• September 13, 1999
• Vol. 52
• No. 10

Out on a Limb

Guests Bunk in High Style at Michael Garnier's Oregon Treehouse B&B

Plenty of vacationers yearn for that back-to-nature feeling, but guests at Michael Garnier's Oregon bed-and-breakfast are really branching out. At the Out 'n' About Treehouse Resort, in lush foothills near the city of Cave Junction, guests can stay in everything from barebones "treepees" (covered platforms for sleeping bags) to a Swiss Family Complex with parents' and kids' quarters linked by a swinging bridge. One suite boasts a queen-size bed and a bathroom with working plumbing. "It's for people whose parents always told them, 'Don't go up in that tree-house,' " says Garnier, 50.

At $65 to $135 a night, his six treehouses, most open all year, are booked nearly solid in summer. Guests can go horseback riding or rappelling. "It allows us to be like little kids again," says Rob Moore, 37, a general contractor from Hawaii.

Garnier, who shares a terra-firma A-frame with girlfriend Peggy Malone, 47, built the first treehouse in 1990. He battled local officials over building codes until 1998, when an engineer affirmed the structures' safety. Now, crows Garnier, "it's a four-star treesort."