Atlanta/Hawkins Day 5 (10/05/26)

     We checked out of our hotel before getting our final coffee at LuLu's. I ordered an Eleven themed coffee as my last choice. (Maple sugar and cinnamon flavored coffee). Kellie ordered a Mike flavored coffee. (Mileven.) Kellie had only Eleven and Mike coffees over the 4 days, and I tried a new coffee flavor each day. If I were to rank the coffees I would put Eleven first, Will 2nd, Dustin 3rd, and then Mike. Kellie wore Mike's outfit from the epilogue where he is sitting staring at the library, and took a picture of her doing the same. (The bench is no longer there, either is the memorial which was apparently made of styrofoam.) It was sad to leave Jackson. The whole community had been so kind. 

     We headed off to visit some more filming locations before checking into our AirBnB in Atlanta. We first visited the Byer's house. The Byer's house is now an expensive AirBnB and had cameras everywhere so we took a picture quick and left. We then found the spot where Billy was flayed in Season 3 through the fence. We think that part of the day the gate must be open because there is a bar located there. They still have Billy's car outside of that location. Kellie wanted to visit the location of the Squawk to see if there was anything there even though it had been torn down. There was unfortunately nothing there, just overgrown grass. The final location we visited was the filming location of the Quarry, which was located in Westside Park. The outlook we saw over the water didn't look much like the scenes from Season 1, but it looked cool with the Atlanta skyline in the background. There was no path to stand on the cliffside of the quarry, which might have made it seem higher up/more striking. 

  We visited the Krog Street Market to visit Little Tart Bakeshop. Noah Schnapp (Will) and Finn Wolfhard (Mike) had talked about frequently visiting Little Tart when they lived in Atlanta when filming Stranger Things. The one at Krog Street was a smaller version since it was a place with all different food vendors. Little Tart actually had a bigger location on its own which we visited on Wednesday before going to the airport. (The location Finn and Noah actually visited). Little Tart is known for their croissants, and I got one with chocolate filling. Our AirBnB was super cute. We chose it due to its proximity to the music venue we would see Finn Wolfhard perform at the next day. The AirBnB was gated and had 3 codes in order to get into it, so it was extra safe. Our AirBnB was the top level of a townhouse, and had windows on the ceiling with skylight. It had cute modern decor, and had cute little extras throughout the place. Local recommendations, extra hygiene products, bath salts, etc. It even had a washer and dryer. I wish we could have stayed their longer. The bedroom had sliding doors and tons of decorative pillows. I rested when we first got to our AirBnB while Kellie did some work. We listened to Finn Wolfhard's discography on the way to Atlanta in order to prepare for the concert the next day. We listened to Djo as well. 

   In the evening we walked down the street where the venue was located and visited a record shop called Criminal Records. (Criminal Records is also a place Finn had recommended in the past as a place he liked visiting while living in Atlanta.) The record store had both of Finn's albums. The newest one was on display, while his older one was hidden under the letter "X". We then visited a thrift clothing store with a HUGE selection. It looked like they were getting new donations throughout the day and stocking the floor with donated clothing. There was a whole wall of belts. Literally so many things. It was really fun to look through. The secondhand clothing store was called Rag-O-Rama. We went over to the Atlanta beltline to find something for dinner. The beltline is a pedestrian path lined with restaurants where no cars are allowed. We saw a lot of people using it for running, and biking. There were also a lot of people walking dogs. (I just looked up the beltline and apparently it's 22 miles long!). We were lured in to a restaurant by Panic! At the Disco. They were playing the song "Let's Kill Tonight" as part of a Halloween playlist it turned out. "Let's Kill Tonight" is a way lesser known song and wouldn't just play on the radio. The restaurant was called McCray's and we ate outside as the weather was really nice. I ordered a southwest bowl with a lemonade. It was beautiful seeing the restaurants lit up after dark. I would definitely like to explore it more if I go back to Atlanta. Back at the AirBnB we made bracelets to give out at the concert the next day before going to bed for the night. 

    

Atlanta/Hawkins Day 4 (10/04/26)

   We started off the day by going to the Stranger Things panel. (My body was sore from running and walking so much the day before, as well as falling during roller-skating. Thankfully I was really only sore this day.) Outside of the panel were different Stranger Things themed vendors mostly. There was a little boy who was trying to sell his mom's book, and themed slimes. He was actually a pretty convincing salesman for how young he was, telling me to feel or smell the different slimes. I did not end up buying any of them. Another vendor had Stranger Things ornaments. I ended up getting a Stranger Things themed charm bracelet from one of the vendors. It had a lot of different charms related to the show such as a Christmas light, headphones, camera, bicycle, Hawkins police badge, etc. This Stranger Things panel had Carol from Season 1, Chrissy and Jason from Season 4, 2 other bully characters, and one of the Russian actors. They answered audience questions about their audition process for the show, etc. 

  We went to Lulu's for the 3rd day in a row and this time I got the Mike themed coffee with a cinnamon roll. There was no long line today, and we were able to catch up with Caroline for a little bit before going to Hopper's cabin. Caroline ended up signing up for the same tour so we could spend a little more time together before she left town. The Hopper's cabin tour wasn't much of a tour actually. The cabin was located at a pumpkin farm, the same pumpkin farm used for the pumpkin patch scene in Season 2. (The one with the diseased pumpkins.) The tour guide lead you up a path into the woods where the cabin and a shed was located. They said Netflix had contacted them about their farm and had built the cabin brand new, but roughed it up to make it look new. They then basically told us we could go take pictures, and when you were done looking and taking pictures then that was basically it for the tour. It would have been nice if they gave us more information about the different scenes, but maybe they didn't have that information. Still it was super cool looking around the cabin. There was a picture board in El's room with pictures of Mike, her and Max, Lucas, and even a picture of Steve. On El's bed there was a diary with different entries. I didn't go all the way through it but there was an entry about not wanting to keep the door open 3 inches, and how Mike was a liar. In the living room they had Hopper's chair and the sensory deprivation tank that was used in Season 5. They had the table where Hopper and El ate eggo extravaganza's on Halloween in Season 2, and even had a box of Eggos in the fridge. (Hopper's cabin is used for tours but it is also used as an Escape room part of the day as well.) El's room also had an alphabet wall with Christmas lights which is not accurate to the show.

  After the tour we drove to the other side of the pumpkin farm in order to see the Merril's farm sign. The pumpkin farm was actually really beautiful and had different fall themed backdrops throughout. Kellie and took a picture on a swing with a fall backdtop. A lady that worked there seemed confused when we said we were looking for the sign, but we did end up finding it. Instead of there being pumpkins there, there was a patch of wild flowers instead. We said bye to Caroline afterwards, and then went to Tiffany's for an early dinner. On the way to Tiffany's we stopped at the filming location for Palace Arcade (Season 2) and Blockbuster (Season 4). Both buildings are abandoned now and boarded up with graffiti. It was fun to see the different quotes other fans had written on the boards. The building used for the arcade still had colorful tiling in the building. Tiffany's is the filming location of Benny's Burgers from Season 1. (The restaurant El goes to after escaping the lab.) We ate at the table next to that one, but did recreate the scene during our visit. A British couple who had also done the Hopper's cabin tour did too. It turns out they were on a film tour for the last few months. The table has a reserved sign on it specifically for pictures. The restaurant was actually "Breakfast at Tiffany's" themed and had pictures of Aubrey Hepburn up on the wall. Kellie and I both ordered burgers and curly fries. The restaurant had other food besides burgers but we wanted to be on theme. (People we had done the walking tour with in Jackson also appeared) It started raining after we finished dinner around 4pm. The forecast was pretty adamant that it was going to rain all day that day, but luckily for us it didn't. We decided to make the drive to Henry Creel's house from Season 4 and 5. not knowing when we'd get to chance to again since it was further out of the way then most of the other locations.

   On the way we passed a gas station with the name Quick Trip, which hurt my feelings as a Wisconsinite. The South also seems to have narrower freeways with fewer lanes, and a lot less construction. I don't think we came across any construction on our drives, and we drove so much. (Well Kellie did :P). There was a short burst of heavy rain, otherwise it mainly sprinkled. I stepped in clay textured mud once we made it to the Creel house. The Creel house was super cool to see in person, and is apparently currently for sale. We found out that the asylum from Season 4 was a 15 minute drive away from the Creel house and headed over there. The Elmhurst Asylum filming location is actually located at Berry College. There was 20+ deer roaming around the campus when we got there. The campus staff let us in to take pictures, before we had to make the 2 hour drive back to the hotel. (Robin and Nancy go to Elmhurst Asylum in Season 4 to visit Victor Creel, in order to try to solve the case of what was causing the murders in Hawkins.)  On our drive home we listened to the Pretty.Odd album (Panic! At the Disco), and Live in Denver. (A Panic! At the Disco live album (the best live album). We sang along to Live in Denver even matching the different inflections and comments that Brendon and Ryan made throughout. I'm kind of shocked at how well I have it memorized after not listening to the full album in awhile. I must have listened to the recordings way too much to remember all of that, but so did Kellie, but we met through being Ryan Ross fans originally. :P) (Kellie was wearing Season Will Byers film accurate clothing that day). 

Atlanta/Hawkins Trip Day 3 (10/03/26)

    We started off the day doing a 5k. Neither of us had done one before. Kellie had been training for a few weeks beforehand, but I hadn't. I thought it would feel long, but it surprisingly felt a lot shorter than I thought it would be. It was also in the mid 80's and nearly 100% humidity. I was able to walk at a brisk pace the whole time, and ran part of the course as well. I finished around 47 minutes, which isn't super great, but I enjoyed it. One of the houses even had a Green Bay packers sign in their yard. The route was close enough to the hotel that we were able to walk back after we finished. We both showered before putting on our semi-cosplay. (I wore a romper that Eleven wore in Season 3, and Kellie wore screen accurate clothes that Will wore in Season 3, with faux bangs.) I was hoping to find a Scoops Ahoy costume, but wasn't able to get one in time for the convention. 

   We headed to LuLu's for coffee, and this time there was a long line. It was the busiest day of the convention, probably because those local to Jackson visited for the day. There was even a black lab service dog in the coffee shop. I tried the Dustin themed coffee off of the menu which had coconut, macadamia nut, and salted caramel flavoring. I also got a biscuit to eat. We headed to the Stranger Things panel afterwards. We got there late but luckily for us the panel had just started when we arrived. The panel that day featured the actors for young Will Byers, Mr. Clarke, young Henry, Holly's friend Mary, and one of the cops. The cast members answered questions from the audience, and it turns out the actor who plays Mr. Clarke has a way different personality than his character. He's more like a Murray in real life. Definitely more unhinged. 

   That afternoon there was an event called the Upside Down party in the next town over. The actual party didn't really lean into Stranger Things very much at all, and could have gone harder. The party was held at a park with themed gardens, and had a stage where people could do karaoke. The advertisement said there would be food trucks, and vendors. I remember only seeing one food truck, and a vendor selling candles. The town the park was in was really cute though, and was had a little scavenger hunt going on. We went into an antique shop, and discussed different records with the shop owner. A local artist was selling drawings of Stranger Things characters on cards and T-shirts that she had done. I ended up buying one of the T-shirts. The shop owner even had a record player in store, and played different records to show off their quality. We completed the scavenger hunt and then got lunch at a local barbecue restaurant called Fresh Air Barbecue. 

  We signed up for an Escape Room, and were actually surprised that a time slot was still open for that day. Downtown Jackson has a building made for Stranger Things themed Escape rooms. I had never done an escape room before and thought a Stranger Things Escape Room would be fun. The escape room we were able to get was a Dungeons and Dragons themed room. Your mission was to escape the dungeon, and get to Mike's basement before a Demogorgon would come. It turns out having Stranger Things knowledge was not helpful for this escape room. Kellie and I were paired together with an 11ish year old girl. In the escape room you started off with one foot shackled to the floor. As you figured out the different puzzles you would get keys to unlock the shackles releasing each person one by one. I was the first to be able to unlock my foot. Kellie started out shackled in a corner where she couldn't see the rest of the room. She was the onlt one who had done an escape room before so that was definitely a disadvantage. You would have definitely needed to have completed escape rooms before in order to know what kind of clues to look for. I felt like I thoroughly explored the room, but it wasn't helpful. There were multiple fake cockroaches on the wall and it mattered which direction each one was facing. There were letters on the wall that spelled out a name that happened to be a code to open a box etc. We never made it into Mike's basement, but one of the staff who worked there explained how to complete it after, and took our picture in Mike's basement. 

  We went back to the hotel after the escape room, and found out the convention was holding a costume contest in front of the library like the town had the day before. Kellie and I decided to go down and enter, even though we weren't fully dressed up. There wasn't as great of a turn out as there had been the day before. The day before the people around voted for their favorite costume where there was set judges this time. For participating in the contest you were able to get a photo with one of the actors that was there that weekend. That is how I got to meet James from Twilight. 😂You were given a card with an actors name circled and I had gotten his. Kellie got Chrissy's actress, but was unable to get a picture with her. Neither of us won the contest. 

   We ended the night with 80's themed roller-skating where they also had unlimited pizza, and drinks. I was slightly scared of falling the whole time since I did not want to break something or end up in the hospital during vacation. I did end up falling, on the carpet of all places, really hard. I suddenly started falling backwards and fell right on my tailbone which sent a shock up my spine to my head. I was a tiny bit concerned that since I felt it in my head I could have somehow gotten a concussion, but I was fine. Kellie didn't make it very far and stuck to just skating around the railings, while I went out on the skate floor. (This and the escape room I also wish could have been a little more themed to Stranger Things, however the roller-skating place did put a sign on their building that said Rink O' Mania, which is what it was called in Stranger Things.) You were given a raffle ticket with admission and every half hour or so they would call a few raffle ticket numbers to earn prizes. Kellie's number was called, and she was able to choose a Stranger Things themed poster. She got one with the Squawk van on it. During roller-skating there was a little girl also dressed like Season 3 Eleven, but in a different outfit, and a little girl dressed like Holly skating together. They were both excited to see me in my Eleven outfit. The Mike cosplayer from the day before was wearing Mike's roller-skating costume. It looked like a spitting image of Rink-o-mania Mike from the back. Another event that was going on that night that we didn't end up attending was a cover band called "Atlanta Vice" They had Eddie's guitar double play guitar as well. (The guitar double was the one that played "Master of Puppets" in Season 4. 

Atlanta/Jackson (Hawkins) Trip Day 2 (10/02/26)

    After getting ready we headed to downtown Jackson to get coffee from a local coffee shop called LuLu's. LuLu's has a seperate Stranger Things menu for fans as well. I was able to try four different drinks from the menu during the time we were there. The coffee shop also features Max levitating inside the coffee shop. As my first pick I got the Will Byers themed coffee, and Kellie got the 011. To go along with the convention Kellie was dressed in Season 5 Mike clothing. The Will Byers coffee had coconut and vanilla flavoring and was made with coconut milk. The 011 drink had cinnamon and maple syrup flavoring. We also had bagels with our coffee. 

   After eating our bagels we headed over to the Stranger Tours building for our walking tour. The front room of the Stranger Tours building is meant to look like a Blockbuster, and had a Stranger Things themed pinball machine. If you walk down the hall of the Stranger Tours building there is a room made to resemble the Byer's house living room. It has a couch with the alphabet Christmas light wall, a small TV with 80's VHS tapes, a kitchen table with board games from the 80's, a hot wheels track on the floor, and an Atari with different games. You could spend a lot of time in there, and we definitely would of if we could. Across from the Byer's themed room was a rainbow room themed lab for making slime. Kellie played Stranger Things pinball while we waited for our tour to begin. 

   Our walking tour started in a WSQK room in the building. You weren't allowed to go into the room unless you were doing the tour. For the walking tour you were given a viewfinder that had pictures of what the scene looked like during filming and how it looks now (without the viewfinder.) We learned during the tour that the signs that they had in the show were being remade by a local colleges art department. They were also putting together a Mac Z scene to match Season 5. The signs had been put up, but they were still finishing up the Mac Z scene. The convention didn't technically begin until the next day, but the town had already been putting on special events starting that day. It was fun getting to walk down the alley where Steve and Jonathan fought, and quote and think about the different scenes being filmed in the exact places we were now standing. (I've begun rewatching Season 1 since getting back from our trip, and it hits different after being to some of the sights, and comparing it to what we saw.) The tour concluded with some Stranger Things trivia at Hawkins Headquarters. The trivia questions were pretty easy ones with 5 from each season. If you got all the questions right for a season you got to pick a prize. The prizes were shutter glasses, 80s themed tattoos, and different candies like candy bracelets. Since we were in Hawkins Headquarters after the tour I put on a Hawkins letter jacket from the costume closet to pose with the Hawkins High School desk/wall. I also put on Will's Season 5 jacket and posed as if I were attacking a Demogorgon. The costume closet also had a basket with cardboard cutouts of the actors and actresses faces. I couldn't find Noah's (Will's actor) but I guess it was in there. (I saw another fan using it a few days later.) 

  After the tour there was a someone with a merch table selling handmade Stranger Things items. I got a Season 3 themed Scrunchie, and Kellie got a Squawk themed tote bag. One of the people sitting by the table was dressed like Season 3 Steve after he gets beaten up by the Russians. There was also a very convincing Murray in a bathrobe that walked by. We got ice cream at Buddy Blu's after visiting the table. Buddy Blu's has a giant mural of the Stranger Things characters in their front rooms. I was hoping they would have more Stranger Things options, but they only had two. We drove the route of the 5k happening the next day that we had both registered for. I hadn't trained so I would only be running part of it, while Kellie would try and run most of it. It seemed long while driving the route so it made me a little nervous about actually doing it. In the past I had done different charity walks, and those had felt fairly long. We also stopped at the church that was used heavily in Season 4 and 5. We drove back to the hotel afterwards due to Kellie having another work meeting. After a little bit I walked over to downtown Jackson while Kellie finished her work meeting to check out the different stores we hadn't been to yet. I also played Stranger Things pinball in the Stranger Tours building and chatted with the employee there. It turns out she was in her early twenties, so she had really grown up with the kids in the show. One of the shops had wine slushies, and that's when I met back up with Kellie. We took pictures inside the surfer boy pizza van before sitting outside on the grass by the library. A Hawkins police van was parked outside the library with a Hopper cosplayer. We saw people taking a ride in the van, so we decided to ask for a ride when they got back. It turns out the Hopper cosplayer had only seen parts of Season 5. His wife ran the Stranger Things Escape rooms and had gotten him to dress up and even redo his car. He was chatty and even asked us if we wanted to go anywhere else. We declined and he drove us back to the library. Apparently the county doesn't put a lot of effort into their tourism even though they could literally easily pull Stranger Things fans. The county where Jackson is, is called Butts County, and people do at least make puns with the name including the water tower which read "Welcome to Beautiful Butts County". (I'm sure the Stranger Things actors had a field day with the name.) There was even a T-shirt for sale that said "Big Beautiful Butts right in the Crack of Georgia" with the outline of Georgia and a peach on it. 

   We checked in to our 5k that would be happening the next day, and were given our race numbers and T-shirt. We got dinner at a restaurant called Bradley's which was located in the filming location of the Hawk Theatre. Inside they were playing the Season 5 finale. It was really surreal seeing the library on film when we could see it from the restaurant as well. We both got appetizers as we weren't super hungry despite not eating much that day. The town was putting on a costume contest in front of the Hawkins Library so we walked over after eating. People really put a lot of effort into their costumes. There was a lady that looked exactly like Winona Ryder that had missing Will posters in her hand. There was also a girl dressed up like Ms. Driscoll from Season 3, fertilizer bag, and rats and all. There was a costume contest for the kids and the adults. For the kids a boy that looked exactly like Season 5 Dustin after he had gotten beaten up won with a little girl dressing up as Max as 2nd, and a boy dressed like Henry that got 3rd. For the adults a girl dressed like Season 5 Finale Mike won, but it was probably due to the fact she had an vintage bike as a prop. 2nd place went to a guy dressed like Eddie and his dog with the demogorgan petals around it's head. In 3rd place was a guy dressed like Henry mid-transformation into Vecna with a tree-like hand. There was also someone dressed as Season 5 Holly, finale Steve, and finale Dustin. 

  We went to 80's themed bingo to finish off the night that was being put on through the county. As snacks for bingo there were mini eggos, trail mix, pizza rolls, and different candy. There were also themed cocktails you could buy throughout the night. I got a cocktail called Vecna Venom which was made with blue curacao, lemonade, sprite, and grenadine with a cherry. They did a mini costume contest at Bingo as well and Ms. Driscoll won that time thankfully. There was a lady who looked exactly like Karen Wheeler, and I was almost convinced that maybe the actress that played her was hiding out. She wasn't even dressed like Karen, just looked a lot like her. I went up to her and told her so, and it turns out no one had ever told her that before???? There was a total of 10 Bingo games, however Kellie and I did not win any of them, It was still a really fun time. Twice throughout the night we had a karaoke break where everyone sang along to "Sweet Caroline" and "Don't Stop Believin" (the classic white people karaoke songs.) We were given glowsticks which people used to sing into. We made a friend who was sitting at the same table as us named Caroline. Caroline had made magnets with different scenes from Stranger Things on them. I got a magnet of Season 1 Will. 

    We met up with Caroline after Bingo and walked around Jackson Square (downtown Jackson.) The art students had finished up the Mac Z scene by then, and the glowing lights of the entrance to the Upside Down made it look even cooler. 

Atlanta/Jackson (Hawkins) Day 1 (10/01/26)

    Back in May of this year my friend Kellie had found an advertisement on Instagram for a convention called "Halloween in a Small Town" that would be held in the place they filmed Stranger Things. (Jackson, Georgia.) The same people putting on this convention also put on a convention at the Gilmore Girls filming location each year, and go all out. I had met Kellie online in 2018 as someone who would also be flying over to Los Angeles too see Ryan Ross perform live. Most people know Panic! At the Disco for Brendon Urie, but our favorite band member was Ryan Ross. We also both ironically ended up becoming big Stranger Things fans, and both had Will as our favorite character. I don't think I've met anyone else besides her who has also picked Will as their favorite character. Kellie travels a lot for work so we were able to meet up nearly a year after seeing Ryan Ross, but that had been the last time I had seen her in person. Pre-pandemic and even college graduation, so it had been awhile. We have stayed in touch throughout the years though, mainly through Instagram. 

   Kellie decided for sure she was going to go, and said she was fine going solo if I couldn't make it. I made the decision to go in early July, and booked my flight to Atlanta. Kellie had already booked a hotel room that would have two beds. We made sure both of our flights landed at similar times, and it worked out well. No delays for either of us thankfully. It also turned out that Finn Wolfhard (the actor that plays Mike) would be performing his music in Atlanta two days after the convention ended, so Kellie also got tickets for that. The Gilmore Girls convention was able to get in more major characters than the Stranger Things convention including Scott Patterson (Luke's actor). The Stranger Things convention was originally going to have the actor for the character, Barb but she had a scheduling conflict. The characters they were able to get for the convention included: Mr. Clarke, Chrissy, and Jason for the bigger characters, and Holly's friend Mary, little Henry Creel, little Will, the other bully characters, etc. The convention also had the actor for James from Twilight coming in and two of the actors from Halloweentown. As a nod to Halloweentown Jackson Square had a giant jack-o-lantern outside of the welcome center, and the bus stop signs from Halloweentown which free shuttles stopped at for the weekend. 

    It was so fun planning what we were going to do during the trip. I was more than excited to see downtown Jackson transformed into Hawkins with signs that matched how it looked in the show. I was also stoked to get to see the Wheeler and Byer's house in person. They had sadly already torn down all the schools they built for the show, the lab, and the radio station. I was excited to go somewhere still experiencing summer weather to hold onto the warmer weather for a little bit longer. The period of warm weather in Wisconsin is so short. Originally it looked like it would be a rainy weekend when I checked the weather a few days before leaving for Atlanta. Saturday looked like it would have on and off rain, and Sunday looked like it would rain all day. The forecast luckily was wrong. A lot of the activities were inside, but it was still nice to be able to walk around and be outside. 

   We flew in on Thursday so we had a little extra time with the conference being Friday-Sunday. We got a rental car through Enterprise which was right at the airport. The rental car process was surprisingly very quick and they told us to pick any mini van. A mini van for two people was kind of a strange pairing, but apparently it was the cheapest option. We went with a black minivan, and Kellie put in the address of the Wheeler House. The filming locations of most of the houses happened to be closer to the airport then to Jackson Georgia. We figured we could hit the other houses when we stayed in Atlanta Monday and Tuesday for Finn's show. Seeing the most recognizable house from the show besides the Byer's house felt really surreal, and so was walking in downtown Jackson when we finally made it there. Kellie was able to book a hotel just down the street from downtown Jackson so it was only a 10 minute walk from our hotel, however parking downtown was actually pretty easy. We took pictures of the Wheeler house quick before checking into our hotel. Kellie had a short work meeting before we walked downtown from our hotel. The town was putting up the signs on the building to match the show when we got there. It was so surreal seeing the downtown area, which had been in so many scenes throughout the show. It didn't look how I thought it would. Seeing the massive welcome center used as the Hawkins library was definitely a highlight. We went into an 80's/Stranger Things themed store that had all kind of different Stranger Things merchandise, different photo op places, and even costumes for characters from the show. We decided to buy the stuff we wanted that day in case the town got crowded for the convention. I got a fridge magnet that said "I've been to Hawkins, Indiana Jackson, Georgia", and a pin of Castle Byers. The store also had a blacklight area with arcade games. Outside of Hawkins Headquarters was the Surfer Boy van parked on the street. The van remains parked on the street and is even unlocked so fans can take pictures inside of it. Papa John's is across the street from where the van is parked, which made us hungry for pizza when deciding where to eat dinner that night. We did not go to the Papa John's but an actual pizza restaurant called "The Brickery". The next day the restaurant actually had a "Surfer Boy Pizza" sign outside of it to be on theme. Kellie and I shared a magherita pizza, and then walked back to our hotel for the night. The people of Jackson Georgia seemed excited to have the convention in town and were super sweet. We even saw a sign outside a gas station before entering Jackson that said "Welcome Stranger Things Fans!" The small town feel was definitely felt.  

Colorado Day 4: Sprague Lake, Alberta Falls, Grand Lake (6/23/26)

    My 4th day in Colorado was the busiest, due to it being my aunt and uncle's last full day there. We started the morning off by visiting Sprague Lake. Sprague Lake is one of the lakes in Rocky Mountain National Park that you don't need to hike up to. It is fully accessible. There's a trail around the lake, and the lake isn't too big so it doesn't take long to walk around. Surrounding the lake is marshy areas where moose like to hang around. We didn't end up seeing a moose there, but we did see a massive male elk laying in a grassy area before we even started walking around the lake. There is a point of the path where you can see the lake with the mountains in the distance, with their reflection in the water. It's not as incredible as the other sights in Rocky Mountain National Park, but is always pretty peaceful. You're allowed to walk off the path (within reason) so at different points we would go off to the side of the path to see if there were any animals in the marshy areas further away. There wasn't from what we could see, but with all the trees and grass you never really know how much wildlife is around in any given moment. A lot of the animals are used to people, especially the elk and chipmunks. (There's usually elk roaming around town in Estes Park even though there is usually a lot of people around. You usually see chipmunks along the hiking trails, and sometimes they'll even come right up to you to see if you will give them food.) People have more luck seeing wildlife during the early morning when the park first opens. 

  After walking around Sprague we drove to the parking lot for the shuttle and took a shuttle to the Alberta Falls trailhead. Alberta Falls is one of the waterfalls in RMNP. It's an incredible view that only takes a short hike to get to. Near the beginning of the trail there is a choose your own adventure option where you can walk across rocks in a stream or walk across a board of wood over the stream. I took the rocks across the stream. :P You can continue hiking further up the mountain after making it to Alberta Falls, but we never hiked any further. Along the hiking trail I spotted a male mule deer up further on the trail. The deer walked a little closer to get a look at the group before walking into a more wooded area. I hiked up some boulders to get a closer view of the water, before sitting down to eat snacks. (I was surprised by how not sore I was, I figured my legs would hurt a lot especially after the steep climb at Red Rock.) My thighs hurt a little bit when I would bend, but it was very mild. 

   We took the shuttle back to our car after getting back down and drove on Trail Ridge Road to go to Grand Lake. Trail Ridge Road is a road that takes you further up into the mountains. The road is narrow and goes back and forth. At the top of the mountain is a visitor center with a gift shop and some concessions. The road has places where you can pull off and look at the view along the way. You can also hike up a really steep set of stairs near the visitor center to get a better view of the mountains, but my family has never done that. (In the past we have had our minivan breakdown at the visitor center, my family had a lot of car troubles when my brother and I were growing up. :P ) According to Google Trail Ridge Road is the highest paved road in the United States at over 12,000ft. elevation. Trail Ridge Road takes about an hour drive, and ends at Grand Lake. Grand Lake is a tiny tourist town with a lake known as "Grand Lake." The actual population is around 500 people. Along Trail Ridge Road there are long sticks at the end of the roads that act as markers for where the edge of the road is for skiers to follow during the winter when the snow gets really deep. Trail Ridge Road opens around Memorial Day, and usually closes around Mid October. We stopped at the visitor center along the way, before finishing our drive to Grand Lake. From the car you can see the peaks of the mountains and huge snowbanks at a closer view. Along our way to Grand Lake my mom spotted a moose way off in the distance at the side of the road when we were no longer on the narrow road going up the mountains. There happened to be a parking lot closer to where the moose was so we could get a better view. (A female moose). We maintained our distance, and attempted to get pictures of the moose. (I've only saw a moose one other time while visiting Colorado. We saw a male moose from the car while driving, and it was pretty close by.There is also another road that takes you up into the mountains that's unpaved and way scarier to navigate called "Fall River Road." It's a one-way street you can take up the mountains, but you have to take Trail Ridge Road back down. I'm not actually sure if we've ever driven on Fall River Road before, but I don't think so?) 

   Once we got to Grand Lake we had an early dinner at Sagebrush Barbecue and Grill. I think it was around 3pm at the time. I ordered a 6oz sirloin with cooked broccoli and hashbrowns as the sides. After dinner we walked over by the lake and checked out the shops. I got soft-serve ice cream, and got to pet a half wolf/half dog that was walking down the street. (The owner lives in town and said he walks his dog around everyday to get treats from one of the shops.) As it is a tourist town a lot of the stuff in the shops was expensive. (Same with Estes Park but maybe not as bad.) 

 On our way back from Grand Lake we spotted yet another female moose near Milner Pass (the continental divide). This one was on the other side of a pond. We were able to take pictures of it from across the water. It was also not at the narrow part of the road, so we could more easily pull off to the side of the road. We had to drive the whole hour drive back to Estes Park after that, and got back around 6pm. We again watched shows before going to bed, this time we were able to sleep in a little more, as we weren't planning on going into the park the next day. 

Day 2 and Day 3 (Traveling to Estes Park and Lake Haiyaha 6/21 & 6/22)

   I woke up around 9am and packed up my things before putting on my new Red Rocks shirt. I checked out of my hotel before returning the rental car. When I arrived a guy came out and called my name. The shuttle to the airport from the rental car place arrived right away.  My shuttle to Estes Park would be at 1pm, and at that point it was 10:45am. I thought I might have to leave the airport in order to get lunch, but then I saw a cafe on the level above. It turned out there was a cafe and also a Caribou coffee on the level above. Since that part of the airport was under construction those were the only options. I opted for Caribou Coffee since they also had sandwiches available. I got a sandwich and an iced vanilla latte. Once I got my food I noticed there was no operating down escalator, however I had overheard an employee directing people towards where the elevator was, which was kind of hidden. I found a bench area to sit at while I waited for the shuttle. I colored in my Stranger Things coloring book and directed people towards the available food options when they asked aloud. I turns out the other cafe place had smoothies. 

    I started heading towards the shuttle area at around 12:40, and got to the place where the shuttle would pick up at around 12:50. When booking the shuttle the website said the shuttle would arrive at around 12:50, and leave at 1pm. There were two other shuttles that stopped in the same place where the pickup was, but the website had also said the shuttle picking us up would have Estes Park shuttle written in green lettering on the side. Neither one of the shuttles had that. When it got to be 1:05 I got scared that I somehow had missed the shuttle, and there wouldn't be another one until 4pm. The shuttle however arrived shortly after 1:05 and was just running late. Thankfully, I found other travelers that were also nervous and called the shuttle company. The shuttle left around 1:15, and took about 1.5 hours. The shuttle dropped off passengers at various locations in Estes Park, but dropped off at the visitor center first, which is where I had selected to be dropped off. I somehow was the only one to asked to be dropped off there, but maybe most people had wanted to be dropped off closer to the mountains. I let my parents know when I was close to the visitor center, and my dad picked me up from there. I thought he was going to crash into me for 2 seconds before realizing it was him. On our way to our rental I saw an elk at one of the pumps at a gas station. (This is very typical of elk in Estes Park, where you'll just see them roaming the town.) There were even signs that stated that elk were extremely active and to remain cautious. My dad showed me my room in the condo we had rented for the week through Vrbo. The Vrbo was a two levels with 2 bedrooms and 2 and a half bathrooms. The bedrooms were on the first level and living room and kitchen on the 2nd level. The second level had a balcony, and the 1st level had a small fenced in area off of the master bedroom. After that I caught up with my parents on different life happening and the Red Rocks concert the night before. My aunt and uncle Scott and Tori had also decided to go on vacation in Estes Park from Friday(6/19)-Wednesday(6/24),while my parents and I would be there from Saturday 6/20 to the following Saturday (6/27). Scott and Tori came over shortly after I arrived. I went to my room to rest for a little bit before dinner, but was unable to sleep. We had sliders to eat for dinner. Scott and Tori hung around until after 7pm. They were planning to come back around 6:30am so we could get into Rocky Mountain National Park early. Since 2020 you have to get a timed entry pass, which you have to purchase at 7pm the night before. We got a timed entry pass for 6-8am entry. I think if you enter before a certain time, or after a certain time you can get in without a pass. Like early morning before 5am, and after 4pm maybe? The timed entry pass only costs $2 fortunately. In the past if you were in line, but got to the front of the line after 8am they would have you turn around. (Kind of like buying concert tickets right when they go on sale.) Rocky Mountain National Park keeps getting more and more popular as the years go on, so there were a lot of people at the park when we got to our trailhead at 7:30am. (You could see a lot of ground squirrels and bunnies from the balcony.)

   My mom decided to stay back as she didn't want to overdo it. The hike to Lake Haiyaha is a moderate hike that is 4.2 miles roundtrip. At the very end you have to climb up massive boulders in order to see the lake which is a bright blue color. I had only hiked up to Lake Haiyaha one other time, I had opted to hike up to Emerald Lake in the past which is a little closer. I think Lake Haiyaha is even more breathtaking than Emerald Lake but both are incredible and worth the hike. This is obvious, but hiking mostly upwards is a lot more strenuous then hiking on flat paths especially when you gain 700ft. in elevation during the hike. At the start of the hike my heart was already pounding, and I wondered if I'd be able to make it up the whole way. I had hiked these trails many times in the past even once with a bad cold so I wasn't actually too worried. (You initially take the same trail to get up to Emerald Lake and Lake Haiyaha.) (I was also afraid my aunt and uncle would be more in shape than I was and hike the trails more quickly, but that did not happen.) We stopped frequently along the sides of the trails to let other people pass who were quicker, and/or catch our breath. I had just gotten new to me shoes for hiking, and they were kind of loose so my dad helped tighten them along the way. We came across a family with young kids and the mom shouting something along the lines of "I said no more gummi bears you're going to hurt someone or yourselves." Sad to report the only bears I saw in Colorado were gummi bears. :( We didn't end up actually seeing any wildlife on the trails besides chipmunks and stellar jay birds. We had to take a shuttle from a lower parking lot due to the fact that most of the parking lots fill up right away at Rocky Mountain National Park if you don't get there right at 6 or earlier. They can cram a surprising amount of people in the shuttles though. My dad and I like to scale the side of giant cliffs to the sides of the trail while hiking up the mountains. It's like rock climbing in real life. (I will go back down if the cliff is too hard to climb, which happened on our last full day.) After we were heading down my dad started climbing a cliff, I made the comment "I'm my father's daughter." to my aunt and uncle before also climbing the cliff. (Being taller makes it a lot easier to climb down cliffs, as you can reach further down). I noticed I seemed to be more and shape and less exhausted after hiking to the top, then I have in previous years. It was also nice seeing Colorado with 20/20 vision for once with contacts. I was able to spot so many more things. :P (an also obvious comment.) I climbed up a strange looking tree with a ton of branches poking out everywhere. Our initial plan was to hike down to where the trail divides in two and hike to Emerald Lake, but at that point it looked like it might rain so we decided to hike down instead. My mom downloaded and I have the Life 360 app downloaded on our phones, and because of it she could see my location while hiking through the mountains which was neat. It also gives you markers like what the mountains around you are called/trail names. It never ended up raining on our way down. (Colorado rain is weird, the sky gets dark and then it might sprinkle or downpour for a few minutes before turning to blue skies again. The rain doesn't usually last too long.) 

   My mom had bought stuff to make sandwiches while we were gone for lunch time. We left the parking lot after the shuttle took us back around noon. We ate the sandwiches and then rested after the hike. Tori and Scott went back to their rental for a couple hours to rest before coming back for dinner. We sat out on the balcony while listening to classic rock music, and watching the ground squirrels below. My mom had bought blue raspberry wine coolers for me for the week. It did start sprinkling for a couple of minutes before dinner. We had steak sandwiches, and again my mom and aunt attempted to obtain timed entry passes for the next day at 7pm. My aunt was successful, and we got the 6-8am timed entry again for the next day. Which meant waking up at 6am again.