Colorado, Photography, Travel WritingDecember 12, 2016December 19, 2016

Photo Gallery: Road Trip to the Stanley Hotel with the Google Pixel Camera

by Joshua Berman

About every two years, Sean G and I take some kind of trip, away from homes and families.

It’s a rare, brief break away from busy lives. This time, we're on a 24-hour escape to the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. To taste some whiskey.

There's no mistaking the Stanley Hotel, built in 1909, as you enter Estes Park.

It's not just a hotel, it's a historic district.

Whiskey Bar. At altitude. Rocky Mountain National Park in the background.

This statue of F.O. Stanley was erected in fall, 2016.

Dusk view of the main Stanley Hotel from a balcony in Aspire Residences, 44 new rooms and suites that were built and soft-opened last summer.

The allegedly haunted halls of the Stanley Hotel.

Shining gear in the Stanley Hotel gift shop.

“Table” is a pop-up dinner party and 5-course wine pairing at The Stanley Hotel, served in the Lodge on weekends.

Table features a rotation of renowned Colorado chefs and wineries and a community table. Reservations are limited to 24 seats and a single 7:00 pm seating, only on Fridays and Saturdays.

Sean G gets his swirl on. Big Paddy and Lost Prairie Winery at Table.

On this evening, Chef Ted Schneider of Moe’s BBQ in Fort Collins took over the kitchen, pairing dishes like Crispy Pork Belly and Fruitwood Smoked Duck with small-batch wines from Lost Prairie Winery, also out of Old Town Fort Collins.

The Stanley’s whiskey collection has more than 1,200 “expressions” from which to choose but I’ve never seen it up close. Until tonight.

“I’m going to start you guys off with some Scotches,” says Logan Rushing, the Head Bartender and Whiskey Curator for the Stanley Hotel, as he lines up two perfect rows of glasses and between them, a bottle of 15-year Highland Park Scotch whiskey.

It’s Sean’s first time here too, even though he plays in an Irish rock band called Big Paddy whose tagline was once: “jigs, reels, and songs about whiskey.” Logan swings a bottle of Macallan Rare Cask onto the table, and we begin discussing things like peat, heather, moss, and sherry casks.

“Whiskey, like a beautiful woman, demands appreciation. You gaze first, then it's time to drink.” ― Haruki Murakami

About every two years, Sean G and I take some kind of trip, away from homes and families.

It’s a rare, brief break away from busy lives. This time, we're on a 24-hour escape to the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. To taste some whiskey.

There's no mistaking the Stanley Hotel, built in 1909, as you enter Estes Park.

It's not just a hotel, it's a historic district.

Whiskey Bar. At altitude. Rocky Mountain National Park in the background.

This statue of F.O. Stanley was erected in fall, 2016.

Dusk view of the main Stanley Hotel from a balcony in Aspire Residences, 44 new rooms and suites that were built and soft-opened last summer.

The allegedly haunted halls of the Stanley Hotel.

Shining gear in the Stanley Hotel gift shop.

“Table” is a pop-up dinner party and 5-course wine pairing at The Stanley Hotel, served in the Lodge on weekends.

Table features a rotation of renowned Colorado chefs and wineries and a community table. Reservations are limited to 24 seats and a single 7:00 pm seating, only on Fridays and Saturdays.

Sean G gets his swirl on. Big Paddy and Lost Prairie Winery at Table.

On this evening, Chef Ted Schneider of Moe’s BBQ in Fort Collins took over the kitchen, pairing dishes like Crispy Pork Belly and Fruitwood Smoked Duck with small-batch wines from Lost Prairie Winery, also out of Old Town Fort Collins.

The Stanley’s whiskey collection has more than 1,200 “expressions” from which to choose but I’ve never seen it up close. Until tonight.

“I’m going to start you guys off with some Scotches,” says Logan Rushing, the Head Bartender and Whiskey Curator for the Stanley Hotel, as he lines up two perfect rows of glasses and between them, a bottle of 15-year Highland Park Scotch whiskey.

It’s Sean’s first time here too, even though he plays in an Irish rock band called Big Paddy whose tagline was once: “jigs, reels, and songs about whiskey.” Logan swings a bottle of Macallan Rare Cask onto the table, and we begin discussing things like peat, heather, moss, and sherry casks.

“Whiskey, like a beautiful woman, demands appreciation. You gaze first, then it's time to drink.” ― Haruki Murakami

I had to drive up to Estes Park the other day to research a travel article for my column in The Denver Post. Usually, if I’m headed that way, I’m writing about Rocky Mountain National Park or some family escape at YMCA of the Rockies. This time, things were different. This time, I was on a “brocation” with my compadre, Sean G. We got in the car, drove the scenic route up through Jamestown to the Peak to Peak Highway, then on to the Stanley Hotel. This time, we were traveling for whiskey.

It was also a good chance to take a Pixel for a spin. I happened to have a product sample of Google’s new camera, pictured here in front of Lily Lake:

I took all the shots in the above gallery with the Pixel. I tried pushing it in low light and zooming in through bouncing, moving windshields. All in all, it did very well—especially with the crisp, shiny glassware at the whiskey tasting. I’m a newbie to Droid, so was impressed when the Pixel saved all my shots to my Google photos cloud account, which then showed up almost immediately on my laptop and iPhone. Photo quality was strong, good enough to print in the Sunday newspaper, anyway.

FIRST PUBLISHED in The Denver Post onDecember 15, 2016

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