Most of my vacations consist of about a month of planning, sometimes a week and even last month, one was less than 24 hours. But, last August my sister and I decided to "branch out" and made reservations for a couple of tree houses at a one-of-a-kind resort built in the trees where long term planning was a must. Out 'n' About Treehouse Treesort in Southern Oregon was a totally unique adventure that was the center of many fabulous, family memories.
A few days ago my sister, her husband, their four children, my son Luke and I headed South, to the very bottom of Oregon. Stopping at our favorite, Rice Hill for ginormous ice cream cones. Arriving to this B & B in the trees Luke and I headed up the 40 stairs or so to our sweet wooded escape, Peacock Perch. It was very cute, small, but it is a treehouse. A double bed and a smaller (half twin) sized bed as well. A small fridge and sink are in the room too. Getting to my sister's treehouse was a different story. Several spiral staircases later and 2 long suspension bridges, which made you feel like locals were going to jump out of the woods and start shooting arrows at you (Indiana Jones-esque) and you were finally at Treezebo. The highest treehouse floating at 37 feet up in the air. When the wind blew the "house" swayed in the breeze. Faaaa....reeeaaaky!!!! The swaying wasn't for me, so I quickly exited the branches for solid ground.
Centered in the compound is a campire for everyone's use, also a building with a couple of bathrooms (including showers) and a kitchen. Outside the kitchen were bbq grills and camp like stoves. In the evening other tree campers bbq'd, boiled, grilled, roasted and even sautee'd their dinners along side us. There was a stage that was just finished being built, it had a beautiful mural on it and temporarily held a foosball game. Around the treehouses were a couple of rope swings. They were usually in use with kids doing their best Tarzan. Also on the grounds was a volleyball net, horses (for horseback riding), horseshoes (the game, but probably also on the aforementioned horses feet) and the lodge. In the lodge, were you check in, there is a t.v., internet access, books and board games. Breakfast is included and was WONDERFUL! All you can eat cereal, oatmeal, quiche, waffles one morning (french toast the next), toast, juice, coffee and more. Plenty of seating inside and out; we sat outside on a deck enjoying the beauty while fueling up for the morning. The only warning is to watch out for the Hamburglar, one of the resort's boxer looking type dogs that will snatch the food from your hand if you're not looking.
We arrived Friday, settled in, looked around, played some volleyball (I have almost professional volleyball playing teenage neices) and then had dinner. The next morning we awoke, had a big breakfast, played around a bit, lounged by the morning campfire and realized it was only 9:00. I was quickly reminded of the slow crawl of time that occurs when you are camping. So, after a short discussion we decided to head to the Oregon Caves. Only 30-45 minutes from the tree houses and a destination none of us had been. We arrived at the Caves after a stomach-upsetting curvy ride. We joined some others for a 90 minute tour through the caves. Over 500 stairs and areas where you must duck down to a 45 inch height. Not too hard for my 43" tall nephew Josh. The caves were truly beautiful, gorgeous marble walls and some that look like whimsical delicate sand castles dripping from the ceiling. It's amazing! We all had a great time! We stopped for mexican food in Cave Junction before heading back to the resort for some dare devil activities.
Our sign up for zip lining was for 4 possibly 5 people. Laura hadn't decided and I frankly wasn't sure I would be doing it. After my fearless neice Megan was suited up for it she started in on me, "Tina... you just got to, come on, you'll love it, you just have to do it, you said you would, pleaseeee........". What could I do, my 13 year old neice and my 11 year old nephew were ready to fly through the trees I guess I could. Within a couple minutes I was sporting the army colored nylon diaper harness, leather gloves and a small white helmet (not very attractive but if it protects my noggin). There were 4 or 5 others from another family joining us. Kyle, our young and very pierced instructor quickly taught us how to steer, how to stop and how to scream. Oh wait, no, I got that one on my own. There were three runs, that's what I'll call them. The first one we climbed up a wooden ladder to a platform about 20 feet perched in a tree. The instructor there would hook the metal clamp that was dangling from my body to the line and when I thought I was "ready" he let go of me. It was a blast! It was across a meadow and not too far off the ground. The more you weigh, the quicker you zip, so I was pretty much a bullet on a zipline. I felt like Chevy Chase on Christmas Vacation when he sprayed his sled with butter spray and flew thru the snow. When the first run was over we were instructed to follow the path thru the woods to another platform. This one was cool, it was right in the center of a very wooded forest. There was though a gap in the trees that we would be sailing thru. Wheeww!! When the 3rd instructor (a young woman) said, "You'll be zipping thru the woods, and when you start to come out of the woods you'll see Kyle on a platform on a tree, you'll need to stop there". Wait a second! Should I seriously have been paying attention to the breaking and steering instructions. I have to land myself on a platform with a guy on it?! Yep! As I shot thru the jungle at about 60 mph I cleared the woods and saw Kyle standing on this itty bitty platform 50 feet off the ground. You've got to be kidding! I have to stop on that. I was sure I was going to plow Kyle off the platform and just plunge to my death, our deaths. But, for some reason I was all of a sudden an expert and landly perfectly on the platform. Two more people joined us on the placemat sized platform in the sky. I was terrified, even though I was now linked to the tree. That still didn't comfort me as I struggled to find a place to stand or as Kyle said, have a seat. Finally, it was my turn to leave this napkin sized platform in heaven. You couldn't just step off the platform either, you had to shimmy down the side of the tree, stepping on sawed off branches.
You see, I have a real problem with getting down from places. I'm much like our cat Snoopy we had growing up. Several times he found himself 40 feet up a large Douglas Fir tree only to be brought down by the local, bored fire department. Just 2 months ago I was at my sister's house and was admiring the tree house my brother-in-law had started. After climbing the "ladder", I sat on the platform, about 15 feet off the ground, I realized I couldn't get down. The three options I had weren't really options for me. I couldn't back down the ladder, The huge nails poking in one huge branch wouldn't hold me and the rope, well, I'm not a fireman so I can't slide down a rope. After much help and encouragement, my neice Megan helped me belly crawl down the trunk of the tree. Several years ago I was on the roof of our house painting the second story. I had easily climbed up the roof and had wisely brought my cell phone with me. After several attempts to climb down the ladder I called my sister and her and the kids came to "talk me down" from the roof. This time, if there hadn't been a wire leading me to the ground, I think I might still be up on that platform.
After I was safely on the ground and a ziplining expert we had the option of doing the Tarzan swing. Still wearing the army diaper you can chose to be linked to a rope that with the help of a golf cart pulling you up, you are hoisted 50 feet up a tree. They let you go and you free fall for a second before swinging out over the rest of us, who are too chicken to do it ourselves. It looks horrific and it's hard to believe we pay to be tortured for things like this. But, Megan (my neice) and Carson (nephew) did it. So, their dad had to do it as well. His voice seemed to change as he swung thru the air. I think it was the sound of fear.
That night we baked potatoes and corn-on-the-cob on the grill and o.d.'d on watermelon before perfecting our s'mores.
We zipped thru the forest, crawled thru caves, lived among the chipmunks in the trees and ate s'mores til we were sick; it was the perfect getaway!!
