerve too far over. It was a trip that I will never forget and that ranks in my top 3 of all time! The company made it even better.

The other sweet part about this trip was the hotel. We stayed in the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. This is the hotel where Stephen King got his inspiration to write The Shining. It's the Overlook Hotel! Needless to say, I was more than stoked!! This hotel is in the top 10 spookiest hotels. My girl is not one for anything scary and had never seen The Shining. She agreed to stay if I didn't tell her anything about it until after we left. The place was gorgeous! And the best part....we went on a ghost tour on our last day...after we checked out. It was primarily a lot of historical information with a little bit of ghost tour. This was the ideal situation for my girl. When we got home, it was brought to our attention that we might have captured a ghost in one of our pictures. Look underneath the left light -

IS THAT A FACE??!?!?!?!?! Neither of us felt like we like we encountered any ghosts while staying in the hotel or on the tour.....but now we're not too sure!

This was the BEST non-Boston vacation ever!! Can't wait to go back!

Here We Go

Well, looks like I now have a blog. I first really learned about them a year ago when my girlfriend told me about hers. Never quite understanding the point, I didn't think too much about it. Also, I'm not known to be one that discloses all that much information. Things happen and I "file" them away. So, I started thinking recently about starting a blog. First to possibly talk about and release things I have never really dealt with or talked about extensively. Second, I thought it might help with my memory to take note of things that happen - big and small. Finally (and possibly most importantly), I stopped smoking 6 days ago and thought this might be a good outlet for any anger, frustration, etc that I am experiencing. Better to take it out on strangers than my girl, right? Here is where it begins....I'll see where it goes.