House Update and Visit to Fourmile Canyon

Last weekend's half-marathon was a success - 1:49:40, a personal best



We've driven by maybe 30 houses and been inside 15. Here is a pic from a home we visited in Longmont



Long's Peak



Cows



Today we visited Pine Brook for likely the last time. I liked the house and the views were excellent (this was just through the trees as we were driving by homes, not going in). It was just above Wonderland...but Maureen wasn't thrilled with the one lane road with sharp drop-offs



Deer on the way out



Wonderland trails below the Pine Brook house. We were on our way to Boulder Heights



Horses are always here along Lee Hill Road



We drove by our old friend Jerry's house in Boulder Heights. You can't really see but his dog is on the porch



The Flatirons



This house was hard to see from below but looked nice. Expensively listed at $869K but it is just off Sunshine Canyon



We looked at another home up Sunshine Canyon but we couldn't see from the road. It was definitely surrounded by acres of burned land (and the neighbour's home burned)

On the way down Sunshine we saw this house - we would see this from our home on CR-83



The fire started just off Fourmile Canyon but for a few reason it doesn't look as bad as Sunshine Canyon. I'm sure it does on roads just off Fourmile. Fourmile has a lot of mining history - including "towns" such as Crisman and Wallstreet







The "James F. Bailey Assay Office Museum" - Assayer's it seems assessed the quality of what prospector's found. I'm not sure there is any historical significance to the German Shepherd







The Wallstreet Gold Extraction Company's Mill. The reason we went up Fourmile





Next we went to the "town" of Salina - another cool looking small community that was once a major mining area. Here was The Little Church in the Pines that survived. These communities around Fourmile were even more bizarre as far as a small cluster of homes and only one would be gone





Lastly we went for a run up on the Switzerland Trail near the Sugarloaf house. We actually made an offer last weekend. It was listed for $740K and we offered $675K. They countered at $720K and we declined. The next day they came back again at $700K. Before we could respond they simply accepted $675K with a few minor changes. Not sure what we'll do...we didn't expect acceptance

Animals and More House Hunting

I used our other camera this week and found this pic from the fall - Quandary Peak from our house outside of Breckenridge (well, the house we rented for 50 nights)



Earlier this week I heard rustling while out back

Baby snakes

Not a huge fan of snakes but they all seemed to scatter after being born. Good luck



I took Friday off from the sweatshop that is AT&T. It has been pretty intense all year and life is made more difficult because I can't stay connected for too long to the internet. I don't feel like calling our useless IT "Support" in India so I live with it.

We were going to run around Denver. It had snowed the night before and somehow this guy made it in our fenced backyard for breakfast (I guess he jumped it)





Today we went to Boulder to drive by 7 houses. Actually, 5 are in Longmont, 1 in Lafayette and 1 in Boulder. I was mellow as I did my final long run before next Sunday's half-marathon - 13.8-miles in 2 hours and 7 minutes. Last week I did 31-miles, so should be all set as the Colorado race season begins

Here is a donkey on the way to the first one, less than a mile away



And here is a fire on the way. I assumed it was a controlled burn of some sorts



The house itself. We'll go back Sunday with our realtor



The view. I think this is Long's Peak



The neighbours...



These two look very nice but are off the list for a variety of reasons





More views while driving around



The next house looked good. It's unique. Hard to tell from the photos but it is built into the hillside. The garage looks like it is 90% underground





The view looks east which is a drag (the mountains are west) but still nice and 15 minutes to downtown Boulder



Another odd thing is it borders the US Government's 2.5-mile x 1.5-mile "Table Mountain Field Site and Radio Quiet Zone"

http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/table_mountain/index.html



And here would be our other neighbours...





We then went back to Boulder's Pine Brook neighbourhood - minutes to North Boulder. This was the only pic we took (we were in the car) - it looks over a reservoir



The final house we looked at was maybe 9-miles east of Boulder in Lafayette. We cruised around Boulder first as it was such an awesome day. And not raining. HAHAHA



The house is odd. It is on 7 acres with these views:



But...it seems that suburban sprawl has crept close (see behind in this fuzzy photo)



I'm sure tomorrow will be fun. We've also found a few cool looking homes in West Denver just south of Cherry Creek in our price range so we may check them out next week

House Hunting Update

Here is today's news from the Boulder Daily Camera

"Lefthand Fire: Air tanker en route to Boulder County, 223 homes evacuated"

The best news is that they (the awesome Boulder County Sherriff) learned hard lessons from last fire (this came across twitter from the Sherriff's office):

"Escorts for evacuated residents to retrieve pets from their homes are being provided"

That said...two additional homes are on our list after looking at four more last night...

We took no photos at the first home we saw as the owner was there. It was a really nice home but too dark (as in not enough sun)

The second home was in Boulder Heights. It is $625K and on a little less than 2 acres with 2,700 sq ft. It seems as though it needs no work and is well built. It is pretty private with beautiful views

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/948-Deer-Trail-Rd-Boulder-CO-80302/13196709_zpid/

Here are some pics:













The third home was the closest to Boulder and and only $485K on 1.7 acres with 3,102 sq ft

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/112-Bow-Mountain-Rd-Boulder-CO-80302/13196340_zpid/

Here is why it is only $485K:



Ahahahahahahaha! The driveway from hell. Steep and north-facing (needs to be south-facing to get the sun)

The final home is a house on Sunshine Canyon that juuuuuust missed out on the fire. Maureen always liked it - but at the time it was $799K. It was taken off the market awhile back. Now the owners just moved out and the house is about to go back on the market at $699K. It is beautiful from the outside and has outstanding views (you can see Denver over 30-miles away). It's 5 acres is extremely private and is maybe 10 minutes to town. Inside...it needs work...

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4296-Sunshine-Canyon-Dr-Boulder-CO-80302/13217857_zpid/

Here are some pics:







Denver off in the distance (on the left)



You can see where the Fourmile Fire stopped (60% down and 20% from the left)







Of course the other house on our list is Sugarloaf:

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4872-Sugarloaf-Rd-Boulder-CO-80302/13194312_zpid/

After house hunting we got a few drinks with some new friends in Boulder, good times

As far as the Lefthand Fire, it has grown since I started the blog but sounds like it will be ok: "Boulder County blaze up to 300 acres, some evacuations lifted"