Quick Trip to Estes Park CO for a wedding

SWMBO and I just retruned form a quick trip to CO for her sisters wedding at the Hotel Stanley in Estes Park. Made famous as the inspiration for Stephan King's "
The Shining."

We left Cape Cod at 2am on Thursday just as the New Year storm was arriving. Lightly falling snow and questionable roads made for a long drive to Providence RI for our 6:15 flight. A usual 2 hour drive turned into a three hour drive which wasn't to bad. Flight was delayed due to mechanical problems and we missed our connection in Newark. After spending 8 hours there we finally left for Denver.

We finally arrived at Fort Collins and my room at the Armstrong Hotel (love this place). And the Mrs. went to her sisters to stay with her and the mother.

The Groom (Bryan Baker of Frontier Precision Surveying Equipment fame) and I decided to go flying on Friday morning. Bryan recently received his pilot license and his working on his IFR ticket.
Hers me with the Grumman that we flew in down to Centennial CO.

Tight quarters in that little plane, shoulder to shoulder and up against the cockpit. It was cozy for sure. The flight was great with some minor mountain wav action coming down the front range.

(Is that Pikes Peak)

We had breakfast at the Centennial Airport (The Perfect Landing restaurants) and it was great.

We all drove up to the mountains Friday afternoon so we could have the family "meet and greet" event at a nice little place called the "Twin Owls Steakhouse."
This went well as the two families blended for diner. Since I have celiac disease I cant' really comment on the food very well. What I had was good though.

We woke on Saturday to 4 inches of snow and still falling. About half of the guests had already come on Friday and the other half all left early from Fort Collins and Denver to make the trip in the storm.

The wedding was a morning affair with an awesome GLUTEN FREE brunch afterwards. (The Bride is gluten intolerant and insisted that she be able to have some of everything at her wedding, this I really appreciated!)
Bride and Groom

We left after the reception to avoid another 2am drive (in the snow) to Denver for our 645am flight. We did consider staying but SWMBO had concerns.

I did try to capture some paranormal activity at the Stanley and I only got this one shot with some sort of spectral glowing ball being held by a shadowy figure.

Oh wait a minute, that's my refection and the flash! LOL

We arrived in Providence to find our car clear of snow and the roads nice and clean.

Next trip, later this month it's "Back to Iceland!!"

Dtp