Adam's Travels

In our last day in Denver, we saw the Avs lose a third consecutive game to the Ducks. I'm glad we traveled all the way to Denver to see them lose all three games we were at. However, the moment we had all been waiting for, meeting Mike Haynes(!!!), made the trip the best ever! After the game, we waited outside the arena for Mike to walk out. We got to talk to him for about 10 minutes and he was pretty much the nicest guy ever, along with his partner Peter McNab of course. Luckily, while we were talking with Mike, Peter himself walked out so we were able to get a picture with two of my favorite people in the entire world!!! This was the last thing we did on the trip before heading back to the airport, and it was pretty much the best way to end our wonderful trip to Denver. Until next time..

Mike Haynes and his kids Kiara and Kian, Peter McNab, Paul, and me. Probably the greatest picture I've ever been a part of!

Me, Mike Haynes, the kids, Paul, and my dad. Awesome.

Me and the great JOHN-MICHAEL LILES!

Today, the three of us traveled to the Rockies (John Denver was definitely NOT full of shit) to a little town called Estes Park, a place we had visited on our previous trip to Denver. If you want to read more about the town, here is a link to some information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estes_Park

As soon as you get into town, the majestic Stanley Hotel looms over you at the top of a nearby hill. This hotel is supposedly haunted, and was the inspiration for Stephen King's famous novel "The Shining", which of course was made into what some would call the 'scariest movie of all time', starring Jack Nicholson. The hotel, built by F.O. Stanley (inventor of the Stanley Steamer automobile) in 1909, was absolutely breathtaking, even 100 years after being built. It sits on a hill, overlooking the entire town of Estes Park with the snow-covered Rockies serving as the backdrop. At first, I was a bit hesitant to visit the hotel, as the stories of hauntings that I've read don't exactly portray the hotel as a 'must-visit' destination on the trip, but after I saw it on the hill, I knew I had to at least go see what all the fuss was about. They have 'ghost tours' that run a few times a day and take you to all the haunted rooms and hallways in the hotel, but unfortunately, we didn't have enough time for that today. However, anyone who knows me knows that I love Dumb and Dumber, and The Stanley was used to film all the hotel scenes in Aspen in the movie. I could NEVER stay at this hotel after hearing the stories, but I would definitely love to visit it again someday and take the tour. Here are a couple links to more information about The Stanley:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Hotel
http://www.stanleyhotel.com/index.html

After leaving the Stanley, we drove to Rocky Mountain National Park but decided against going in and driving through the wilderness. On the way back to Denver, we stopped at Jellystone Park, which we had seen on the drive towards Estes Park. It was a campground with statues of Yogi the bear and friends all over the place. They are only open from May to September, so it was absolutely deserted when we were there. We had to hike through a foot of snow to get to some of the statues. You can see pictures with the statues and the destruction we caused to the perfectly laid snow below.

When we got back to Denver, we ate at Cherry Cricket, which is a favorite burger place around Denver. It was great, but not as good as Smash Burger, which might be my favorite burger ever! Tonight, we went to see the Avs play the Leafs. Even though they lost (again), at least they scored a goal (four, to be exact) tonight. It was a lot of fun of course, but we'd love to actually see a win for once. After the game, we went to Old Chicago again with all of our Avs fans. While there, a number of players walked in, including my beloved Ben Guite. I said "hi" to him, of course, and quickly forgot about the loss as I ate my meal a mere 15 feet away from the legend.