I wasn't sure where I was going to stay after our visit and thankfully she mentioned Shoshoni which is a yoga retreat up in the mountains west of Boulder about 45 minutes. They allowed me to stay in my RV and pay their "camping" price of $70/night though it's clear they're not used to RV visitors. For the price, I got a 20 amp electrical hookup, 3 meals, 2 challenging and 1 restorative yoga workout, 2 opportunities for meditation and chanting, and access to several hiking trails on their lovely property.
While I was simply interested in finding a nice place to stay in my RV (which is hard to do since there is no camping at all in Boulder to discourage the riff-raff), this turned out to be my 11th intentional community to visit as well. There are about 15 people who live here full time--all appear to be in their 20's and 30's. Everyone I met was quite friendly, attentive to guests and open to sharing their way of life. The property was very well taken care of...it was clean, simple, and understated.
The yoga was needed. The chanting was interesting to witness but not my thing. The meals and trails were absolutely delicious and rejuvenating.
After my one night at Shoshoni, I drove NE through the mountain to Lyons CO for another visit to the Wee Casa, tiny house hotel. Reid and the boys and Kent and I toured them in July. Their rates are $169/night to experience what it's like to live in a tiny house. Even with my curiosity, that sounded a bit steep to me so I instead stayed at a city run, RV park Sat night. The park host was an old curmudgeon but the price was right at $30/night for full hookups. I took my bike for a spin around town and had breakfast at a local hangout. In doing further investigation of the Wee Casas, I found they offer $20/night off when booking online. That small savings was enough to convince me to try it out.
There was one unit in particular that I wanted to stay in with aluminum siding that was built by a Durango, tiny home builder (Rocky Mountain Tiny Homes) so I reserved that one. While I was on the property, I talked to Blake and Sky who are 2 of the 3 partners who own Wee Casa about their business model. They take tiny homes on consignment and rent them out and split the profits with the home owner. At the end of the summer season, they try to help the home owner to sell the tiny home. It seems to benefit everyone including the Wee Casa partners, the tiny home builders, and people like me who are considering buying a tiny house or two.
I'm so glad I stayed because it did give me a feel for the space. I found the unit in which I stayed had nice high ceilings which made it feel bigger. It had a bed in the loft with alternating steps that allowed for storage which were a bit funky. The bathroom had a toilet and a full shower but the door separating the bathroom from the rest of the living area once closed made it quite difficult to dress. That should be moved out a bit. One nice touch was a rope swing couch/bed downstairs in the living area. Of course I liked all the big windows but felt a bit exposed tripping down the steps in the morning for coffee. Overall, I liked the unit but would make some changes if I were to buy it.
My new found friend--Holly Bidle in Golden who bought the Hummingbird Micro Home for just over $30K told me of a guy in Denver who was selling a tiny home on Craigslist. He was asking $29K but seems motivated so may take less. The only problem, the house is in Lubbock and the only way I can see it is to drive to Lubbock. I'm not sure I'm that interested. Would you drive to Lubbock to check it out?
While I was at Wee Casa, I saw some sort of woman's cycling event going on. Two women dressed up in cycling gear and two other women dressed up in catering gear were outside investigating the tiny house that I was staying in so I asked them if they wanted to see inside and of course, they did. I asked them what was going on and they explained that the event was a bike ride, or yoga class followed by a gourmet meal outside along the river facing the mountain just next to Wee Casa.
I asked them if I could "play" too and it turns out, it wasn't too late to join them....except for the bike ride....so I chose yoga. The event was called Tour la fete. The hour long yoga session under the trees in the cool evening air was one of the best I've done. The meal required a dress (which was fun for a change) so I put on my dress after doing some more tiny house investigation around Wee Casa and headed over to the river for dinner. I missed the music and hors d'oeuvres but the rest of the meal was a delight. New Belgium ale was one of the sponsors so they supplied the beer and explained the pairings with the meal. Who knew you could pair beer with a gourmet meal. After dinner, we were treated to some delicious gourmet cupcakes with a dessert beer???? and a film about volunteers (armed with shovels and buckets...calling themselves "mudslingers") who through social media, amassed forces to help with the big flood that occurred 2 years ago in the area. We sat outside in the cool mountain air under the stars watching the film on one of those huge inflatable screens and were inspired by their altruism.
While I treated myself to the unique stay in one of the tiny homes that makes up the Wee Casa hotel and the Women's Tour la fete event in Lyons on Sun night, I was back at the county park on Monday night near Westminster CO. I needed to do laundry, so after claiming a campsite, I drove into the "burbs" to find a coin operated laundry since the county park had no amenities.
I had to chuckle at the fact that I treated myself to a $100 meal the night before and an upscale accommodation (relatively speaking) and the very next night, I'm washing my clothes with the masses next door to the Dollar store. The juxtaposition definitely makes me appreciate both ends of the spectrum. I appreciate the fact that I can afford to treat myself to a sabbatical, to the occasional splurges on nice accommodations and gourmet meals....that I have a customized, cozy, tiny home on wheels (customized for me...for now) and get to take this adventure while some are constrained to washing their clothes in a communal, somewhat depressing, coin-operated laundry facility--next to the Dollar Store.
After that, I decided to take a last minute flight to San Jose to help Reid with his continued home search. It turns out that the last minute approach was quite reasonable. While I'm in the land near Google, I thoroughly appreciate the comfortable surroundings in Reid's temporary, G suite apartment and enjoy looking with him for the perfect house. This was his weekend to be with his boys, so he flew out yesterday morning for the weekend in Houston while I stay on and continue to search.
I'm staying at an Airbnb accommodation in Woodside CA and will be heading out soon to explore the open houses in the area this weekend.
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