I first saw Stanley Kubrick's interpretation of Stephen King's "The Shining" in the late 80s and loved it. I was especially taken with the exterior shots of the batwing-style Overlook Hotel with a mountain right behind it. (See the lenticular cloud?). At some point I found out that the exterior shots were done at Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood in Oregon. This is a screen shot from the movie.
Here's an aerial shot, taken from the opening sequence of the movie, link HERE when Jack is driving up there for his interview. I'd always hoped to see this place in person. Every time I so much as think about Timberline Lodge, the Shining music that plays in the beginning of the music starts up in my head.
I got the opportunity to see it in the fall of 2007! The lodge is at the 6,000 feet up the side of Mt. Hood. It stays open year round despite the average 20 feet of snow that falls. Oh, and the drive up to the hotel is not at all what is featured in The Shining. That is actually the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park, Montana.
A special snow shed entrance is erected over the stone entry way because the massive drifts make it impossible to access the doors on the first and second floors.
While the inside of the movie's Overlook Hotel was based upon the interior of the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite, seen below.....
.....the Timberline's interior is way more rustic and cozy.
I couldn't resist shooting a picture of this. Fans of 'The Shining' will recall that it was the hotel/house controlling Jack and driving him insane. For example, when Lloyd the bartender tells Jack that his money is no good there, he adds, '...orders from The House'. So when I saw this 'house phone', I got a little creeped out.
The first floor is a small museum and info center.
Beautiful wood carvings all over the place, especially near the stairs.
The second floor has all these cool writing and sitting nooks.
And Mt. Hood right behind it.
I'm glad I got to cross this one off my bucket list!
