Over the past 25 years, the question I am asked most often from friends who visit the cabin is; “How did you find this place?” So, for my first entry into the Twin Pines Colorado Cabin Blog, I thought I would take a few minutes to explain how it occurred.
In 1996, I relocated from Indianapolis to Colorado Springs. My niece, who had been living in the cabin for two years, was in the process of relocating to the Big Island of Hawaii. She proposed the idea of me purchasing the cabin. For me, it wasn’t love at first sight. I knew a lot of remodeling had to take place before I would call it home. I also knew that I would have to hire people to do the work because as my niece once said; “Uncle Steve doesn’t know which end of the screwdriver to use.” Unfortunately, that’s only a slight exaggeration. Although I went into the cabin renovation with eyes wide open, I significantly underestimated both the cost of the renovation and the amount of time it would take to complete the project. Eighteen months after purchasing the cabin, just about the time the renovation was coming to a close, I was offered a job opportunity in Indiana which was too good to turn down. Rather than selling the cabin, my sister and brother-in-law, along with their son, convinced me to keep the cabin in the family. Over the years, thanks to family members, we continued to maintain and upgrade the cabin. Occasionally, we rented the cabin to help defray expenses. However, as so often happens with vacation properties, over the years, the cabin moved down on everyone’s priority list. Rather than hosting guests, the cabin became a repository for all the unused treasures my relatives no longer had room for in their own homes. Two years ago, because of the lack attention to the cabin, I decided it was time to sell. Unfortunately, in order to receive a good offer for the cabin, my wife and I realized a lot of work was in store for us. The cabin became a project where we spent countless hours cleaning and renovating. Finally, at the end of last summer, we finished the list of renovations. As we started taking pictures of the cabin and surrounding area, we realized that all of our hard work, efforts and countless hours of physical labor had paid off. The cabin was beautiful. It was pristine. I said to Maritza; “Why would we want to sell the cabin, it’s never looked better! Now it’s our time to enjoy.” So, to make a long story short, we decided to keep the cabin. Since we live in Orlando, there was no way we could spend a lot of time at the cabin. Instead, we decided to share it with people that wanted to experience life in a 100 year-old log cabin in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. Once we made that decision, things started to fall into place. Our friends and neighbors, Todd and Rachel, agreed to be the Twin Pines Colorado Cabin Property Managers. They live about a half mile from the cabin and are very familiar with all the nuances of the cabin, as well as all the activities that Cheyenne Mountain and Colorado Springs offers. We signed up with Air B&B and VRBO to market the cabin. Guests are already making reservations.
Two years ago our goal was to improve the cabin in order to sell it for a good price. But, we realized, that after 25 years, a lot of wonderful memories had been created at Twin Pines. Memories that money can never replace. Instead, we chose to share the cabin with our guests so that they too can create memories that will last a lifetime. We hope you enjoy the time you spend at Twin Pines.
