Day 66: Longs Peak Scottish Irish Highland Festival Guest Invitation

One of the most popular attractions in the Estes Park area is the Longs Peak Scottish Irish Highland Festival.  The festival is infused with colorful world class athletes, competing in jousting, caber-throwing, and more. It is quite a sensory experience with bagpipes and drumming, Highland and Irish dancing, as well as Folk music and Celtic rock. 

Photo credit www.scotfest.com

We have been honored over the years to have many Highland games families stay and dine with us. For some of our staff and guests it has been a unique new experience to actually witness men in kilts or the sound of bagpipes playing “Amazing Grace” before breakfast. 

Now, crazy as it seems, we don’t seem to have any sort of a key to bagpipes in our Key Collection. (Have one you’d like to donate? Please do!) 

We do have several keys with Scottish and Irish connections. Our collection includes the key to the Captain’s quarters of the four-masted “Star of Scotland” sailing ship built in 1887, which was operational until it was sunk by a German U-boat in 1942.  

As well, you can find the key to the Limerick Castle Stables in Ireland. And in 2013, we were most honored to receive the Adare Castle Key, from Adare Ireland, presented to us by the Countess of Dunraven after her visit to Estes Park.

The festival this year is September 7-10, 2017. The town packs out so make your Baldpate Inn B&B Lodging reservations now, and Dining Reservations after May 1^st. You’ll be able to enjoy the festivities in town and then retire to a mostly quiet retreat and excellent dining to refresh yourself.

The Baldpate Inn surrounded in fall splendor

Until then, Slàinte mhòr agus a h-uile beannachd duibh, which means, “Great health and every good blessing to you!” 

Written by Lois Smith and Liz Rodgers

Day 44: A Peek Behind The Swinging Doors: Life of a BPI Staff Member

Life as a staff member of The Baldpate Inn is never boring. Care to put on the shoes of a “BPI staffer?” Here we go! 

Most likely, you’ll be living at the Inn, with other employees from around the world. One wing of the hotel and several cabins are for staff quarters. Living in a close community like this is a wonderful way to develop friendships. It’s also the best commute in the world!

For most staff, the job rotates each day between various activities, so every day is different. 

Baldpate kitchen story time

One day, you may be helping with “KP,” or kitchen prep. This involves helping prepare all the delicious food that is enjoyed in the dining room. Many lessons are learned here, especially for staff who are newer to the kitchen environment! Even for folks who have residential kitchen experience, the commercial kitchen is a whole new world. The sheer bulk of food is sometimes amazing: flats of fruit, crates of vegetables, gallons of salad dressing, and enormous sheets of breads and cookies! But, the cooks are happy to teach, and guests keep enjoying them, so we keep preparing them. 

Another day, you may be waiting tables in the dining room. This is an excellent opportunity to meet and serve folks from all over the world, often educating them about Baldpate – from the menu of fresh homemade items that changes daily, to the history of the inn. It’s also a great way to earn tips, hooray!

Joys of the Baby Mangler

Another job is housekeeping. While perhaps not the most favored of the tasks, I always enjoyed the satisfaction of a job well done: a clean room awaiting guests. A surprisingly fun task is using the 6-foot-wide “mama mangler” or the smaller “baby” mangler to iron tablecloths while grooving to tunes.

Heather Dish Dog

Speaking of music… you may think that the worst job would be dishwasher, or “dish dog.” But no! If the kitchen is the heart of the Inn, the dish dog provides the soul, as they get to pick the music played in the kitchen. Fueled by your favorite tunes and a high powered washer, blasting clean plates is surprisingly satisfying.

On special events, such as weddings, the staff brings our best and works together to make the event a success and a cherished memory for our guests.

Once our work is done for the day, and on our days off, there is much to do! A restful day at The Baldpate Inn is always appealing. Or there is the draw of the outdoors – hiking, biking, horseback riding, big slide riding… the list goes on! With nearby Estes Park, and not as nearby Boulder / Fort Collins / Denver, the fun seems endless.

After a day off, it’s never a bad thing coming back to work, because no matter what you’ll be doing that day, you’ll be working with your friends, meeting great guests, all surrounded by the beauty and the history of The Baldpate Inn. Interested? Apply now!

 Written by Liz Rodgers

Day 5: World famous Baldpate Inn

Even though we’ve been in the same place for 100 years, often we are told that guests that have lived in Colorado ‘forever’ have just discovered us.
What amazes me are the news reports and guest register listings about some of our earliest guests: July 1920 guest from Russia, August 1920 guests from France, June 1922 guests from Netherlands. How ever did these folks know about The Baldpate Inn before the world wide web?  Sure, we have had some rather prestigious feature stories and features over the years, but still!

Love our most recent Key Room story in the January edition of 5280, Denver’s premier lifestyle magazine, and looking back we’ve been pretty blessed in our coverage. We have been featured in Country Living, Forbes, Independence, Historic Traveler, Great Town in America, Diversion, Country Inns, Taste of Home, Bon Appetit, Woman’s Day, Great Inns of America, Frommers, Antiques & Collecting, Motorhome, Inflight GO, USA today, Readers Digest and probably some that I missed.

Before that were years of mentions in Duncan Hines Cookbooks, and perhaps the first big significant 1933 article in Hotel Management! (See article below.)

Then you must still consider the Paramount Pictures newsreel in 1943, Universal Studios “Strange as it seems,” along with more recent Discover Channel features.

Let’s face it, we are SPECIAL!

Written by Lois Smith