Treebones Resort – Big Sur, CA

I heard about the yurts at Treebones Resort years ago from a colleague who stayed there with her daughter. I’ve been wanting to go and finally decided to check them out online and booked two nights (Dec 20 and 21) in celebration of our 14th wedding anniversary. We thought it would be fun to stay in a yurt with the kids.

Welcome to Treebones Resort!

What I read online did not prepare me for the awesomeness that is Treebones. The yurts are cool, but the natural environment of the Northern California Coast is what makes the whole experience incredible. After our one night in Santa Barbara (about halfway from San Diego to Big Sur), we took a leisurely drive on Hwy 1 along the coast the whole time and enjoyed clear blue skies with mid-60 degree weather.

Miles and miles of coastal beauty, enhanced by clear blue skies

When we checked in, our yurt 13 faced the ocean (well worth the additional cost) and was more spacious than we imagined.

That’s our yurt!

Inside our yurt 13, big enough to accommodate 6 people…super spacious for our family of 4.

There are two dinner dining options at Treebones: 1) Wild Coast Restaurant or 2) Sushi Bar. Harlen and I wanted to try both. We made reservations for 6:15pm at Wild Coast and realized the Sushi Bar opens at 5:30pm.

Wild Coast Restaurant at sunset…this is where we ate dinner and breakfast. Lunch is also available.

We decided one of us could have appetizers at the Sushi Bar, while the other hung out with the kids. Then we switched places so each of us could enjoy sushi in peace…all before 6:15.

Sushi bar at Treebones

I ordered the Wild Coast sushi roll and yellowtail sushi for Harlen from chef Carlos-san. They were delicious.  The view was pretty spectacular, too.

Wild Coast roll with tuna, crabmeat, salmon, albacore, yellowtail, asparagus and soy paper

Ocean view at sunset from Sushi Bar

At Wildcoast Restaurant, we found they were very accommodating to kids. Our server, Sam, said the kitchen could make personal size cheese pizzas for the kids.

Not on the menu cheese pizza just for our kids

Since we already had appetizers at the Sushi Bar, we just ordered entrees. I chose the grilled chicken with polenta and Harlen ordered the special of the day, a Thai green curry with vegetables (from their on-site garden) and tofu. I really enjoyed my chicken. Harlen got the Thai curry both nights…so he must have liked it.

Roast chicken with polenta

Special of the Night: Thai green curry with vegetables and tofu

For dessert, we ordered chocolate cake. Yummmm!

Chocolate cake

There was no cell phone service (hooray), no televisions, and we instituted no other technology while we were at Treebones. Instead, we were entertained by the “fire channel” both in our yurt and at the restaurant. We also played games borrowed from the front desk. It was high quality, fun family time.

The fam watching the “fire channel”

At night, the stars were clearly visible and everywhere I looked. I didn’t mind getting up in the middle of the night to walk to the communal restrooms/showers (more details/photos at the end of post) because it meant I could do some star gazing at the same time. If I was warmer, I would have stayed outside just looking up at the stars. I love stars…so much that we named Rigel after a star in the constellation Orion. For the first time, Harlen and I could clearly see Orion’s bow and it was awe inspiring.

The Next Day…

As part of our paid accommodations, breakfast of waffles, eggs, granola, yogurt, coffee, juice, and milk was included. The wafers we made ourselves and they were delicious.

Alani was a fan of the waffles both mornings.

During the day, we did some hiking and drove to the Big Sur Bakery. On the following day, we headed home and stopped to check out the elephant seals lounging in their natural habitat.

Northern elephant seals lounge near Big Sur.

It was a relaxing and fun couple of days. We asked the kids what they thought of Treebones. They gave it BIG THUMBS UP.

Rigel and Alani give thumbs up for Treebones Resort.

The trip was a success. We created some special memories sleeping in a yurt, celebrated our wedding anniversary, ate some delicious food, and spent time together just hanging out. The kids asked if we could make it a tradition and return to Treebones next December. Sounds good to me.

An unforgettable and FUN two nights at Treebones

Now for something completely different…The Restroom Review.

I wasn’t sure what to expect of the communal restrooms/showers at Treebones. I’ve experienced 7 days of porto-potties thanks to the AIDSRide and have dug holes during real camping trips so I have “roughed” it in that respect. So I was pleasantly surprised to find the restrooms to be heated, clean, and nicely decorated. It felt homey even though it was three stalls of toilets and three separate showers.

Totally clean, heated, and inviting communal restrooms with showers.