EverGreen Cottage, Near Cripple Creek Colorado

This was a review from a past guest. We enjoyed the review so much, we included excerpts in our description:

***

We've stayed here before with our three kids, escaping a Texas August, and we all fell in love with the place. It's very cozy...2 bedrooms and a bathroom, as it says. It would be a stretch to sleep 8. Maybe 6, or 7 (if they're friendly), given current beds.

Also, there's no internet (although you can get enough of a cell phone signal to get things on your phone or use it as a hotspot...that's a major improvement since our first stay, when we had to walk up the mountain and pray to the wireless gods to make a phone call). But if you're coming for the internet, you're missing the whole point.

The cabin is actually situated in a neighborhood, of sorts, so you have the best of both worlds. The roads, while not paved, were plowed and clear after a big snowstorm the night before. Water is delivered from a central well run by the neighborhood, so it's both reliable, and tested annually. But from the deck, you can see one cabin...and Pike's Peak. That's about it. The cabin adjoins a much larger lot with another cabin up the mountain...so you effectively have ~2-3 acres of alpine bliss to yourselves. Isolation, without being cut off from the world.

The pleasant little town of Divide is a few minutes up the highway, for basics. Woodland Park is just a few minutes past that, for everything else. Restaurants, shopping, a 24-hour Wal-Mart, the hospital, Redbox. Fast food. A movie theater. Whatever your little heart desires other than the cool crisp mountain air and the isolation of the pines.

As to the cabin itself, it has all the basics, and a few niceties. It's cozy and homey, with a reasonable selection of movies and games. When we were there the first time, the dishwasher didn't work, but it does, now. The coffee maker still had grounds from the guests that were there before us...but didn't, this last time. I think they've gotten a new cleaning crew?

Other than that, it was what we hoped for. With 3 kids, you can't stay in a hotel for anything close to the price you can get this 2-bedroom cabin for. It's not the Hilton...but that's not why you're looking for a mountain retreat.

Do yourself a favor, and spend some family time at Evergreen Cottage.