Block 5 2023: Halloween/Adventures to The Stanley Hotel

Rotation:

The fourth week of the rotation fell on Halloween! The clinic had a Halloween party where everyone brought food and the pharmacy staff all dressed up in costumes. We decided to be the Grinch and Cindy Lou Who. Katherine and the pharmacy technician Leslie were Bob Ross and Amber, the other pharmacist, was the Happy Tree from Bob Ross’s painting show. Dressing up was so much fun and all the patients loved our outfits! Katherine let us order our costumes to her house because there is a note in the pharmacy school house that says it is best not to order any packages to the house. For the party, we brought pigs-in-a-blanket and Oreo balls. The food was delicious and everyone was in the Halloween spirit!

 

Picture of Halloween Costumes (Kristin is the Grinch and Anne Thomas is Cindy Lou Who)

 

On Wednesday, we attended the Pain Committee Meeting and presented two more patients. Getting to attend these meetings was a great experience because we learned so much about pain management by getting to present the patients and listen in on the discussions.

 

On Friday, we got to counsel a patient on how to use a glucometer. The patient had a CGM that kept malfunctioning, so they requested a glucometer to be able to double check their blood sugar readings. It had been a long time since they used a glucometer, so they asked us to show them how to use the meter and the lancet device. We walked them through the process and answered any questions they had. This was a great experience because we were able to apply the skills and knowledge we learned in school!

 

We continued to explore more places to eat in Riverton. We tried Perrett’s Restaurant, which is an Italian restaurant. We also tried The Depot, which is a Mexican restaurant. Both were pretty good and had many options, so we were both able to find something we liked!

 

The Stanley Hotel:

On Friday, we headed to Estes Park, Colorado to stay the weekend at The Stanley Hotel. This is the hotel that The Shining is based off and it is supposedly haunted. This was something that had been on Kristin’s bucket list since she watched the Ghost Hunters episode where they visited and investigated The Stanley Hotel for paranormal phenomenon. The drive from Ft. Washakie, Wyoming was around six hours, but it was not a bad drive at all. We arrived at the hotel and checked into our room. We scheduled the ghost tour for 9 p.m., so we changed and went to eat dinner before the tour. If you visit The Stanley Hotel, we highly recommend doing the ghost tour. The tour takes you to different spots on the property and gives you some historical information about the hotel along with information about the different ghosts and paranormal encounters that have been reported. We were staying in the main hotel that night so this made the tour even spookier, but since the hotel is famous for the hauntings, it was nice to get to learn about all of the different ghosts.

 

Picture of The Stanley Hotel

 

On Saturday, we packed up our stuff to move rooms. Our room for the second night was in The Lodge, which is adjacent to the main hotel and also supposedly haunted. While our room was being prepared, we ate lunch at Brunch & Co., which had very delicious food. This is a restaurant in The Lodge. If you decide to eat at any of the restaurants at The Stanley Hotel, we recommend making a reservation the day before. The hotel was pretty packed this weekend as they had an event happening in the concert hall all weekend.  After brunch, we headed back to the main hotel, and we went on the historical tour. We also recommend doing this tour because it gives you the history of the hotel as well as information on The Shining. Since it was during the day, the tour takes you into the main hotel and to room 217, which is the haunted room Stephen King stayed in when he got the inspiration for The Shining. We then headed into the downtown area of Estes Park. There is free parking downtown and many places to eat and to shop. We went into The Christmas Shoppe to look at all the Christmas ornaments and decorations. That night, we ate dinner at The Post and then attended Aiden Sinclair’s magic show called Possession that was in the adjacent carriage house. The magic show was amazing! You go under the carriage house and through a bookcase to a hidden room where the magic show took place. If the tickets say sold out online, go to the hotel lobby to see if there are any more available tickets.

 

Picture of Kristin and Anne Thomas in front of Room 217 

On Sunday, we packed the car and headed to Rocky Mountain National Park. We went to the Beaver Meadow visitor center to get a map of the park, and then headed to Alluvial Fan, which is an easily accessible waterfall in the park.

 

Picture of Alluvial Fan

 

We then headed to Lily Lake. We only had a few hours before we had to head back to the house, so we did not get to do any of the hikes. However, visiting the Alluvial Fan and Lily Lake only took about an hour and they were both gorgeous stops in the park!

 

Picture of Lily Lake

 

Although we did not see any ghosts, spending the weekend at The Stanley Hotel and getting to go to Rocky Mountain National Park was amazing! Read the next blog for our adventure to Arches National Park in Utah and then back to Birmingham!