The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado
The Stanley Hotel, in case you didn't already know, was the site of the TV-movie "The Shining." No, not the Stanley Kubrick version. He used the Timberlake Lodge in Oregon as his hotel. Stephen King wasn't too happy with Kubrick's rehashing of his classic horror story - in King's version, for example, Jack chased Danny with a croquet mallet not an axe and at the end the hotel is destroyed.

So for twenty years he pouted about it until finally getting ABC to air his version of it. Unfortunately, King proved that he ain't no Kubrick. He chose Steven Weber of "Wings" fame for the role that Jack Nicholson made unforgettable while Rebecca DeMornay stepped into Shelley Duvall's shoes as Wendy Torrence. The worst part, though, was the kid. This kid couldn't shut his mouth! Serious dental work is needed. And that stupidass bowl haircut. God, I was hoping the father would chop this kid to pieces. The problem was that this kid was like 10-years-old and was trying to play a 7-year-old, but he wasn't Webster small if ya know what I mean. It just made him look retarded. Anway, I digress. The movie was a total bomb - wasn't scary at all. But the hotel was sufficiently scary and was worth a stop.

The hotel is absolutely magnificent and you're welcome to freely wander around the museum as well as several of the sections (upstairs sections reserved for guests only). In the gift shop, I picked up a great photo by William Moses Street (see first photo below) - well worth the twelve bucks!

I was surprised to learn that the film "Dumb & Dumber" was also filmed here. Remember the scene where they drive the Lambourghini up to the front of the hotel and the hotel staff comes running down to carry all those packages? Yep, that was at the Stanley.

The only disappointment was when I saw that they had Overlook Hotel beer in the bar. So I ran up there and ordered one - intending on saving the label which, if I remember correctly, had the shadow of Jack Torrence against a bloody door. Anyway, he said they quit selling it months ago but that they won't take the sign down that announces the bar has it. Damn them! I order a Coors Light and sulk.

Oh yeah, here are some things I overheard at the hotel:

An old white guy says, "I never heard of 'The Shining'" (pronouncing it 'shinning')

A pre-teen says to his mother, "What's that movie? I never heard of it. Who's in it?"