So everyone wants to know, “how’s mountain life?” Well it’s great! It’s different. But not in a bad different sort of way. I still can't believe we LIVE here! It feels like we are just vacationing here for a summer or something. Maybe things will feel more real once school starts and we have a real routine again. So how is mountain life different? Well..
There is wildlife... lots of it!! We have regular visits from the local deer on our property. They are such beautiful and graceful animals. I can't get enough of them. I'm sure they can be a bother but right now, they are just so sweet and innocent that it's hard not to love them! One morning a pregnant doe walked right up to us. Close enough for John to pet it! She kept her eye on me and for a brief moment I swear she was empathizing with my pregnant belly. Like she knew I had a little one on the way too. It was a very sweet moment.
There are also the animals we don't see but hear. The first week we were here there was a crazy loud animal right outside our window. After looking it up on google the next day we are convinced it was a fox. So what does the fox say? Now we know. We also had a visit from a very large and strong animal. We can't be certain that it was a bear but it is likely that we had a visit. Whatever it was, it knocked over our very heavy trash can and pulled the heavy duty bungees to the side, drug two large trash bags down to a field and over a fence (which it dented), and proceed to devour leftover food items. Raccoon? Maybe but it would have had to be a monstrous one. Mountain lion? Nah, not the right kind of food and would have likely jumped the fence, not stepped over it. Bear? Maybe. Maybe not. There are plenty of stories of bears and trash out here! We now have a shed so that if we start accumulating too much trash we can keep it in there. And then there are the hummingbirds. We see AND hear them! They love our feeder out back. There are also lots of Magpies and crows that squawk and lots of other little birdies who love to sing when it's nice out. Of course we have little creatures like chipmunks and squirrels too.
Besides wildlife, another difference is the community. We don't have a ton of neighbors but we've met the few that live around us. They are very nice and all have offered to help if we ever need it. The lady across the street is a retired NICU nurse and Labor and Delivery nurse. Yay! The couple next to her down he road a little have a 15 month old little girl and have exchanged numbers with us. We plan to have them over for dinner when we are settled more. The neighbor behind us is super friendly though reclusive. He lives alone and has since 1980. He filled us in on mountain life a little and offered his drive if we ever need to use it to access the back of our property. I was worried about not having a "neighborhood" to ride bikes and play on the sidewalks but as it turns out, everyone here goes for walks. I've been inspired to take up walking once Chloe arrives. I really want to get a jogger.
The biggest change is the driving. Driving to the playground (10 min), to the grocery store (20 min), to Denver (35 min)... nothing is within minutes really which is a huge change. It's not all bad though. I do like having my own space out in the country. We just have to be more mindful of shopping trips and such. The other day I wanted Wendy's so bad! I actually drove 20 min there and 20 min back for a Wendy's frosty! Not good on the gas mileage! In fact, we have been seriously considering an electric commuter car for John and for myself when I go down the hill for Zumba once a week. We shall see. Gas gets pretty expensive at about 12-15 bucks a pop to go down the mountains and back up.
Most of our time has been spent working on the house so we haven't gotten out and about in the mountains too much. But from time to time we venture out to explore our "neighborhood". I look forward to next summer when we can fully enjoy all that the mountains have to offer. One of the best mountain biking parks is just 15 minutes away and an awesome climbing park is only 10 minutes from us. Plus hundreds of places near by to hike, camp, and four wheel!
Yup, mountain life is great. I really love it here.
There is wildlife... lots of it!! We have regular visits from the local deer on our property. They are such beautiful and graceful animals. I can't get enough of them. I'm sure they can be a bother but right now, they are just so sweet and innocent that it's hard not to love them! One morning a pregnant doe walked right up to us. Close enough for John to pet it! She kept her eye on me and for a brief moment I swear she was empathizing with my pregnant belly. Like she knew I had a little one on the way too. It was a very sweet moment.
There are also the animals we don't see but hear. The first week we were here there was a crazy loud animal right outside our window. After looking it up on google the next day we are convinced it was a fox. So what does the fox say? Now we know. We also had a visit from a very large and strong animal. We can't be certain that it was a bear but it is likely that we had a visit. Whatever it was, it knocked over our very heavy trash can and pulled the heavy duty bungees to the side, drug two large trash bags down to a field and over a fence (which it dented), and proceed to devour leftover food items. Raccoon? Maybe but it would have had to be a monstrous one. Mountain lion? Nah, not the right kind of food and would have likely jumped the fence, not stepped over it. Bear? Maybe. Maybe not. There are plenty of stories of bears and trash out here! We now have a shed so that if we start accumulating too much trash we can keep it in there. And then there are the hummingbirds. We see AND hear them! They love our feeder out back. There are also lots of Magpies and crows that squawk and lots of other little birdies who love to sing when it's nice out. Of course we have little creatures like chipmunks and squirrels too.
Besides wildlife, another difference is the community. We don't have a ton of neighbors but we've met the few that live around us. They are very nice and all have offered to help if we ever need it. The lady across the street is a retired NICU nurse and Labor and Delivery nurse. Yay! The couple next to her down he road a little have a 15 month old little girl and have exchanged numbers with us. We plan to have them over for dinner when we are settled more. The neighbor behind us is super friendly though reclusive. He lives alone and has since 1980. He filled us in on mountain life a little and offered his drive if we ever need to use it to access the back of our property. I was worried about not having a "neighborhood" to ride bikes and play on the sidewalks but as it turns out, everyone here goes for walks. I've been inspired to take up walking once Chloe arrives. I really want to get a jogger.
The biggest change is the driving. Driving to the playground (10 min), to the grocery store (20 min), to Denver (35 min)... nothing is within minutes really which is a huge change. It's not all bad though. I do like having my own space out in the country. We just have to be more mindful of shopping trips and such. The other day I wanted Wendy's so bad! I actually drove 20 min there and 20 min back for a Wendy's frosty! Not good on the gas mileage! In fact, we have been seriously considering an electric commuter car for John and for myself when I go down the hill for Zumba once a week. We shall see. Gas gets pretty expensive at about 12-15 bucks a pop to go down the mountains and back up.
Most of our time has been spent working on the house so we haven't gotten out and about in the mountains too much. But from time to time we venture out to explore our "neighborhood". I look forward to next summer when we can fully enjoy all that the mountains have to offer. One of the best mountain biking parks is just 15 minutes away and an awesome climbing park is only 10 minutes from us. Plus hundreds of places near by to hike, camp, and four wheel!
Yup, mountain life is great. I really love it here.
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