Welcome to the Rocky Mountains. We own a 3-story, 3000sf Swiss Chalet in a small mountain town located at the back of Pikes Peak. We sit on an acre and a half of prairie meadowland. Our house is spacious, and has a beautiful view of the mountain through our 2-story windows on the second floor.

On the first floor, we have our office space and our home theater media center. On the second floor sits the master bedroom with a king size bed, master bath with a whirlpool and separate shower and the great room that includes a living room, dining area and kitchen . The 3rd floor consists of a bath, and a loft play area as well as 2 bedrooms -one with a double bed and one with a bunk bed. Our style is rather ecclectic and consists of everything from antiques to mission furniture mixed in with a lot of kid stuff.

You will need a vehicle to explore this area as there is no public transportation in our town. To ski, you will need to drive it as a day-trip. There are multiple ski resorts about 90 minutes away.

We're located approx 18 miles from downtown Colorado Springs, and approx 40 minutes from the CS airport. Denver is about an hour to the north of Colorado Springs.

With a population of approx 12,000 in the Woodland Park region, it has a small town feel, and is a bedroom community for Colorado Springs (population 200,000). There are ample tourist destinations both within this region and locally.

There is an eclectic group of shops in downtown Woodland Park where you can have coffee, or do some unique shopping. We even have our own Dinosaur Resource Center where you can see a life-size version of a T-Rex and hundreds of other dinosaur and prehistoric marine animals. Throughout the year, our local community prides itself with providing some form of entertainment almost every weekend. Some examples include a rodeo, the Mountain Arts Festival, a music series, childrens theatre events, an Indian pow-wow, motorcycle rallies, holistic health fairs, Oktoberfest celebrations, a farmers market, classic car shows and numerous holiday celebrations. This area also has a built-in natural beauty that just makes you love being here.

Things to do:

Dining: Your taste buds will be delighted that you’ve come to this area. Our dining ranges from high-end sophistication to rustic outdoor suppers. Colorado Springs boasts Colorado’s only five-diamond restaurant, The Penrose Room at The Broadmoor. Or spend an evening at Flying W Ranch and enjoy genuine cowboy music and delicious Chuckwagon fare.

For the tourist in you: Hiking and trout fishing are favorite activities here. We also have a unique area called Garden of the Gods where you can hike or rock climb. You can visit Meuller State Park with 80 miles of hiking trails, walk along a stream and either fish or look for wildlife, take a cog rail train to the top of Pikes Peak, go to a cowboy ranch for horseback riding, visit Cripple Creek where they have numerous 24 hour casinos, or just explore the various unique settings surrounding us.

World-class skiing is just a 90 minute, day-trip away. We are 80 miles from Breckenridge and Keystone is just up the road from there with a very scenic drive to pass the time quickly.

For relaxation: how about going for a day trip to soak in a natural hot springs in Beuna Vista or stay close, and have a getaway at the Spa at the Broadmoor.

Youth friendly: The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Santa's Workshop Amusement Park, the Starsmoor Discovery Center, Seven Falls, the Ghost Town Museum, Mr. Bigs Fun Center along with hundreds of play parks around the area.

For the adventurist: Biking and rock climbing all around the region. We are only one mountain range away from world-class skiing in the winter or white water rafting in the spring. You travel through a beautiful high desert and through some extremely scenic mountain views to get there. It's approx an hour and 20 minutes to Breckenridge from our front door and about an hour to white water rafting.

Or.... - just sit on our deck in the hot tub and enjoy the view of the mountain.

We're at an elevation of 8600 feet above sea level. It can take 2-3 days to get used to this altitude, so plan to take it easy for the first few days of your trip and drink plenty of water.

If you have any accessibility issues, our main living area is on the 2nd floor so you will need to climb steps.

Animals:
We have 2 cats, 2 dogs and a young Ball Python snake. If possible, we prefer to not disrupt their living arrangements and leave them at home, but we could possibly make arrangements for them during your visit. (My sister can take the snake if needed). We have a dog door that allows them to go out into a large fenced area behind the house. They do like other animals if you have a pet that you want to bring.

Cars:
We have a 2003 Honda CRV and a 2002 Acura TL sedan. We should be able leave at least one of the cars for you to use. We found that a taxi to our house from the Colorado Springs airport is $75 one way so sometimes it is cheaper to rent a car - depending upon how long your stay is. If we are flying around the same schedule we can leave a car at the airport for you.

We would also request that you would water our plants if you are there for more than 3 days.

We'd love to travel more, but our best times will be during school holidays for the kids.

We are willing to do a non-simultaneous exchange as our schedule permits.

We have 2 children- a girl aged 10 and a boy who is 6. We are self-employed. My husband works in professional audio as an audio consultant and tunes sound systems. I currently play mom, am a landlord, trade stocks -- and in my previous life, I produced videos and TV commercials. We enjoy the outdoors, love cooking - especially Asian. We like to hike, swim, handball and explore new territories and sample local cuisines.

We recently returned from our 3rd home exchange and had a wonderful time. Our family is definitely hooked on this idea, as it was such joy to be able to cook and feel like we'd really settled in - instead of having 4 of us crammed into a hotel for an extended period. We look forward to more travel this way.

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