Someday

Memorial Day weekend was great, but too short as usual!! Nate wanted to look at one of our pieces of property in Steamboat Springs to decide where the best spot for the house would be, so we ended up taking a last minute trip up to the mountains with my parents.

The front range is pretty dry this spring since we haven’t gotten much rain, but the other side of the divide is another story. Steamboat got so much snow this winter that there are still spots on Rabbit Ears Pass where the snow is 4-5 feet deep, and the town itself has been painted green by all the runoff. The Yampa River is actually over its banks in spots – we took a walk downtown and had to cross the railroad tracks a few times because the trail was underwater!

When we got into town, we went over to check out the property right away. When we bought the three lots this winter, they were under about 6 feet of snow, so it’s interesting to see what’s underneath! Two of the lots are in a neighborhood that sits on the South shore of Stagecoach Lake. The picture shown here is from the upper lot looking across the lake (and not really the most scenic shot from the property). The lower lot is down near the car – it’s relatively flat and has a nice little stream that runs through it in the spring. The upper lot is just one big hill so it will be a more difficult build (this is the lot we drove up to see – had to figure out how best to dig a foundation on that hill). These lots have no power or sewer – the houses in this area depend on solar and wind power, and wells for water. The funny thing is that the area does have phone service and high speed internet!

Our third lot is my favorite, but I don’t have any pictures. It’s up the pass a ways, behind the first lots and away from the lake. It’s about an acre and the back end of the lot drops into a ravine with a hillside of pine and aspen. This lot has power, but no water/sewer.

The original plan was to build a cabin for ourselves on one lot, and build spec homes on the two other lots. Now we’re thinking that we’ll just put all three up for sale when they’re built, and see what happens. This area is a popular spot for Steamboat “locals” to live since the cost of housing in town is so prohibitive. If we could sell all three houses for a decent profit, we could then buy something closer to town. That’s the goal anyway – we seem to always change our minds!

Anyhow, someday we’ll have some sort of property to call our own in the mountains. I’d love to spend summers in Steamboat - I’m not sure at this point if I’d want to live there full time (it’s COLD in the winter!!). We’ll see….