Rooms with a view!

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Oh my goodness! I want to share with you a great place to stay if you ever get to Estes Park, Colorado. It’s the Appenzell Inn.

I have vacationed there twice now and I love it! Was just there last month. Reminiscent of a Swiss alpine lodge, the Appenzell is conveniently located right on the paved Riverwalk in Estes Park. The Riverwalk is a meandering sidewalk (at least five miles long) that, on a scooter, walking, or using a manual wheelchair leads you right into town, to the Visitors’ Center, or around Lake Estes depending which direction you want to go. The hotel has a year-’round indoor heated pool with a chairlift. In the summertime, visitors are delighted by a host of colorful flowers at every turn and are greeted by surprise brooks, ponds and waterfalls nestled into the landscaped grounds.

Those who dine on the restaurant deck enjoy the sounds of this lovely water feature.

At the Appenzell there are several wheelchair-accessible rooms, but my favorite is the Patio Room on the ground level. It has easy access from close parking spots and a cute patio right outside the room’s entrance door. There is also a nicely ramped hotel dinner-only restaurant next door and up a story that is open in the summer and provides room service.

Lunch and chit chat on the patio right outside the room.

When you enter the Patio Room you’ll see that there is a small kitchenette, a comfortable king size bed at the perfect height for a wheelchair-user and an accessible bathroom. You can ask the hotel for a bath bench right now, but they plan to renovate soon adding a roll-in shower and an ADA-height toilet. I love the three windows that allow dappled mountain sunlight and fresh air to permeate the room. If you want to be cozy both at night and early in the cool mornings, the centrally located gas fireplace turns on with a timer switch. As it crackles and warms, sipping on a hot cup of room-brewed coffee or tea is a heavenly touch. The built-in dining table and desk are the right height, easy to access. If you move some furniture around a little, there is lots of floor space for wheeling. Two difficult things: the microwave and kitchen sink are high and tough to use, but the dishwasher and fridge are easy to reach. Prices for this room are seasonal and range from $110.00-$180.00 per night.

There is a wheelchair-accessible campsite at Sprague Lake near Estes Park.

Estes Park, Colorado is a gorgeous place to visit. About 8,000 feet up, it is at the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park. There are many paved hiking spots and even an accessible campsite or two in the area–great for anyone with a post-polio disability.

We saw this guy right outside our room at the Appenzell Inn.

There are many kinds of wildlife around–elk, moose, big-horned sheep and bears. Sometimes they like to amble into town for a swim on a hot day in the river or for a bite to eat from the trash bins behind restaurants.

When I visited Estes Park I rented a fairly large scooter that could steady me on the slanted sidewalks. Travel scooters are tippy on mountain terrain. All I had to do was call Mobility and More in Loveland, CO. They delivered and picked up the scooter and were very cordial. Click here for more information.

If you want to have fun in the stunning Rocky Mountains, go to Estes Park and stay at the Appenzell Inn and enjoy the wonderful walks into town and around the mountain lakes…

Right behind Starbuck’s along the Riverwalk…

As you’re rolling into town…

Do you know of any great places to stay that really work for wheelchair-users or crutch-walkers?

Would love to hear about them!

“Wheel-friends” at Sprague Lake!