Day 23 #LagunaNashvilleLoop
Estes Park. Horse riding and hiking
The Index of all 30 posts from day 1 of our #TeslaRoadTripUSA is HERE.
Went for a ride through Estes Park with cowboy Q and this most splendid horse, Jeannie.
Estes Park was formerly home to the Arapaho Native Americans who lived there in the summertime and called the valley "the Circle." In the 1850s Arapaho recollections included a battle with Apaches in the 1850s, and fights with Utes who came to the area to hunt bighorn sheep, so all three of those tribes used the valley's resources.
There are many Elk here. One average sized Elk provides 100 lbs of meat.
Whites probably came into the Estes Park valley before the 1850s as trappers, but did not stay long. The town is named after Missouri native Joel Estes, who founded the community in 1859. Gradually more came. The 4th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl, a young Anglo-Irish peer arrived in late December 1872 under the guidance of Texas Jack Omohundro.
He subsequently made numerous visits and decided to take over the valley for his own private hunting preserve. In 1903, a new road was opened from Loveland through the Big Thompson River canyon to Estes Park, increasing access to the valley. In 1907, three Loveland men established the first auto stage line from Loveland to Estes Park with three five-passenger touring Stanley Steamers. The following year, Mr. Stanley built nine-passenger steam busses and opened a bus line between Lyons and Estes Park. The Stanley Hotel was built in 1909. And then more tourism begins.
Estes Park sits at an elevation of 7,522 feet. The town population was 5,904 at the 2020 United States Census.. The racial makeup of the town was:
91.0% White
2% Pacific Islander
1.2% Asian
0.5% Native American
0.3% African American
5.5% from other races, and 1.4% from two or more races.
Roughly four million tourists visit Rocky Mountain National Park annually.
There is a strong presence of Jesus in Estes Park.
We went for another hike in the Rocky Mountain National park, free with my lifetime pass. We visited Alluvial fan.
Here is a two minute meditation video. I record nature sounds for use with my music albums. (Andrew Brel Meditation Music.) This tinkling stream from Alluvial Fan may find its way onto my next meditation music album.
Our drive back to the Stanley Hotel. Spotted this young male Elk.
After two days at the Stanley, I have a brief review. It is of course a building with a splendid history. Feelan Stanley and his wife were tremendous characters. Their story is most interesting. Visitors to the hotel were most interesting.
Peter Gabriel, Bob Dylan, and Stephen King; who spent a night there, had a nightmare, and came up with the idea for THE SHINING. The Dumb and Dumber duo shot scenes here.
As a memorial to Feelan and his wife, the Stanley is fine. BUT. As a $400 a night four star Hotel, it is a rip. I won’t list the many deficiencies. But having spent the previous twenty nights in American Hotels, I have a sense of what you get for your money.
The Stanley is at best a two star hotel, with substandard staff and management, who are incompetent and rude. Seemingly unhappy with life and their place in the service industry. As if feeling entitled by the grandeur of their Stanley appointment to disregard the conventions of professional hospitality.
Of the twenty hotels we stayed in on this trip, this was by far the most disappointing. Free consultancy advice to the owners. Recruit professionals from the hospitality industry or accept the consequences of amateurism.
On the upside, enjoyed visiting the wine bar, that was formerly the music room for Flora Stanley. Her piano still stands beneath a fine portrait of her violin playing genius husband alongside various books of sheet music she played on that piano in that room. We googled Stanley Kubrick, who directed Stephen Kings story, The Shining. Stanley Kubrick decided to not shoot The Shining at the Stanley Hotel. Most of it was shot at Elstree Studios, England. Stanley Kubrick had two daughters.
One, Vivian Kubrick, born in August 1960, with many advantages as Stanleys daughter. She managed to secure the gig composing the music for her fathers Vietnam epic Full Metal Jacket. In 1995, Vivian became a Scientologist. Subsequently she did not attend the funeral for her sister (who died of cancer) and discarded her mother, who says ‘she lost her daughter to Scientology.’
Vivien is an Alex Jonesian and a Trump supporter. She claimed distribution of a coronavirus vaccine was similar to the Nazi sterilization experiments on Jews. ‘Poor Stanley and Christiane’ we thought.
Tomorrow. Vail