create_destiny | Yurts So Good

Sixty-five miles south of Monterey on Cape San Martin, there is a unique eco-lodging experience to be had at the Treebones Resort. Precariously perched on a ridge between the Big Sur coast and the Los Padres National Forest are sixteen yurts with wooden floors and canvas walls stretched across lattice frameworks.

We got lucky and scored a yurt with a full ocean view and a gas fireplace.

Unlike the yurts used by Central Asian nomads, the yurts at Treebones have French doors, plush beds, rattan easy chairs, a futon, a vanity sink, a wooden table with matching chairs and clear domed roofs for sunlight by day and star-gazing by night. None of the yurts have private bathrooms. This business must be conducted in a communal bathroom at the main lodge.

Here is my Mom demonstrating how to not lie on a bed if you suffer from lower-back pain.

My Dad sitting on the futon and taking a picture of me taking a picture of him.

The view from our yurt!

The main lodge features a real wood-burning fireplace, a gift-shop, a complimentary Belgium waffle breakfast and pricey dinners. Out on the deck is a hot tub and a heated pool.

Last shot of lucky yurt #13.

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Oh, Big Sur! Oh, yurts! My heart is there already. I am checking this place out PRONTO.

It's not necessary to pay more for an "ocean-view" because the lodge has a big deck with a great view and you can hang out there. There's also 5 campsites at Treebones. The dinners at the lodge are like $21.00 a plate so we drove south to Cambria for cheeseburgers and we got to see some elephant seals along the way.

oh wow, that's beautiful! where is big sur? norcal, or socal?

It's on the central California coast, approximately half way between SF and LA.

Big Sur is a sparsely populated region of the central California, United States coast where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean.

YURT! YURT!

You almost had me jumping on the bandwagon. Seriously. Except...that I have a wee, wee bladder and walking to a central potty in the middle of the night? Nope.

:sigh:

You can get a yurt right next to the lodge facilities.

I thought it was going to be a pain in the ass, but it turned out not to be that big of a deal.

Oooh! I've been eye-balling that place for a while. Thank you for the pix!

It is a really unique experience. I wish we'd had more time to imbibe the soul of Treebones.

I have friends that lived in a yurt for awhile before they converted it bit by bit into an exquisite little round house. They were freezing in the winter, and lived in fear that one of the forest trees would fall on them in an ice storm. Now they've got a finished basement with a solar-heated radiant floor, slip walls (lattice work filled with a straw/clay mix, looks like cob), and a huge tree trunk post in the middle. Really beautiful. Your vacation sounds so wonderful! It appears that you are really blessed with wonderful parents!

Where did your friends live? I used to know a guy who lived in a yurt in Albuquerque. Nights got pretty chilly, but apparently he could handle it.

Yurt is such a fun word to say. Yurt, yurt, yurt!

My friends live right across the river from me, in Western NC, Southern Appalachia. Most of the winter is not so bad, but it can get nasty. Snow. Wind. Ice storms. That's when you hear trees on the mountain slopes snap in the hush of the cold. And it's kinda scary with a solid house, even more so in a yurt. But they are perfect for so many situations, and don't they have a really neat feel? I always felt like I was on a camping adventure inside a yurt. We call them Mongolian Doublewides.

Congratulations on you Ira Glass event. Countless times I would be driving home experiencing the pure depth of my emotions as I listened to his show. Now I don't drive home anymore, because I work here, too, but I recently got a Mac, so (insert boody dance here) This American Life, here I come! Now, where's me hankerchief?

"Mongolian Doublewides", that's so hilarious. Yeah, there's an really good feng shui thing going on in a yurt. Circles rock!

Yeah, break out the handkerchief, especially if you watch the televised version of TAL on Showtime. (Damn, that makes me want to get Showtime. Bastards!) I haven't seen any episodes yet, only a few youtube excerpts which looked REALLY impressive.

i just wanna say that i love that you are and your pair-aunts take in the beauty and take pics for us to see! i wrote pair-aunts cause randomnly expericing through your posts its kinda like you hanging out with you neato eccentric eccletic aunties, yet im sure its not quite that wild but great none the less cause its your "parents" how many grown adults still engage with both their parents at this level? i really love all of you guys for that. and thank yo again.

i love yurts but find them to be a bit pricey, ugh.

Yeah, the yurts are kind-of pricey, definitely for the rare "celebrate life" splurge. We wouldn't be splurging so much if my sister hadn't died two years ago. Her absence has caused us to make time for each other and do the things we love, together, before we're gone, too.

And yes, these "pair-aunts" are pretty wild, way more wild than me, even. I'm extremely blessed to have been born to them.

Did it smell like Rotten meat?

But looks Great! i wanna hit the "big SIR" or mr. sir. soon..

thinking thanksgiving weekend! looks fun!

If you go, check out the Big Sur Bakery and the Spirit Garden next door. There's also the Henry Miller Museum a few miles south of there. The beach at the Andrew Molera State park is worth the flat, one mile hike to get there (and the $5.oo entrance fee).

Yurts So Good

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