The Stanley Hotel

I've been doing a lot of traveling over the past month. One of my many stops was at the Stanly Hotel in Estes Park and they have a ghost tour. I love ghost tours. You get to see the old, historic parts of a town/hotel, and then you hear some spooky stories.

What made the Stanley a bit different is that they encourage you to take lots of photos, and then people capture stuff in their photos that they share with the Stanley. Some of them are very creepy.

This was my only creepy photo:

That green light in the carriage is either proof of the paranormal, (Orbs!) or a really weird reflection. You decide!

Also the hedge maze just wasn't quite as majestic as I expected...

It kinda feels like they planted it because people kept asking about it

Diary of a Rookie Cook

I've never really cooked. I pretty much eat the same way I ate in college, making whatever is fast, cheap, and easy.

But I want to cook. I mean, I really like eating, and cooking is a necessary first step to eating really well. I collect cookbooks, recipes, and cooking appliances, but I don't ever actually take the step of making anything.

So now that I have a proper kitchen I thought I could finally start attempting some of the recipes I've saved on Facebook.

Because they seem much easier than the recipes in the cookbook, frankly.

Recipe #1: Pecan Pie Bread Pudding

Seems simple enough!

Step one, get this enormous loaf of bread and let it sit for a day:

It occurred to me, that if the whole point of "day old bread" was for it to be dry, I probably should have taken it out of the bag. Oh well, I'm sure it will be fine.

I added everything to the big bowl and created something that looks like what peasants eat in medieval movies.

I also "chopped" the pecans by hitting them with my meat hammer while they were still in the bag. Worked great!

Yes, I have a meat hammer. No, I have never actually used it for its intended purpose.

I wasn't able to create the bread pudding lasagna that it recommends. This may be because I chose my pan based on the picture rather than the actual measurements in the recipe.

Close enough!

It tastes delicious. This one is a keeper. Easy enough that even I couldn't mess it up.

That feeling when...

You're trying to write your steampunk-ish, supernatural adventure and end up watching horse-pulling videos instead...

It's relevant I swear! Yet, one of the weirder rabbit holes I have fallen down