A Visit from my BFF

It was a long week of company already and we had only 1 1/2 days to clean sheets and do some laundry before our next guests arrived.  I couldn't help my excitement on Sunday.  My best friend was coming to visit with her family and we had a great time planned, even if it was only a few days.  They arrived later Sunday night after driving from Minnesota to Missouri for a wedding and then from Missouri to Colorado.  Our daughters hit it off right away and Katelynn was so happy to have a friend to play with.  We fed them a quick supper and then grabbed a couple of beers for the back patio and some visiting.  They had a little car trouble while on their drive so first thing in the morning they had an appointment at the Subaru dealership.  I headed off to work a half day.  We had them take Dan's truck after they dropped off their vehicle and they were able to go around and do a little shopping.


We had a great day planned.  We were heading up to Estes Park and had rooms rented at the Stanley Hotel!

 I got home from work and started packing overnight bags for the kids and I and then we piled into my car to head up the mountain.  Dan was meeting us later.  And it was a good thing he because although we were only staying one night we all packed a lot of crap to take with us and Dan was bringing most of it because with 7 people in my car there wasn't much room for anything else.  They loved the ride up to Estes.  It is a pretty ride and since it was a Monday afternoon there was hardly any traffic, which was great for me.  I am not keen on the mountain driving (or riding passanger for that matter) and get a little anxiety when people are riding my tail up the side of a mountain.  We made it safe and sound and we were right on time for check in.  The hotel is really beuatiful and you can't help but be in aw of it.  And of course it has a very erie feeling at every turn as well since the movie The Shining was based on it.  We walked around the grounds for a little bit checking it out and then went to our rooms and let the kids run back and forth between them.  We of course made room for a cooler in my car and the adults had a few beverages.  We wandered around our building and took a bunch of pictures.  We then headed to bar and patio area.  It was gorgeous outside and out there.  We ordered a few drinks and got all the kids shirley temples.  They ran around enjoying themselves and so did we.  Dan arrived with the rest of our luggage and we hung out for a little while longer before going and getting ready to head to into town for supper.

The kids running down the haunted hallways!

We went back to our rooms to get ready to head into town and out to eat and the next experience awaited us.