35-Acre Retreat w/ Private Canyon & Hot Tub

Hi, I’m your host, Sara! I live in Colorado with my husband, our three kids, and a lively household of pets—including several pet birds and a small flock of quail.

When we began creating Raven’s Retreat, our goal was to build a peaceful Colorado escape where families and groups of friends could unplug, gather, and make long-lasting memories together. Many of the little details here come from things our own family loves, so hopefully you’ll find a little bit of us tucked into the house.

A few things about me and our home:

Native Colorado Living: I’m passionate about native and xeric landscaping and outdoor design. I love learning about the plants, wildlife, and landscapes that make Colorado distinctive, and I’ve especially loved getting to know and care for this unusual piece of the state. I’ve lived in Colorado my whole life, and this is the first place I’ve ever lived where roadrunners are regular visitors!

Nerd Girl: I love reading, bizarre board games (Gloomhaven, anyone?), and video games. My kids insisted that no place is complete without a cozy reading nook, so please enjoy the oversized armchair in the basement.

Hands-On Hostess: I painted the entire interior of the property myself (though a friend graciously tackled the kitchen), and I even learned to use a paint sprayer for the basement ceiling. That’s dedication—or possibly questionable judgment. Either way, I’m pretty invested in making this place special!

We fell in love with this area because it feels a little different from the Colorado you find in the more developed mountain towns. We love the fascinating geology, the proximity to the Royal Gorge, and the surprisingly wonderful concentration of antique shops in Florence.

Most of all, we love that the area still feels a little wild. There’s something special about being surrounded by open land, unusual landscapes, and wildlife while still having a charming small town—and some truly great adventures—just minutes away. It feels like a place where you can slow down, explore, and connect with a side of Colorado that’s easy to miss.

Our family has been blessed with a lot of memorable group trips, and we've learned that some of the best memories happen when you give people the time and space to actually be together. We're big believers in shared meals, ridiculous games, long conversations, kids building things, exploring outside, and generally giving people opportunities to connect.

We also know that “time together” gets a lot less magical when twelve people are stacked on top of each other in one living room. 😂

When we found this property, we fell in love with the possibility of creating something different: a place where families and friends can gather, explore, relax, and make memories together—with enough room for everyone to occasionally disappear and come back when they're ready.

We're excited to share it with other people and hope Raven's Retreat becomes the setting for some of their favorite stories, too.