Steamers Cafe in Estes Park, CO

Horror movies are fun. Historic hotels are fun. Combine the two, and I found myself stopping at The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. In horror movie terms, this was Overlook Hotel from The Shining.

The Stanley Hotel seemed to get into their horror movie identity as the Overlook more than I expected. They were having a horror film festival on the day I was there. There were exhibits set up explaining the history of the hotel with The Shining. It made me happy that they embraced their horror movie history as much as they did. While there, I stopped into their coffee shop called Steamer's Cafe.

I had a Chai Latte. It was a typical chai latte. Tasty enough but nothing to write home about. As I sipped, I wandered around the hotel grounds hoping to see a ghost. Didn't see any, but I did come across an elk on the hotel's front lawn. Seeing an elk is even better than seeing a ghost. Elk actually exist...

Nepal's in Estes Park, CO

I was pushing through three feet of snow up the side of a mountain to reach a huge waterfall. It was 70 degrees out and I wasn't wearing a jacket. My Floridian brain couldn't quite comprehend what was going on. Huge mountains and snow existing in temperatures that didn't require jackets was something that didn't quite register for me. I guess that's how early summer in Rocky Mountain National Park works.

After my hike through the snow, I was hungry. I made it back to my car and drove out of Rocky Mountain National Park into Estes Park. I decided to have lunch at a restaurant called Nepal's for some Nepalese and Indian food. Since my Florida brain couldn't comprehend how snow covered mountains work in the first place, I could easily pretend I was in Nepal near the base of Mount Everest.

I decided to order their lunch buffet.

I'm not exactly sure what foods were more based in Nepal or what was more Indian. I'm assuming their foods are pretty similar based on what was on the buffet here. There was lots of kormas, dals, curries, and other foods which I was familiar with from Indian restaurants. There were a few outliers on the buffet though, such as the lo mein. Here's a picture of my first plate of food, along with a cup of chai tea.

Second plate of food.

After I was filled up with lots of delicious foods, I returned to exploring snow covered mountains. As I pretended I was climbing Mount Everest...