Ladies, if you’ve been in a long term relationship then you are probably pretty used to planning date nights/ date days for you and your man. It happens to the best of us, and for the most part I don’t mind making the plans, but every now and then when your boyfriend/fiancè/hubs takes the reins, shoots you a text that says “can you be ready in 30 minutes”, and then shows up with a venti passion tea lemonade from Starbucks with a day of fun planned… well, for me, it doesn’t get much better than that. On this beautiful Saturday morning Hayden did exactly that, and had plans of taking me up to Estes Park to spend the day exploring. We ate last nights left over pizza on the way up and stopped for a Starbucks refill 30 minutes in, so we were already off to a great start! Once we were up in Estes we walked around the town going in and out of all the shops, ate lunch by the river, and then wandered around the famous Stanley Hotel. We had a blast and I took a ton of photos throughout the day that I wanted to share with you all. I hope you enjoy!
This was the most adorable store right at the end of the main street in Estes. If I’m ever fortunate enough to have a cabin in the mountains, I hope it looks something like this store did on the inside! See the next couple of pictures for an idea of what I’m talking about.
Of course we had to stop in one of the million candy stores. I got some fudge and Hay got some Brett Bars (they taste like a Reese’s cup!)We ate at The Wapiti Pub for lunch. I’m pretty sure that the burger we split was called the “Bar Burger” and was supposed to be a throwback to your college days with a buffalo chicken tender on it (it had me reminiscing about Brandon’s from Bovas… all my CU Buffs know what I’m talking about!). It was delicious and half was PLENTY. And those fries? Don’t even get me started. If you’re familiar with wild fries from Good Times, these ones gave those a run for their money.
Next stop: The Stanley Hotel! If you aren’t familiar with the Stanley then you should definitely do a quick Wiki search on it, but just for a brief run down, The Stanley is the famous hotel that Stephen King’s novel “The Shining” was based off of. It is supposedly haunted and definitely beautiful. That night there was going to be an illusionist show at the hotel that was “80% magic and 20% the hotel”. Hayden and I really wanted to go but we were so tired from the day and didn’t want to have to drive home that late at night. It is something we will definitely have to go back for, especially because I am obsessed with this place and we didn’t get to spend nearly enough time there!
If you have been to Estes leave me a comment about where to go and what to see next time, because Hayden and I had so much fun and definitely want to go back! We are also wanting to plan an overnight mountain trip before the end of the year.. maybe to Telluride, Aspen, or something closer to home like Vail (a favorite of ours). If you have any suggestions I would love to hear them!
As always thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed!
