Posted Saturday, June 17, 2006

And we're off... to build an 'Island in the Sky"
We're Rocky Mountain high bound.. planning to build a new home that will float among the tree tops at 9,300 ft on Roosevelt Ridge.

Home is where Michael is.. it’s really been that simple for me for the past 6 years. We’ve been rolling stones together starting out with no place to live and then having too many places to live. Traveling a LOT, racking up more road and airline miles than we ever could have imagined, has added to that gypsy feeling. Perhaps all of that was a necessary part of the journey, but at this point in life we are both ready to create a homestead where we can be comfortable all year round.

After an exhaustive search for a place with climate we could BOTH live with and amenities that satisfied my need for city balanced with Michael’s love of REMOTE wilderness we found Roosevelt Ridge, surrounded on three sides by Roosevelt National Forest on the front range of the Rocky Mountains. This newly forming community holds the promise of open spaces mountain living with just the right touch of civility and intimate community. It’s an exciting time. And this week we took the first steps toward turning those promises and a beautiful lot into our home.

We are thrilled that Maine architect, Bob Knight will be designing our new home. Bob designed the Deer Isle house and the beautiful studio on the point of the peninsula. We love the way he builds homes that really fit the land. Bob and his wife Lucia spent 3 days with us walking the land, talking about our dreams and desires and meeting the rest of the team. (We also enjoyed exploring the mountains and sharing several lovely dinners together.)

Kent and Mike of Alpine West Homes will be our builders and project managers. Both of them have a lot of experience building in the mountains. We are so impressed with the methods they use to plan the building, manage the budget, and of course, build the final result.

The third key person in our team is Davide Picard of Zero Energy LLC. Davide is extremely knowledgeable about using natural energy sources and green building materials. Davide’s expertise will be key to helping us achieve our energy goals. His heating and cooling technologies will become Mike’s new ‘systems toys’ and will provide an ecologically responsible way to keep our home comfortable.

These few days on the ridge were such a wonderful time of dreaming, talking, planning and building relationships among our team members.. At this point I have no idea what our house will look like. I certainly don’t yet know WHEN it will be built. But I know it will be beautifully designed, and carefully executed.

We often jokingly call this home on Roosevelt Ridge, “Mike and Karen’s final resting place”.. Of course, no one knows the future but his beautiful place in the mountains already feels like home to me.

The home page slide shows contains some photos of Lot 17 and the project team.

We can highly recommend:
Bob Knight, architect, Knight Associates, Architect
Kent Havell and Mike Ackerman, designers and builders, Alpine West Homes
Davide Picard, builder and energy specialist, Zero Energy LLC
Roosevelt Ridge : Roosevelt Ridge has been conceived as a premier mountain community for those seeking the close-remote lifestyle. The property encompasses over 500 acres, with most to be shared by all members of the community. The community includes large, twenty acre lots, with two acre building envelopes. The majority of the community will remain open space with a trail system and other complimentary community features such as Roosevelt Rock, Aspen Grove and The Deck. There are a few lots availble in Phase I, and Phase II lots will be available soon.

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