Winter 15-16

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Well it’s March, and we have been having quite a winter!  December through February it snowed about 3 feet a week.  We were constantly digging out.  This winter we have had over 360″ so far!

This is the road leading up to the cabins!  They do a great job plowing, but when it’s coming down in buckets, it’s hard to keep up.
The sunsets this winter have not disappointed!

I got to operate big red!  I am now a master snow blower.

Jeff pushes snow around with the snow cat. 

At the beginning of the winter we decided to keep the center pavilion open to guests for the grill and a fire pit area.  It got used quite a bit too!  We save all of our cardboard and then use it to burn a big bright fire!  On New Year’s Eve, we invited all the guests to a pot luck and fire.  It turned out really great!!

We dug a snow bench into the hUge snow pile Jeff had made with the snow cat.

This year we got our permit snowmobiling.  Jeff has been guiding groups with their own snowmobiles and also people who come up for the day that rent our snowmobiles.  The Grand Mesa has 800+ square miles of terrain.  Most groups take a guide for the first day, get some good ideas, and then ride the rest of the week on their own.

This is the winter of El Nino.  The meteorologists named this El Nino cycle Bruce Lee.  We jumped on board with that and put a little Bruce Lee figure on our snow stake and got a life size card board cut out!  There was a meteorologist from Denver 7 news that came and interviewed Jeff for a story on El Nino.  They ran a story the other night and plugged us as “Thunder Ridge Mountain”.  So if you’re wondering where that is, it’s here, it’s us!  Some of the footage they used was from a customer that stayed with us, he had a drone!

We also had a friend move out from Chicago to live with us.  Cameron is taking on some of our carpentry projects.  If you have stayed with us before, you know that some of the cabins were remodeled before we bought them.  They have built in bunk beds, but there were no ladders.  Now each bunk bed has a ladder!  I had to figure out how to pull the mattress down, make the bed, and put it back up, because I was not about to climb up there to make the beds!  Tricky tricky.

In Cabin 7 we put a lofted bed in the bedroom.  Just another way to maximize the space a bit.

More projects coming this summer!
Cameron and I have been exploring the cross country ski trails quite a bit (Ok he has explored much more than I have).  There are some trails right across the street from us in a non motorized zone.  The trails are kept up nicely, and they are very well marked.  The Grand Mesa Nordic Council has a great trail system throughout the Mesa.  We are trying to reach out to more of the cross country skiers in the area to make sure that they know they can stay with us!  Since we are right on the border of the motorized and non motorized zones, there’s no reason that both groups cannot get along!  And we don’t currently have a large lodge, so most groups hang out in their cabins.  Just sayin, come stay with us!
It’s the end of March, and we have been getting hit with some spring snow.  The conditions are still great!  So come visit all through April!!

Cabins

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Well, as you could see from the last post, we have been working hard on our cabins.  We have a friend helping us with our website, but it probably won’t be ready until the fall.  In the meantime, you can visit our Facebook page to see photo albums of each cabin.  Click here.

We have a lot of ideas for the cabins and the property.  First of all, we are getting married here in September.  An old post may have said June, but that was wishful thinking.  We have our date set and we are making sure our event area is ready.  So far, I have added in our hammock sanctuary around the large fire pit.  There are solar powered twinkle lights that are so cute!  I found some tiki torches up in the attic and added them to the fun hang out area.  It looks so awesome!

We got a cat!  It’s my first pet since moving to Colorado!  We named him Otto.  For Otto Mears and John Otto, both pioneers and environmentalists in Colorado history.  Mostly we got a cat because we have mice.  If we keep our lil Otto happy he is going to kill all the rodents.  Did you know how much cats kill!?

Here are some of my goals:
 Long term:  I want to see about adding lofts.  Every cabin has a dropped ceiling.  It would be so awesome to open them up and add a loft.  The loft will most likely be very small, but small can be cool and cozy.  It might come down to just opening them up and having an open cabin showing the rafters instead of closed off.  

 
These are both such cool ideas!  Check out my pinterest page!

There is this show called Tiny Houses.  I don’t remember what network it’s on, but they should come help us.  They have so many cool projects!  We have 12 tiny houses.  It would be amazing if we could make them into space saving, optimized, little cabins!  I think our customers would love it!

Short term:  reinstall the hot tubs!!  Yeah!  The whole area where the hot tubs used to be is this cool tree island, and it could easily be a fun community hang out year round.  On one side of the pavilion are some charcoal grills.  Eventually it could have a larger grill for people to use.  We can add some more picnic tables.  Then add in more twinkle lights!  That would make two community areas on the property.  The picnic/hot tub area and the hammock/fire pit area.  We also are thinking of simply getting some lawn games. 

The community pavilion is a nice central area with a beautiful view of Deep Ward Lake.
We have a volleyball net.  We just need to set it up.  Then get some horseshoes and other lawn games.  Even if we don’t get around to remodeling the cabins, people want to hang out.  I think people come up here to enjoy the weather and the outdoors.  By having really awesome hang out areas, our customers won’t care if we end up having lofts or not.  That’s why this is the best short term goal.  Our property is quiet and beautiful.  We need to expand on the assets we already have.

We recently finished another goal.  The old owner took out wood stove heaters and put in super efficient electric heaters.  But when he did, he left some holes in the walls….  So I already fixed up cabin #3 with pallet boards.  Jeff fixed the other cabins.  And we just finished the last cabin with more pallet board.  

  

There’s always work to be done around here!  But we are mixing in some fun.  We have gone on many hikes and explorations.  This is a new area for us.  We need to keep exploring to make sure to be knowledgeable for our guests.  The best hike so far has been the Crag Crest Trail.  It is so amazing.  It’s a ridge that you hike up to, and then you can hike along the ridge.  There are steep drops to either side of the trail, so be careful!
 Had to take a selfie!
Such a cool hike!

Well we hope to see you soon!

Summer is here!

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Hi!
Summer has arrived in full force!  It was a looooooong winter.  The ice is finally gone, and people are visiting!  We have actually been sold out the last few weekends.  We have been renting out our boats too!  The canoes, rowboat, inflatable kayaks, stand up paddleboards, and the hydrobike.

The majority of our customers have been amazing and have been giving us so much support.  We have people driving by and walking in just to say how happy they are that the cabins have reopened.  The community of people that have shown their support is amazing.  Plus with a few new marketing strategies, we have people here that have never even been to the area.  So we are thrilled at the success we have already had.  It’s also interesting to see that most of our customers are just from below the Mesa.  While it may be 95+ down in Grand Junction and Delta, it has been nice and cool up at the lodge.  So people come up for a few days just to escape the heat.  There are a few snow banks left up here.  You do have to go find them….  They are hiding back in the cool of the thick forest.

We had a few friends stay with us over the winter, and it has been a long process to be officially open.  We can now announce that we have our forest service permit and WE ARE OPEN!!!  We are renting cabins and taking reservations.  Also, we have an employee for the summer, Abby.  She is here helping and learning about a small business.  We are so excited to have people come stay with us, so please book your reservation, and come visit our cabins!

Jeff put me in charge of fixing up cabin number three for renting.  I started in the bathroom.  Holy!  Who decided to paint it poo brown??  And if you are going to paint something poo brown, make sure the paint dries without dripping….  Cuz it looked like poo dripping down the walls!  Grossssssss!!!

I went in and had to sand the drips because they were so bad.  Then I taped (which the previous person did not do…. there’s still some brown on the back of the toilet).  I thought that the creamy buttery yellow color I chose would go nicely with the brown on the trim.  Since the previous painter painted all of the trim, walls, floor, and plumbing.  What really ended up happening, was I traded one bad paint job for another.  I guess I didn’t really adhere the tape properly. 

 So there was yellow paint all over the brown trim that I was trying to save.  Well….. that wasn’t acceptable to me.  It had to go.  I decided that the easiest way would be to carefully remove the trim, sand it, paint it, and rehang it.  Long story short, that did work.  The trim looks awesome now!  Long story is that I chose this pale blue color, and when paired with the creamy buttery yellow of the walls, it looked like a baby’s room.  

We then got a darker blue, but Jeff picked it out.  I was hoping for more of a navy, but he got a deep ocean blue?  Not sure how to describe it.  Instead of painting the trim outright one color, since I had already painted it pale blue.  I put a sponge finish on it with the darker blue.  It looks so amazing!

Also in cabin three, I used my pallet wood and made a cool finish to the side of the cabinets, behind the heater, and a shelf in the bathroom. 

 I have totally taken to pinterest.  It is the mecca of ideas for this place.  Anything I want to do, I can find on pinterest.  I found a post about using pallet wood to make a wall, and I ran with it.  I got different translucent stains from Home Depot.  The sample size bottle is only $3.  I have done so much with these stains.  It was well worth the $10 spent for three colors.  We do also have two other stain colors that we’ve been using on the cabins, so I guess it might cost more than $10….You can find the Thunder Mtn pinterest and follow me if you’d like.  I have some fun pins!

I also did not want to take the easy way out on the kitchen area.  I scraped the window and repainted it properly.  I even got some paint remover so it wouldn’t be all bumpy around the window panes.  

Then the cabinets, I didn’t just rub more stain on, I sanded and completely re-stained.  

The cabinets look amazing.  This cabin had two futons, but one was broken.  So instead of replacing the broken one, I just took it out.  Well, Abby helped of course!  But now it is more open, and has a nice flow.  Not all of our cabins need to be jammed full of people.  This one is for two – four people.  And that is only if you want to share a futon.

I am so proud of cabin number three! I hope to hear from you soon to book your getaway!

P.S. I have more blogs coming! It won’t be so long next time.

Dumping Snow!

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Total of 6 feet of snow in the last week!

Well if there was any doubt before, it is definitely winter on the Mesa now!  Jeff and I were there to do some work on the cabins to get ready for opening, but we ended up just doing a ton of snow removal!  It wouldn’t stop dumping!  It snowed at least 18″ on Saturday, and continued well into Sunday!
We did manage to get some work done though.  You can see that cabin number four now has a nice stain on the interior.  We also finished putting up walls in the main cabin, our new lodge.
  

The sun came out and shined on us briefly.  This is it, the new lodge… Really it’s just the largest cabin that had been rented before.  We have a long way to go before it is a real lodge to hang out in with a restaurant, but we are working on implementing a small restaurant this winter.  Keep checking for more info about this!

Jeff’s new plow is working really well!  We had to keep plowing the lot, and then this past weekend we took the snow cat out for a cruise to push back the snow banks!  Glad it runs!!

Last weekend I had to go shovel a path to the well.  Rental cabins need running water!  They also need to be chlorinated.  The chlorination expert came up this past week to help us install our chlorinator, but first I had to shovel!
 
We had been staying in cabin number one, but since we are actually trying to open up for rentals, we finally moved all of our stuff out.  We are going to set up in the lodge for now, there are still bedrooms there from when it was a rental cabin.  I was able to take photos of cabin number one’s interior now!

We also finished staining in cabin number five.  It’s looking pretty good!  

Also good news, we are now officially open!!

Driving up in the blizzard was difficult!  Highway 65 is plowed but still scary…  Drive safely, and come visit!

Dumping Snow!

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Total of 6 feet of snow in the last week!

Well if there was any doubt before, it is definitely winter on the Mesa now!  Jeff and I were there to do some work on the cabins to get ready for opening, but we ended up just doing a ton of snow removal!  It wouldn’t stop dumping!  It snowed at least 18″ on Saturday, and continued well into Sunday!
We did manage to get some work done though.  You can see that cabin number four now has a nice stain on the interior.  We also finished putting up walls in the main cabin, our new lodge.
  

The sun came out and shined on us briefly.  This is it, the new lodge… Really it’s just the largest cabin that had been rented before.  We have a long way to go before it is a real lodge to hang out in with a restaurant, but we are working on implementing a small restaurant this winter.  Keep checking for more info about this!

Jeff’s new plow is working really well!  We had to keep plowing the lot, and then this past weekend we took the snow cat out for a cruise to push back the snow banks!  Glad it runs!!

Last weekend I had to go shovel a path to the well.  Rental cabins need running water!  They also need to be chlorinated.  The chlorination expert came up this past week to help us install our chlorinator, but first I had to shovel!
 
We had been staying in cabin number one, but since we are actually trying to open up for rentals, we finally moved all of our stuff out.  We are going to set up in the lodge for now, there are still bedrooms there from when it was a rental cabin.  I was able to take photos of cabin number one’s interior now!

We also finished staining in cabin number five.  It’s looking pretty good!  

Also good news, we are now officially open!!

Driving up in the blizzard was difficult!  Highway 65 is plowed but still scary…  Drive safely, and come visit!

Meet the new owner!

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Thunder Mountain Lodge is Re-Opening!

Meet the new owner ~ Jeff Kieper:
Jeff moved to Colorado from Wisconsin in 1998, and is an avid outdoor enthusiast. He worked as a raft and snowmobile guide for more than 15 years in the Vail area. Eventually, Ski-doo scooped him up to become the VIP tour manager, a position he held for 4 years. During the winter, he is almost always out on his snowmobile. Although he has been know to ice climb once in a while. When the snow melts, you can find him guiding people on some of the toughest white water around. Or climbing to the top of Colorado’s 14,000 foot peaks. Or maybe he’s out ripping it up on his dirt bike. But maybe that’s just in the past, now you will find him at Thunder Mountain Lodge. He will be plowing, shoveling, and doing repairs all over the property. Don’t worry, he’ll be plenty busy! Not only is he the proud new owner of Thunder Mountain Lodge, but he is also newly engaged to be married! That’s right ladies, Jeff is off the market. We are planning on a wedding in June 2015 at the lodge. My name is Jessica, and I am helping Jeff with a lot of the technical work, the e-mails, the website, the reservations, and of course adding a feminine touch to the cabins.
Keep in touch, send us an e-mail, and we hope to see you soon!

Meet the new owner!

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Thunder Mountain Lodge is Re-Opening!

Meet the new owner ~ Jeff Kieper:
Jeff moved to Colorado from Wisconsin in 1998, and is an avid outdoor enthusiast. He worked as a raft and snowmobile guide for more than 15 years in the Vail area. Eventually, Ski-doo scooped him up to become the VIP tour manager, a position he held for 4 years. During the winter, he is almost always out on his snowmobile. Although he has been know to ice climb once in a while. When the snow melts, you can find him guiding people on some of the toughest white water around. Or climbing to the top of Colorado’s 14,000 foot peaks. Or maybe he’s out ripping it up on his dirt bike. But maybe that’s just in the past, now you will find him at Thunder Mountain Lodge. He will be plowing, shoveling, and doing repairs all over the property. Don’t worry, he’ll be plenty busy! Not only is he the proud new owner of Thunder Mountain Lodge, but he is also newly engaged to be married! That’s right ladies, Jeff is off the market. We are planning on a wedding in June 2015 at the lodge. My name is Jessica, and I am helping Jeff with a lot of the technical work, the e-mails, the website, the reservations, and of course adding a feminine touch to the cabins.
Keep in touch, send us an e-mail, and we hope to see you soon!