Things I need to do – #1 – Visit the Overlook Hotel
The first in a series - describing places I need to visit, things I need to see, or tasks I need to do before I die. Or at least before I have children.
I really want to visit the Overlook Hotel. You know, the one from The Shining?
Well, it doesn't actually exist, per se. You see, the exterior of the Overlook was filmed at the Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood in Oregon. The interiors were filmed on a sound stage. So, you can't actually walk those endless corridors, or order a drink from the devil himself. But how amazing would it be to visit the spot that Stanley Kubrick thought would be the ideal place for The Shining? Interestingly, and perhaps a bit ironically, Stephen King took his inspiration for the hotel from the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. Maybe I'll go there too.
My mom visited the Timberline. I was more excited by the pen full of ash from Mt. Saint Helen she brought back for me, so I'm not sure what she thought of it (despite the fact that on certain days The Shining is my favourite movie).
What do you mean Mt. Saint Helen's Emma? The Timberline Lodge is on Mt. Hood in Oregon. Anyway, yes the Overlook Hotel is based 100% on the Stanley Hotel in Larimer County, Colorado. In the movie though the exterior was shot at the Timberline in Oregon, and the interior at Elstree Studios in London with designs composite from the Hotel San Carlos in California, and Hotel Awhawnee in Yosemite National Park too in Cali. The setting of the fictitious Overlook is in Lariemer County Colorado in the Rockies outside Estes Park.